Learn 50+ free tips to apply during your next shoot!
Check your inbox shortly to access the 53 tips to help with your real estate photos.
I am a somewhat-above-beginner-but-not-quite-intermediate photographer, and I am wanting to start a new project. The theme is eyes. I don't have pro-level gear, but I think I make what I have work well most times. This time, however, I do not know how to remove reflections from eyes, either with gear, or with PP in Lightroom. This is a sample image of my own eye that I just took, and any input or techniques to remove that glare would be much appreciated. If needed, I can upload the RAW file as well for reference. Thanks!
My eye: //imgur.com/DJNlznx
Glasses glare is one of the more “glaring” annoyances photographers will run into, and for wedding photos, they can be a deal breaker. In an ideal situation, the photos you take will not require you to remove oddities like glare later, but the reality is that does happen from time to time. Knowing how to get rid of glasses glare in Lightroom can help you deliver stunning images to every client.
As a photography post production company, we provide fast and personalized editing for professional wedding photographers. We understand that every shoot brings different scenarios and conditions that may affect your wedding images. And even if you are outsourcing photo editing (to save time and streamline your workflow), it can be valuable to understand how certain aspects of the editing process work, such as the best ways to use retouching tools to adjust skin tones or how to remove glasses glare. Below, we cover how to get rid of glasses glare in Lightroom, touching on the 2 most effective methods.
1. Use the Spot Removal Tool
For some wedding photographers, Photoshop has been seen as the end-all-be-all for operations like handling glare. For those that want to learn more about how to get rid of glasses glare in Lightroom, though, it can be valuable to become familiar with the Spot Removal Tool in Lightroom.
This feature enables you to remove unwanted aspects of a photo in a few simple steps but takes a considerable investment of time to get right. Adobe’s general tutorial uses removing a human subject from an example, and details how to select a sample area to borrow from to conceal the unwanted part of the photograph.
Glasses Glare
When trying to do away with glasses glare, the process functions similarly but is much more delicate. This is because while removing glasses glare you are, generally speaking, working within a smaller area and have much less room for error.
Because of this, you will want to use a small brush, proceed slowly, and stop often to double check your work. It is likely going to get tedious, so put on some relaxing music, fix a drink, and get ready for the long haul as well.
Related: What else can you use the Spot Removal tool for in Lightroom? Find out in our post, where we share our top picks for edits to make that can transform your images!
2. Learn How to Clone
First, you will need to set your pins (the area you want to conceal and the area you want to clone from). You will be setting and resetting these often, as Lightroom does not always choose the best places to draw from in a photograph by default. It might be helpful to keep some of the shortcuts you can use in Lightroom for this procedure at the forefront of your mind.
You can click to create a pin and, if using the control/command click, drag your mouse to find your clone source with which to conceal the glasses glare. Using control/command plus the alt/option key allows you to adjust the size of the pin, and you can use the delete button to remove a pin.
Again, work slowly to avoid making any errors. Eyelashes, in particular, can be difficult to nail with the spot removal too, and you will also need to pay special attention to angles, especially around areas like the glasses frames. Frames are often slanted, so selecting an appropriate section of your image to borrow from to correct a glared area is going to be doubly crucial.
As a final note on correcting glare with the spot removal tool, remember to zoom out to check your progress. You will need to work up close to grab and replace details, but viewing the image at normal size will reveal if your handiwork is truly up to snuff, as you will be able to see the entirety of your photograph in context, and check to see if any corrections you have made appear to be out of place.
3. Apply Alternate Techniques
As an alternate technique, you can apply the Adjustment Brush Tool or the Graduated Filters. The Adjustment Brush Tool and Graduated Filters are often used to make skies darker or add lens blur effects in photographs. If you’re trying to get a handle on how to get rid of glasses glare in Lightroom, though, they can serve as an alternative solution.
Pulling from the Adobe help guide for a moment, these tools allow you to “apply Exposure, Clarity, Brightness, and other adjustments to photos.” In the case of the adjustment brush, you would paint these into your photo. With the graduated filter, you can apply them gradually across a range of the photograph. In cases where you want to eliminate glasses glare, the dehaze effect with the adjustment brush makes for a fine option, as long as the highlights in your photo are not too severe.
You will want to start with a mask overlay so that you can keep yourself restrained to the glasses. Using the adjustment brush, you will start with an initial mask selection which can be further refined using the color range mask selector or luminance range slider. Once you have the mask restricted to your subject’s glasses, you can start making your alterations.
