CS4 Video or tutorial for removing bad glare on both lens of eyeglasses?

<p>I have CS4 but have never retouched glass glare. Boy could not see without them so we had to leave them on and of course the parents liked this image with bad glare on both lens. I have been all over photo.net and utube looking for a tutorial or video that shows step by step but not much luck. My fault for adding it to contact sheet. I found one video that tried to explain how to move glasses from another photo but the video but it was PS Elements and it was too small and I could not understand or see the steps that the guy was showing.<br /> Is it possible to correct glare when it is on eyeball like the left side? At any rate if you know of a link to video or steps on how to correct this I sure appreciate it. If it looks impossible to correct just tell me. I get the feeling I am going to spend way to much time on this image. Thanks in advance.</p>

<p><img src="http://www.johnhillphotography.com/Other/eyeglass-glare/DSC0123-small/763748938_XEm9q-L.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>I've fixed glare that bad, and I can tell it's going to take a lot of time. Most of the work has to be done with the clone stamp. For the glare on camera-left, you can copy the other eye, flip it horizontally, place it on the left, and blend it in with a layer mask. But first you have to fix the camera-right eye.<br>

.<br>

Any possibility of re-shooting? On the technical points, this is a pretty bad picture: Camera angle looking down on subject, glare on glasses, shadow behind boy, subject off center facing out of the frame. Direct flash is just about the least flattering light you could use for this.</p>

<p>John,</p>

 

<p>I’m with David. Unless you want to use this as an opportunity to learn some retouching

skills, this image isn’t worth the time. Personally, I’d use it as an excuse to go back

to the beach with the boy and get a better picture.</p>

 

<p>I’d recommend a stand-mounted flash with umbrella at about the height of the

boy’s head, positioned at about a 45° angle (maybe even more) to camera left. Position

the camera at about the height of the boy’s chest, fill the frame with his head-to-toe image,

and position the bright clouds to his right (camera left).</p>

 

<p>If you don’t have a stand, umbrella, and radio trigger, you can get all three for less than

$100 total. Get a cheap stand and umbrella and a $25 Cactus wireless trigger.</p>

 

<p>Or, you could probably pull it off with a slow shutter speed on self-timer and manually popping

the flash. Set the self-timer to ten seconds, walk into position while counting the seconds, and fire

the flash right after you hear the shutter fire. If it’s a 1- or 2-second (or longer) exposure, you

should get the shot.</p>

 

<p>See Strobist for more ideas.</p>

 

<p>Cheers,</p>

 

<p>b&</p>

<p>Hi Guys<br>

Thanks for the suggestions. No chance for re-shoot. Family was on vacation. The boy was very hyper and most pix were shot as he raced (see footprints behind him) around the beach. Very lucky to get shots of him standing still. I would like to attempt to fix but it might just be practice since the the glare is so bad.<br>

Anyone point me to a link or video on the steps? Remember I have never tried this before and I just know basic photoshop. How would I do these steps?<br>

you can copy the other eye- Lasso tool?<br>

flip it horizontally- What tool? I found flip canvas but no flip image.<br>

place it on the left- What tool?<br>

blend it in with a layer mask? how?<br>

As mentioned I also have similar pix with glare not as bad but they chose this image. The one tutorial I found talked about copying the glasses from one image and moving them to another but the steps were to small to view and could not understand the author. Plus it was PS Elements so I could not guess what tools he was using. Would replacing glasses from another similar image be easier? Would need steps if so. I would imagine CS3 or earlier version would be fine if someone does not have CS4.</p>

<p>Email me the picture. I take a stab at it.<br>

Herma</p>

 

<p>Herma that is very sweet of you. I will send the image, plus a simliar image in which glare is not as bad in case replacing glasses is easier. You have a nice portfolio. Beautiful colors and very creative.<br>

