Flash reflection on glasses

[jeff0219]

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid flash reflection on glasses? My son wears glasses and I am always getting an annoying reflection on his glasses:mad:.

So the first question would be how to avoid it in the first place. The second would be if I the flare how can I remove it in photoshop.

Thanks! You guys are always helpful.

[Diana]

Hi Jeff,

The best way to avoid it is plan ahead and when taking photos, take several with his glasses off. Then in the photos with his glasses on, you can replace the inside of his frames with a clear view of his eyes, from the photos without his glasses. I do that quite often.

Taking glare off glasses isn't always easy. It depends on how much there is and if the glare completely obliterates the eyes. The method I use if the glare isn't too bad, is the clone tool.

Can you post an example photo so we can take a look at the type of glare you're getting?

Diana

[Wendy]

Hi Jeff

One tip for avoiding glare is ... when you are photographing someone who wears glasses ask them to tip the glasses very slightly forward ... just tell the person to put their fingers behind their ears and very slightly tip their glasses forward. The slight change of angle does work and cuts out a lot of the glare

There isn't a quick and easy fix for for images with this glare ... its a case of zoom in close and then carefully clone away the glare. Sometimes you can copy and paste from from the other eye (flipping it over).

Wendy :)

[Not4wood]

The first method is how to minimize the glare. Giving a slight angle of the glasses plus not having your son look straight into the camera. What I mean by this is not having a full frontal face view of your son. Make a slight turn of his head or change the camera angle.

Another way, the next time your son goes to the eye doctor. Pick up another frame exactly or as close as you can to his without putting the lens in. This way, when you shoot keep this extra set of frames in your camera bag. When your shooting your son, switch glasses without the lens and it doesn't matter how you shoot him. You wont have reflections.

The only other thing I can come up with at this very early time of day, is take the flash off your camera, by either getting a flash bracket or hand holding.

[Pet photos]

Like Mark said, about taking the flash off of the camera. If you happen to be using studio type strobes (ie 2 or more), you should raise them a little. This with the glasses tilted should do the job. Get away from red eye too :cool:

[memoriesbyjack]

What I like to do is turn up the ISO settings and turn off the flash. Just be sure if you are using a very high ISO such as 800 or above use a tripod.

Hope this little tip helps out.

[Not4wood]

What I like to do is turn up the ISO settings and turn off the flash. Just be sure if you are using a very high ISO such as 800 or above use a tripod.

Hope this little tip helps out.

Not a bad idea, but natural light indoors is always terrible especailly with strange shadows cast over eyes and nose depending on where you are. Did you also forget about very high noise at ISO 800 or better?? Portraits like this don't need large noise in the darker areas.

As far as taking the light off camera, if your using anything with a tilt head other than of course a built in Flash, tilt it up and you can use a rubber band or anything else really. A double sided velcro to hold a White Card on your flash so you will get some fill onto your subjects.

[NickLewis]

Jeff,

You've got lots of excellent suggestions, but I'm wondering what equipment you're shooting with, what your level of interest is in the portraits of your son, and what the output is?

The point I'm driving at is that the answer is different if you're a keen portrait photographer, with a load of studio equipment, producing formal portraits to be blown up and hung on the wall as 20x16's, than it is if you're trying to capture casual snapshots with a point & shoot and looking for a 6x4....

As you'll have gathered there isn't an easy answer - the best thing is undoubtedly to avoid the glare in the first place. Ultimately, that means arranging things so that light from the flash isn't reflected back at the camera. A statement of the blindingly obvious, I know, but it's distinctly non-trivial. By their nature, glasses are curved, some highly so, so reflections can come from strange angles, even with off-camera flash. Even with no flash, you have to worry about room lighting, windows etc. And there's also the risk, particularly with off-camera flash, of casting a shadow of the frame on his face.

Of course, there's always room for a little lateral thinking before spending hundreds.....Digital gives a huge advantage over film. You can see immediately if you have glare, so just ask your son to angle his head slightly differently. That's if he's posing to start with. If he's not, just grab another shot. Try, try again.

Nick

[Not4wood]

Nicks correct thought. If your using a P&S and you don't have any of the more expensive equipment its all in your positioning. If you see a glare and if its just a fast Candid shot then your the one that has to move for a better angle without reflections.

[elwoodsusanm]

Why not just take the glasses off! I always get my granddaughter to remove hers unless I'm just taking snaps.:)

[kensphoto]

Here's a trick I use. If the glasses have screws to hold in the lensed and are not the frame-less type, just remove the lenses for the short time you are shooting. We did that in the studio many times. ;)

[TAS32253]

I agree that avoidance is the best policy - but if your shot has flash back glare and you are simply stuck with it, the only thing I have been able to do with "some" success is use the clone tool, and copy small areas surrounding the glare with (click alt while the tool is over an area that looks close enough to plaste over the glare) and carefully stamp over the glare with replacements. I've also used the tool to copy / stamp parts of the other eye if one is more glared over than the other.
It's not a perfect solution but if the glare area is small enough and you are not looking to make a poster - it can be done successfully.
I've found that doing successful touch up work on Photoshop is much like painting; the key to success is in the skill of the painter - not in the quality of the paint or the brushes. While Photoshop has some astounding tools, the skill of user can make or break the result. Maybe if you post the picture on Pixcentral, some of these experts can show you what "can" be done in the hands of masters.

[Not4wood]

Interesting, your all correct of course about getting rid of flash or light glare from glasses or mirrors.

But, and I say this from a perspective of being a Photographer using Wet Film first. While shooting, if you notice a problem get rid of the problem so you will have less of a headache later.........

Shooting Weddings, Candids and Portraiture if you see something you don't like, do something to get it out of the shot. Shoot several trying different things but make it work so you have a good shot to work with later. We didn't have Photoshop or puters to use in the darkroom in those days, we retouched and anybody that used a brush and those colors would be the first one to come at you yelling and asking what the hell did you do.

Its the Photographers job to kill that angle and get less if you cant remove all of the glare.