Start with a weaker brush and low feathering, increasing it as needed while you work. Like with the spot removal tool, you will want to work slowly and check your progress. You will also want to stay aware that the dehaze feature can cause a loss of detail, and is best used sparingly. There is also much more depth to the adjustment brush and graduated filters, so for complete mastery, you would be well served by reading more of the Adobe help guide above.
While possible, learning how to get rid of glasses glare in Lightroom is a hefty undertaking. Correcting glare on camera is generally preferred, and in instances where it is not a possibility, enlisting a photo editor for photographers can save you the hassle of trying to clone or dehaze. Your time can be better spent on other parts of your photography business, rather than sitting behind your computer editing your wedding images.
Advanced Lightroom Skillsets
To save even more time in Lightroom and your post-wedding workflow, access our Online Training: Advanced Lightroom Skillsets with Jared Platt. Throughout the Online Training, Jared focuses on how to maximize your time and create a fast and efficient workflow in Lightroom.
You take the perfect photo of your friend or family member but something isn’t quite right…you look closer and you notice the glare on their eyeglasses. Being able to see someone’s eyes in a portrait is important.
Not only does it capture their essence better, but it also gives the viewer a focal point to radiate their attention.
Luckily, they are several ways to reduce this glare in Lightroom.
If you are also struggling with shadows in your images, check out my guide to removing shadows in Lightroom.
Using the Spot Removal Tool
So here I have this photo of a woman wearing eyeglasses. As you can see, the glare in her glasses is reflecting light from her surroundings.
Since the glare is colored, the parts which cover her skin can be removed using the spot removal tool. By cloning another part of her face to match her eyeglasses, I can start to reduce the effects of the glare. The spot removal tool can be found by looking for the circle with an arrow in the top right corner, underneath the histogram.
First, zoom in on the area you want to work on. You can do this either by clicking command+/- or holding your mouse over the photograph. A small magnifying glass with a plus sign should appear, and you can click your mouse on the area you want to zoom in on.
After you zoom in, you’ll want to adjust the size of the brush to match the area you want to correct. You’ll then want to adjust feather to around 75 (which means how the soft the edges of the brush will be), and the opacity to around 90 (which means how much of your adjustments will show on the photograph).
These are all important adjustments to make so that the clone stamp won’t create harsh lines that are obvious to the viewer. Once you have adjusted the brush settings, you are ready to start using the brush.
Start by clicking on part of the photo you want to adjust, and watch it adjust to a similar color on nearby skin. Although this sometimes works on its own, sometimes the Lightroom algorithm does a bad job.
If this happens to be the case, you can move the circle corresponding to the area you’re adjusting so that it lays over a part of the photograph more similar to the one you are trying to correct.
Once you’re satisfied with this, and the blending looks natural, click ‘done’ on the bottom right of the screen, underneath the photograph.
Keep in mind, however, that this might not be the last tool you use in adjusting lens glare.
Using the Adjustment Brush
In this case, the spot removal tool was not going to fix everything.
There was still some glare that was blocking the viewer from clearly seeing the eyes of the subject, but it was not able to be corrected by using the spot removal tool, as there was not another eye to clone from.
The adjustment brush is another handy tool you can use to target a specific area of a photograph. Using the tool, we can minimize the glare to allow more focus on the eyes of the subject. You can find the adjustment brush near the spot removal tool.
It’s on the very far right and looks like a paintbrush or makeup brush. When you click on it, white dots will appear around it showing you that you have selected it.
First, I changed the brush size to a larger area, making sure the flow and feather is at 100. I then applied a mask over the area I wanted to adjust. In this case, the size of my brush as at 29, which makes the inner brush circle roughly the size of her pupil. (You can see this mask in red to get an idea of how much area I covered.)
Then I adjusted the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks to minimize the effect of the glare. I also decreased saturation and increased clarity so the blue of the glare would be less obvious and the viewer can see the woman’s eyes more clearly.
I also increased dehaze for even more clarity. The dehaze tool is handy in order to get rid of fuzzy areas on a photograph. For all the adjustments, you can see exactly what numbers, in this case, I changed, but it will be different for your own photograph.
I also will adjust to the most drastic level and then work backward from there so I can see more dramatically, minor impacts on the photograph.
If you are having bigger troubles with too bright areas, check out How To Fix An Overexposed Photo In Lightroom.
Keep in mind, however, that minor adjustments combined together can have a greater effect on protecting the subtleties of the photograph than large adjustments while also improving the areas you are working on, so be gentle with your adjustment sliders. Subtlety is an underrated force in photo editing!
The subtleties of the perfect adjustment is achieved after much practice. Feel free to play around with the settings as much as you want, until you get an effect you’re satisfied with. Just remember, small adjustments before big ones!