Curious as to how long it took you to work on image after you are done. Also would still like the steps for removing glare since this will happen again and I need to know how. I also went to Adobe web site thinking I could find the answer there but had no luck when doing my searches.<br>

Herma, I looked at your contact info on here and clicked on email. I did not see a way to attach image. I will send you and email and add my email addy in case you need it. Thanks, John Hill</p>

<p>I fixed it in a fast and dirty way using clone tool of PhotoResampling.<br>

I suppose Clone tool of PhotoShop can do the job.</p><div></div>

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=3660655">jacopo</a> Thanks...<br>

That looks better then what I have. It is hard to see from your sample. Just curious what happens to the eye behind on the left side. Since it is covered by glare then your version probably does not really show any eye detail but rather just a dark eye?<br>

What is fast and dirty? Clone is all you used? Would you suggest that the lens be darkened just a tad from your sample if I tried that this tecnique?</p>

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=2395604">Herma</a> Did you get my email? I sent it through the photo.net site and sent you my email addy. Just doing a follow up since I did not get a reply.</p>

<p> </p>

<blockquote>

<p>Since it is covered by glare then your version probably does not really show any eye detail but rather just a dark eye?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>usually you just take the " better " half; copy > cmd "j"> new layer from selection( rectangle); flip (edit>transform >flip horiz.) and adjust (transform/ move, rotoate, scale,..) it to fit the other half of the face; mask around the glasses so eyebrows,... won't change, the face gets another look but that would be the >how to;<br>

forget about umbrella,stand,.. for a beach walk ?! get a little softbox"to go" for your speedlight or a beauty dish-adapter; there a plenty of them, use a pol filter to enhance sky, reflections ( won't work rectangular ) if you want get a little reflector ( like a cheep foil or these first aid-aluminum-blankets) and let your flash bounce from that, try to expose a little longer give your flash one f-stop less, so you'll get rid of this flash-effect and the boys shadows;<br>

cheers;</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Oh good, Jacopo probably did a much better job then I could. Don't feel frustrated, I took a $240 photoshop class at a local community college but in the end I still am bad at layer masks and such. The clone tool is my best friend. Layers, smayers.....</p>

<p>Again what is Fast & Dirty? Does that just mean that it was a quick fix?<br>

Too bad I cannot copy Jacopo's rendition:) I have all the images ready for the family except this one. I was delayed today and did not get a chance to attempt glare removal. I have chronic neck pain and the computer really gets it throbbing at times. Will attempt in the morning.<br>

<a href="../photodb/user?user_id=1193610">nikolai</a> You lost me half way through your reply:) It is hard to understand without seeing tools in action. That is why I need to see a tutorial.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>Since it is covered by glare then your version probably does not really show any eye detail but rather just a dark eye?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>I cloned from good eyes parts, so there is some detail (similar to good parts detail).<br>

If you zoom the image (4x is enough), you can see details.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>What is fast and dirty? Clone is all you used?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Fast and dirty means: few minutes, so the result is not as good as it can be if you dedicates more time.<br>

Clone is all I used.The eyes are rebuilded cloning small areas from good eyes areas.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>hi john;<br>

simple tut for future usage;<br>

1) open pic in PS, dublicate the background layer ( I always do this automatically ) to have a "backup; to do so; just drag & drop the layer named background over the "new layer "symbol <img src="http://www.thextreem.com/images/layer-palette-anatomy.gif" alt="" width="450" height="367" /><br>

now youhave 2 layer: background and background copy; to rename a layer simply doubleklick it and type in a new name ( you can also label layers by color; right click the eye-icon and choose a color ); the group symbol, left to the " new layer-icon" creates kind of a folder you could organize your layer with ( drag and drop them into the folder) you could do many things with that but that's not important for now; the next ( from left to right ) symbol shows a circle half filled black half "white" this is an important button, we will use it later on; next ( the rectangle with the little circle in it ) will create a layer mask, to make it as simple as possible: a layer mask isn't arubber tool but for you its kind of by now, it will create a white canvas attached to the layer that is active; imagine everything you paint black on that canvas will disappear from your picture, everything that remains white willbe " untouched" so you could even paint white over black to make things appear again; its no process of deletion ( shades of grey will be transparent ) ; we will need this tool too !<br>

