How bad is this glass glare?

[jayk2]

I took this as an impromptu for the mother in law. it's her foster kids. They want this for the kids xmas cards. Regardless of what I do (which is very limited) I can't do anything to get rid of the glass glare to make it look normal. Any tips? suggestions? here's a pic I'm dealing with

[Duv]

You should be able to get reasonable results by copying and pasting the outside of the other eye and adjusting tone and contrast. Also with a fine black brush, paint in the glare on the glass rim.

Cheers
Dave

[Gary Richardson]

Looks good to me Dave.

[jayk2]

wow thats awesome!

[12fretter]

I also had realtively quick results but used the clone stamp within the same eye to do most of the work. Once the right colors were there, I added contrast to specific areas using the history brush to get my results.

[Ron Semrod]

This is fixable, but for anything larger than a 4x6" print, not easy.

Your Best Bet is to reshoot it or find another image from the shoot that works. Scroll down for shooting advice.

If you have another image without this problem in that eye, copy and paste that eye from that picture into the image you posted here, then distort and adjust curves for a perfect match.

If this is the only image available, (and there's no time to reshoot: see below) I'd carefully select the properly lit eye with the lasso tool. (Make your selection slightly larger than necessary. You can erase with a softened eraser later.) Copy and past into a new layer. Flip the layer horozontally and move it in place of the offending eye. Distort it (Edit>Transform>Distort), if necessary, until it fits closely within the frame of the glasses. I then add a curves adjustment layer and link it to the overlaying new eye layer using the option key. Drag the lower third of the RGB master curve up slightly until the eye appears to be highlighted like the right side (his right side) of his face. Your'e on your own after this. Burn, dodge, liquify, paint. Still doesn't look natural. I've gotta get some sleep.

If you're planning on a larger reproduction, I've used a great technique for this a couple of times, but would not go through it again. (pgs. 247-259 of "The PhotoShop World Dream Team Book: Volume 1" <www.peachpit.com/dreamteam.html>) I'm sorry that I don't have the time to write out the steps. Besides, the idea comes from Eddie Tapp (one of the authors) not me. His results are truly remarkable.

You'll need a Wacom tablet, Photoshop CS and no small amount of artistic talent to pull it off nicely. It took me about 45 minutes or an hour last time. The first attempt took at least a couple of hours. It involves rebuilding the major tonal & color components (i.e. drawing) and then blending in noise and textures to bring it to life. it is more realistic, since the right eye is not actually a mirror image of the left one. With carefull attention to detail, an artist can reconstruct the missing parts from scratch.



Can you re-shoot it? (This is also Eddie Tapp's suggestion) It may take less time than fixing this properly. Your main light is too low. It appears to be level with their eyes. Are you bouncing an on-camera strobe here? I noticed that you tried to minimize the effect by riding their glasses up the side of their heads. Good try.

Either raise the light source, lower the subjects, or raise the camera angle. If you have the power/light intensity, use a polarizing filter. There are probably a few other solutions.

It's much, much easier to shoot this than it is to fix it.

I've attempted to attach my quick fix. Not familiar with your site, so it might not work.

Sorry in advance if this makes no sense. Friday night Christmas party.

Good luck,

Ron

[Duv]

Not bad Ron, although I think the catchlight needs to be on the other side to make sense. But I could be wrong.

Dave

[Ron Semrod]

Good point. Bottom line, this is artwork. Needs attention, talent and time to make right.

One too many beers this evening. Should've left this one alone.

good night.

[Duv]

I've sat hear myself having had one too many wobbly pops. I'm real close to getting that book myself. Mmm. A christmas present. Maybe I'll just leave this post up on screen for a while.

Cheers
Dave

[Duv]

I could be wrong but I was thinking that the glasses were perhaps magnifying the eyes just a little bit. I changed them slightly using the Distort: Pinch filter.

Cheers
Dave

[jayk2]

Thanks all.

Ron,

This was shot with studio strobes using a diffusion panel (my weapon of choice)

The problem is this kid has a super strong perscription so regardless of what I did, I got glare. I pulled out the beauty dish, bounced the light from umbrellas, put him on the far side of the light. Regardless of what I did, he had catch lights. The other two's glasses weren't so bad, just his cause of the "coke bottle" effect. Next time in that situation, I'm going to have them either get rimless glasses or shoot a pic with his glasses off. the one I got with his glasses off, my mother in law was in the way. These are foster kid xmas car pics so nothing fancy.

From a photographic point of view, I should have had a rim light or hair light on them or at least the guy on the right for seperation but thats a whole nother thread lol

[Duv]

Sounds like you've tried just about everything. By the way I like "floor" perspective. Is it possible to bounce off the ceiling with a fill below. I know it's a low key setting. Just a thought.

Dave

[jayk2]

If you have a fill coming from the floor up, it will create whats known as "horror" film lighting, i.e. the kind of light you get when you put the flashlight under your nose when telling ghost stories. Very unflattering lighting.

I hate bouncing off the walls. It gives a very flat photo look.

If you can explain a bit more about the floor thing, I can go into a bit more.

Thanks
jay

[Duv]

Hi Jay

Believe me, I'm not much of a photographer. I just thought that given a world of compromise, a bounce flash off the ceiling with a floor mounted flash to offset the " horror " look might help reduce the glare. Perhaps I'm not understanding the effects of " Coke Bottle " glasses and glare. I've not tried a low camera perspective so I'm kind of way out of my league here.
Anyhow, have a great Christmas and New Years!!!

Dave

[senad]

First i pinpoined one colour and painted it with around 30% in the area where it was white. then smudged it to get a smooth transition. After that i cloned at 30 % from the areas around the eyes so it wouldn't be too smooth
I made the glasses darker in the corner but not too much and then i put some makeup. Darker lines around the eyes so it would look more like the other one. Here is my result.