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How to fix glare on photos

An old orange-tinted colour photo of children with a bright streak of window glare across the middle

Glare is easier to prevent than to remove. Re-take the capture with the light coming from the side; only if the print is gone does it make sense to repair glare already in the photo.

Why glare cannot simply be removed

Glare is light reflected straight off a glossy surface or the glass of a frame into the camera. Where it falls, the camera records the reflection instead of the picture, so those pixels hold no image at all, just white. Unlike fading or stains, there is nothing underneath to recover, which is why prevention matters so much.

Getting a good capture

  • Turn off overhead lights and put the print beside a window, so light arrives from the side rather than from behind you
  • Tilt the print or the phone a few degrees until the reflection slides off the picture
  • Take framed photos out of the frame if you can do it safely; glass adds a second reflective layer
  • Two lamps at 45 degrees on either side give even, glare-free light for a whole box of prints

What to run, and in what order

If a re-take is not possible, run Repair on the capture. Small glare spots are rebuilt from the surrounding picture, the same way a stain would be. Large bright patches across faces cannot be recovered, only reconstructed, and the result needs a careful look.

The tool for this is Repair a damaged photo.

Before and after: a scratched black and white close-up of a man, with most of the thin scratches removed in the repaired version
Repair damaged photo: thin scratches fade away; the deepest ones can remain.

What to expect

Rarely fixable. Small hot spots repair convincingly. Large areas of glare over important detail are guesses; a new capture beats any repair.

Practical notes

  • Matte and silk-finish prints barely reflect; glossy prints from the 1970s onwards are the usual problem
  • Check the capture on the phone at full zoom before moving to the next print, while it is still on the table
  • Polarised sunglasses held in front of the lens can cut reflections from glass in a pinch

Questions

How do I photograph old photos without glare?

Use side light from a window or two lamps at 45 degrees, turn off overhead lights, and tilt the print slightly until the reflection moves off the picture. Take framed photos out of the glass first.

Can you remove glare from a photo after it is taken?

Only partly. Glare replaces the picture with white, so small spots can be rebuilt from their surroundings but large patches are guesses. Re-taking the capture is always better.

Going deeper

How to photograph old photos with your phone explains the method behind this, including what it cannot fix.

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