the icon with the little f starts the layer FX options and the chain lets you link several layers;<br>

so lets start;<br>

by now we have two layers; if you like to, rename the copy to "my son";<br>

now choose the stamp tool <img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4274369471_49a48cb992_o.png" alt="" width="113" height="113" /><br>

its the one at the bottom that looks like a stamp ( sorry for the bad crop )<br>

the stamp tool "clones" a predefined area to the area u apply the tool to ( like copy from here to there ); so first you have to define an area that should be painted over the reflection; best would be the forehead of your son; select the stamp tool, move the cursor to the forehead, press and hold >alt< ( the icon changes to crosslines) click ! ( release alt )<br>

at the top of your window you can adjust the current tool-settings; apply the following settings; blending mode= normal; opacity=20-30;<br>

choose a brush size of 3-5 px for the brush diameter and "paint over the reflections of the galsses;</p>

<p>( the following pic shows the workflow one step further but you can see how the stamp tool worked in comparison to the original)<br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/4275113938_0a20801423_o.png" alt="" width="380" height="292" /><br>

now you make a rectangular selection just like i didi in the pic aboce; hit >cmd j< ( mac ) or go to edit>copy // edit>past in place; you'll get a new layer with only the selected area in it (layer 1);<br>

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2753/4274368351_8108084990_o.png" alt="" width="421" height="296" /><br>

you could rename this layer to > eye copy < ... it's important to get used to rename and label all layers to speed up your workflow dealing with multiple layers later on;<br>

now take the move tool and move the layer over to the other eye ( drag&move)( see picture above );<br>

time to flip the crop; go edit>transform>flip horizontal;<br>

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2795/4275241314_b98e1ed0c7_o.jpg" alt="" width="605" height="916" /><br>

after that go to edit > freetransform; now you can scale and rotate the crop till it fits;<br>

your comp should look like this ( without the reflection in the left eye / my messup)<br>

<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4274369105_d858d32221_o.png" alt="" width="535" height="556" /><br>

the red marked zones are our problem now;the don't fit; no problem just a last step, the layer-mask; best friend of every PS-user;<br>

klick on the "eye-layer" to make this layer the active one; add a layer mask by pressing the right icon; ( see top of post )<br>

you get this second "canvas" right next to the layer; activate the mask by klicking on it ( border of mask should get bold or double line ) take a brush/airbrush / 5 px; opacity 20-30 color black;<br>

start to paint over the visible edges of the eye layer; the'll disappear; don't do too much, if it looks ok it is ok; won't get better; if you make a mistake just switch the color to white and restore the area; ( switching from back to front-swatch -> hit X )<br>

the only thing i did additionally was to bring the high and idtones down a little bit to adobt it to the whole lightning situation; again quick and dirty i applied a mask with a gradient not to affect the sun and sky;<br>

in addition i applied an warm photo filter to"overrule" the contrast of the light sources a bit; never forget; sun @sunset is around K3000, speedlight still 5500; this makes the scene look unnatural; the aesiest way would be to use a soft box for your speedlight with a color filter or a golden "reflector" made of some cheep foil glued on a stronger paper; it hasn't be big in size, you can fold it and put it in your bag ( like i suggested in my previous post )<br>

thats my fast & dirty version;<br>

cheers</p>

<p><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2793/4274548925_00d0cc7af2_o.jpg" alt="" width="398" height="600" /></p>

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=1193610">nikolai</a> - Thanks for the detailed tut. I had already started working on the image, so I will save your sample for future use. I posted this yesterday or so I thought, but apparently I did not hit the second step while posting since I don't see my post or my sample photos, so I will try again.</p>

