Glare on Glasses

I've started to venture into doing family portraits as a way to make some extra money to fuel my passion for Canon "L" lenses and I have a question: What do you do when you have someone in an outside setting who wears glasses and you can't find an angle to get all the glare out?

Am I missing something in camera that I should be doing differently or is there a way to correct this in post-processing? I did clone some of the distractions out in this close-up but in many of the images the woman is further back in a large group of people and the glare is really distracting.

Anybody?

Try a polarizer Jules !!!! I'm sure removing the glare here is possible but a real pain !!!

Ask them to remove the glasses.

Grady, I thought about that but they seemed to be such a part of who she is. I was afraid the family would look back on the photos and not think they were "mom."

Al, if I use a polarizer won't that change the hue of everyone's skin tones? If so, is that easily corrected in pp? I haven't used a polarizer much but always thought it kind of added a blue glow to everything. Am I thinking of something else?

Not really Jules You can use one with a slight warming effect

Fabs had an idea.... you can ask them to lower them just a fraction the the reflection will go away. A trick portrait people use, had no idea !!!

Great idea! Tell Fabs I said gracias!

Hi Julie. I did a shadow and highlight adjustment on the glasses only. It seems to have improved the situation. I have heard that you can use a pair of glasses with out glass, just frames, if you need your subject to be wearing the specs:D

I like what you did here Dan Looks very natural and just a little glare adds to the image !!! Neat !!!

Dan, that's fantastic. I would have never thought of that! You've saved the day.

Your welcome Ma'am. I just "trial and error" everything and get lucky once in a while.:)

Julie, I like these images you're posting quite a bit. You can really get a sense of the personality of your subjects. Looks like a lot of fun!

Jules, how about asking them to put the glasses on a chain and leave them on her neck. I wear them, but not all the time. I understand she might wear them constantly, so she might be "look" different and not "like mom". Never hurts to ask. Just smile when you do. :)

Hi Jules,
Great moment you captured!

Dan's post looks great! I like the suggestion about using glasses without the lenses. A lot of people have old prescriptions lying around they could remove the glass from.

This brought back memories!

I worked for a photographer many many years ago, who did weddings. Back in the film days, I actually had to retouch the reflection in the glasses by hand - directly on the print(s) using pigments and very fine brushes to redraw the details in the eyes. The photographer usually tried to avoid glare, but sometimes it required painting in quite a lot of detail.... This was back when WordPerfect was still in its infancy - so no Photoshop!!

You might check with some of the wedding photographers in the area - I'm sure they deal with it all the time!

Amy D.

If you have any photo's of her without the glare, you can select the non glare glasses, put it on it's own layer and move it to this photo.

John

What about trying a polarizer and doing a color balance??

I would borrow a friends polarizer and do some experimenting. Shouldn't cost anything.

I hope you don't mind but after bringing in the glasses they looked a little pasty face, so I darkened their skin a bit.

These are all wonderful suggestions...thank you all so much for the great ideas! I'll definitely be trying some of these out.

Julie, I deal with this on a daily basis. You have 3 options. One... lift the back of the glasses off the ear's (about 1 inch), this decreases the angle of reflectance. Two... remove the lenses. Three.. On each pose you do , have the subject reach up and remove the glasses, without moving thier head,take a couple of shots with the glasses off(stay the same distance). Then in PS make a selection around both lenses of the glasses leaving the metal of the frame showing. Do the first selection and then hold down the shift key do make your second selection.(feather at 1 pixel). Now minimise this image. Next on the image of the eyes, crop the eyes at 1"X 2 1/2" @300 dpi. Then do a Ctrl A and then a Ctrl C. Now reactivate the base image and go to... edit>paste into. Do a Ctrl T to free transform the eyes to the proper size. Hit enter, then the V key to move them into place. Free transform as many times as needed but always hold down the shift key to keep the proportions right.
If option 1 works you got it made. If option 2 works you worked a little extra. Option 3 works very well but you earn your money.
Best,
Howard

Wow, Howard...you've got this down to a science. Any advice about people who wear transitional lenses when shooting outside? Should we just remove them from the frame? I had this happen this past weekend and had to do a ton of shadow/highlight adjustments just so you could see their eyes beneath the glasses.

Julie, Transitional lenses are not that much of a problem. Buy some dark soft material (fannel works well) have your subject keep the glasses wrapped in the material until you are ready to take the portrait. After finishing that pose or grouping the glasses are then returned to the wrap. Your 6 to 8 images should be done quickly. After you set up your next pose or grouping do the same.
This will take care of the transition lenses but....glare still remains a factor. So use the options above. Also maybe a simple (chin down) command will help with glare. Also you could suggest they get empty frames from thier eye doctor. Pre session consultation is a big part of of a family portrait.Don,t be afraid to tell them what you want them to do.
Best,
Howard