Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images

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Photoshop Tutorial: How to remove glare on glasses in Photoshop – the Take Two Method

To expand on yesterday’s post on removing or eliminating glasses glare, I will be showing you the “take 2” method.

This method involves taking multiple shots of the subject with and without his or her glasses on. While photographing take images both with the subject’s glasses on and off for each image you hope to use where you do see and cannot avoid glare with other methods.

Once in Photoshop, you will pick two shots to use – one where you like the image and the subject has glasses on.  This will be your main base image.  Then select a photo where you like the eyes.  The close you are to similar position, orientation, and size, the easier this will be.  You will be taking the eyes of the non glasses wearing image and putting them into the glared glasses.

Here are the two images we will use today (thank you to Crane Photography for providing these images).

two-picts Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

As you can see the photos are similar – but the angle slightly different.  The sizing is very close so this should be relatively easy to do. The 1st step is to select the eyes with the marquee tool in the photo without glasses (shown in red here).

marquee Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

Then go under EDIT – COPY. Go to your “base image” and go EDIT PASTE.

copy-paste Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

This will be the result once pasted into this “base” photo.  You will use the move tool to position the eyes as close to the eyes in the glasses.

screen-shot-2009-10-08-at-113805-am Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

You will use the TRANFORM command next (by using CTRL + T for PC or Command + T for Mac).  This will bring up handles as shown here.  You can rotate the image and resize the image so it best fits over the eyes in the glasses.  If you are having trouble, slightly lower the opacity of this layer temporarily so you can see through to the “base” image – remember to put it back to 100% when done with this step.

screen-shot-2009-10-08-at-113838-am Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

Click the check mark in the top toolbar to accept the change.  Then your image will look like this:

glasses-not-yet-masked Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

Next we need to blend the eyes in. To do this we use a layer mask.  Click the button shown in the layers palette to add a layer mask.screen-shot-2009-10-08-at-121724-pm Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

You will use black to hide the edges of the skin.  Remember white reveals (shows), black conceals (hides).  If you are unfamiliar with masking, you may want to watch my layer masking video here.  As you paint with black to hide the top layer in parts, it will reveal the glasses.  Make sure not to paint black on the eyes or the glare underneath will show again.  If you paint too much, switch to white as your foreground color and paint back. Go back and forth.  Here is a closeup of the photo shown with the layer mask.

screen-shot-2009-10-08-at-114124-am Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

And here is the final image. Please leave a comment if you learned something, have a question, or if you found this helpful.

complete Photoshop Tutorial: Removing Glare on Glasses by Merging 2 Images Photography Tips Photoshop Tips

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No Comments

  1. Alysha S on October 15, 2009 at 9:46 am

    WOW, that’s awesome. Can’t wait to try it out 🙂 Thanks so much.

  2. Stacey Rainer on October 15, 2009 at 10:08 am

    This freakin’ rocks!!! I often will look for eyes in another image, but it would have never occurred to me to actually have them remove their glasses to have a perfect eye source! Thanks!

  3. Elizabeth on October 15, 2009 at 11:01 am

    What a great tip–I’ll have to give this a shot with my own glasses!

  4. Tiffany on October 15, 2009 at 11:31 am

    I’ve so done this before! It rocks! One thing I have found though is that sometimes the eyes look too clear…they don’t have the fog of the glasses. I’ve painted over with a faint layer of white to fog the eyes to match the rest.

  5. Heather Price........vanilla moon on October 15, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    What a fantastic tutorial,recently i had a lovely photo of my daughter that i deleted,due to her eyes being closed,if only i had known this.Thankyou

  6. honey on October 15, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    I have done this before but usually try to keep the shot exactly the same. I love that you can use the transform tool like this … I would have never thought of it!Thanks Jodi!

  7. Amy @ Live Well on October 15, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    I REALLY found this to be helpful!! Thanks a million!

  8. Puna on October 15, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    Now this is a fantastic tip.

  9. image masking services on October 24, 2009 at 12:19 am

    Awesome tip. Thanks.

  10. Photoshop Brushes | Brushes For Photoshop on November 20, 2009 at 10:37 am

    great TUT! thank for share!————————————Photoshop Brushes | Brushes For Photoshop

  11. Benji on December 7, 2009 at 7:32 am

    Great info, thanks a lot.

  12. Kristy on October 19, 2010 at 4:21 pm

    Thanks so much for this great info!!! I tried it and it worked out so well. No more glasses glare for me!! 🙂 I also did a head swap too. The picture shows my results.

  13. Sharla Graber on April 21, 2011 at 5:22 pm

    Thank you thank you thank you! My way of doing this was much less successful!

  14. Linda Deal on September 8, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    This is great news. I photograph the staff here at the office. Some wear glasses and I always have to deal with the glare. Now I actually know how. Thank you.

  15. Dianne - Bunny Trails on May 9, 2012 at 3:56 pm

    That’s so awesome, Jodi! Thanks for sharing this – it’s much better than my *previous* method. LOL!

  16. Lori on June 1, 2013 at 6:09 pm

    Thank you!!!!!

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