<p>I'm using the healing brush and clone tool but results have been so-so. Tools kept picking up tones or areas that I was not sampling. I even tried to get samples from outside the glasses in lower cheek to prevent the results from having pieces of the frame in them but no matter where I get sample I keep getting parts of frame in my results. What causes this to happen? Is that caused from using too large a brush or clone stamp or is it picking up nearby frame when I apply? I don't remember having this much of a problem when I used CS3 a couple of years ago in a class I took but I could be mistaken. Just wondering if I need to keep going over and over the same area? I will add sample showing the piece of frame in my repair (photo #1) and my later attempt in which I was able to get rid of frame pieces (photo #2). Maybe I am expecting too much too, quick but it seems like something is not working (most likely user error)<br>

I am surprised that I could not find any tutorials on removing eyeglass glare using CS3 or CS4 or plain old PS 7 etc.. I finally got through to Adobe and asked for help. First they told me to click in my Help Window of CS4 and look at the menu items. There was not so they told me that not everything installed when I uploaded the CS4 so they had me do some re-installs. Curious how we are to know if a tool is working properly> like the issue I am having with the pieces of the frame showing up when applying corrections?<br>

I am working with image zoomed in 200-300%. Is that ok or should it be bigger or smaller for best results or is it as matter of personal preference?</p>

<p>Finally, I wonder at what point do I tell myself to quit spending time on a photo that I should not of included in the samples? When I upload photos for viewing or send contact sheets I will often send photos that I are not keepers but but send for the heck of it because they might be funny and family will get a laugh from, but someone will have eyes closed or a non-flattering expression and I don't expect them to want that image. This image falls into that category because of the glare but my mistake for sending it. When they first picked it, I felt obligated to try and fix it, rather then tell them that this photo would cost additional because of time required to fix it. My normal fee includes the usual tweaking including color balance, levels, hue, sharpening, red eye etc.. It does not include wrinkles, body shrinking, breast enhancement/reduction, baby dribble, teeth repair, making a bald man hairy etc;-) I'm not even sure what to charge per hour on those kind of corrections since I usually tell them upfront that it is not included in my fee and nobody asks for the extra P.P. at a casual family beach shoot. For the first couple of years I was taking out every bruise, scratch, grain of sand on the face (shooting at the beach) on the kids at no charge but finally realized this was not cost effective. I have already told the customer that I might not be able to fix this image but I'm trying to please the customer. Thanks again for all the help from fellow members.<br>

(Sample #1) with bits of frame in lens (right lens) What causes the bits of frame to show up when applying repair?<img src="http://www.johnhillphotography.com/Other/eyeglass-glare/DSC0123b/765098981_iur8Z-L-1.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>(Sample #2) with some repair on right lens. Looks pretty bad to me. How do you repair an eye when the eye was covered up with reflection? All I have been able to do is make a black area for the eye.<br>

<img src="http://www.johnhillphotography.com/Other/eyeglass-glare/DSC0123-b-sample-crop/766421125_5NPZr-L-1.jpg" alt="" /><br>

FYI- I also found out that Adobe only offers 2 free calls for tech support. Then you pay. Either per call or an annual plan. They had told me they had <strong>free support</strong> when I was buying CS4. They directed me to a tutorial on blemishes. Nothing on glare from glasses. A little disappointed with Adobe tech support. It took a half hour before I got a tech. I asked if it always took this long to get support and his reply was "No, they were trying to catch up to last month's calls" Huh? I had to ask him to slow down and repeat himself quite a few times because of heavy accent. He was polite but I could tell that he was backed up and wanted to give minimum amount of help and moved on to next customer. That is a shame. He did mention another site for tutorials. Make note of this link. Not sure if it will work for everyone but it looks like some the tutorials are free. I clicked on a couple just to see some samples. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.lynda.com/" target="_blank" >http://www.lynda.com /</a></p>