Reflections – Photoshop Friday

Eyes are one of my favorite things to photograph. So much emotion and life can be captured with just a click of a button when the eyes are the focus.

But one thing I tend to take for granted about eyes is just how reflective they are! Unless you have your angles just right, if you look into the eyes of your subject, you’ll often be able to see yourself or the lens of your camera looking back at you.

Learning how to remove reflections from my photographs has been a lifesaver for me. The process is pretty straight forward and only takes a couple extra minutes to do in my normal post-processing routine.

If you follow the steps outlined below, you’ll be a pro in no time!

The best news of all – once you learn this skill, the same tool can be used to fix a whole lot more than just reflections.

But, if you know an easier way around this without having to post-process yourself out, tell me your secrets!

The Original

From a distance, it’s not overly obvious that this sweet kitty is not the only star of the photo.

Zoomed Original

As soon as you look at his eyes, however, it becomes glaringly see what I did there? obvious that there are bright teal arms and pale fingers reflecting in the varnish of his eyes.

The Fix

Thankfully, Photoshop has tools to make removing unwanted reflections and glares a breeze to fix in a few simple steps.

Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop
Step 2: Zoom in to your image so that the selection you are editing is clearly in view
Step 3: Select the Healing Brush Tool (J) from your tool bar
Step 4: Hold Alt and click on an area of your image to sample the colors and textures
Step 5: Move your brush to the unwanted area and make quick clicking motions (don’t drag) to apply the effect
Step 6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have reached your desired look

Hint: Sample your image often to make the effect appear more realistic

Zoomed Modified

The Modified

 

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