How to Remove Glare from Glasses in Photoshop

A studio light reflecting directly in a subject’s glasses can obscure part of their eye, but the Clone Stamp tool’s Clone Source panel, especially its horizontal flip and overlay preview, makes repairing that glare surprisingly manageable. This tutorial covers checking whether a photo is a good candidate for the fix, using Clone Source to mirror detail from the clear side of the glasses, and blending the repair in smoothly.

Checking Whether the Photo Is a Good Candidate for This Fix

Because the detail behind glasses is a person’s eye, this technique depends entirely on having at least one eye fully clear of any reflection to sample from.

1. Confirm One Eye Is Clear of Glare

   Check that at least one eye behind the glasses is free of any reflection, since it will serve as the source of detail for the repair.

2. Assess How Much Detail Is Missing

   Look at how much of the glared eye is actually obscured, since more missing detail means more careful cloning will be needed.

Why at Least One Clear Eye Is Required

An eye contains an enormous amount of fine, specific detail, the iris, the reflection of the eyelid, individual eyelashes, that simply cannot be convincingly invented from nothing. If both eyes were affected by glare, there would be no source of real detail left to sample from, making this particular technique impossible to pull off believably.

Setting Up the Clone Stamp Tool on a New Layer

Working on a new layer with Sample Current & Below keeps the glare repair fully separate from the original photo.

3. Create a New Layer

   Add a new layer above the photo to hold the clone stamp work.

4. Select the Clone Stamp Tool

   Press S for the Clone Stamp tool.

5. Set Opacity and Flow to 100%

   Set both Opacity and Flow to 100% to start.

6. Set Sample to Current & Below

   Set the Sample option to Current & Below so the tool can sample the photo while painting on the new layer.

Opening the Clone Source Panel and Turning On Show Overlay

The Clone Source panel’s Show Overlay option previews exactly what a sample will look like before it’s painted down, which is essential for detailed work around an eye.

7. Open the Clone Source Panel

   Go to Window > Clone Source.

8. Turn On Show Overlay

   Check Show Overlay so a live preview of the sampled area appears wherever the cursor is positioned.

Why Show Overlay Matters for Detailed Clone Work

Without a preview, painting with the Clone Stamp tool around something as detailed as an eye means committing to a stroke before knowing exactly how it will land. Show Overlay removes that guesswork by displaying the sampled content directly over the cursor before a single pixel is painted, making it possible to position each stroke with real precision.

Flipping the Sample Horizontally to Mirror the Other Side

The Clone Source panel’s horizontal flip option mirrors a sampled area automatically, which is exactly what’s needed to copy detail from one side of a symmetrical pair of glasses to the other.

9. Enable the Horizontal Flip Option

   In the Clone Source panel, click the horizontal flip icon to mirror the sampled content.

10. Sample the Clear Side

    Hold Alt/Option and click on the clear side of the glasses to set the sample point.

11. Paint Over the Glared Side

    Paint over the area with glare, letting the flipped sample mirror the clear side’s detail into the correct position.

Cloning Eye Detail From the Clear Side

Once the outer glasses area is repaired, sampling specifically from the clear eye replaces the missing detail in the affected one.

12. Sample the Clear Eye

    Hold Alt/Option and sample a specific part of the clear eye, such as the iris or eyelid detail.

13. Paint the Sampled Detail Over the Glared Eye

    Paint the sampled detail directly over the corresponding part of the glared eye.

14. Undo and Retry if Glasses Detail Gets Copied

    Press Cmd/Ctrl+Z if part of the glasses frame accidentally gets copied along with the eye detail, then try again more carefully.

Masking Out Areas That Didn’t Need Cloning

A layer mask painted with black removes any cloned detail from areas that didn’t actually need repairing in the first place.

15. Add a Layer Mask to the Clone Layer

    Add a layer mask to the clone stamp layer.

16. Paint Black Over Unneeded Areas

    Press B for the Brush tool and paint black over any area where the cloning wasn’t actually necessary.

Fixing Areas That Duplicated Too Much

A second clone stamp pass, sampling from directly below with the horizontal flip turned off, corrects spots where too much of the glasses frame got duplicated.

17. Create Another New Layer

    Add a new layer above the existing clone work.

18. Turn Off the Horizontal Flip

    Turn off the horizontal flip option in the Clone Source panel for this straightforward correction.

19. Sample and Paint From Directly Below

    Sample an area just below the problem spot and paint directly above it to cover the over-duplicated glasses detail.

Blending the Repair With a Lower-Opacity Clone Stamp Pass

A final clone stamp pass at reduced opacity smooths the transitions between all the previous repairs into one consistent-looking area.

20. Create a Final Layer for Blending

    Add one more new layer for the final blending pass.

21. Choose a Larger Brush

    Increase the Clone Stamp brush size for broader, softer coverage.

22. Lower the Opacity to 50%

    Press 5 on the keyboard to set the Clone Stamp opacity to 50%.

23. Sample and Paint to Smooth Transitions

    Sample nearby areas and paint gently over any remaining blotchy transitions to smooth them together.

Why Lower Opacity Helps With Final Blending

Painting at full opacity replaces pixels completely, which works well for the main repair but can leave slightly harsh, blotchy transitions between separately cloned areas. Dropping the opacity to 50% lets each stroke blend partially with what’s underneath instead of fully replacing it, smoothing those transitions into one another.

More Free Photoshop Tutorials

To build on the cloning and masking techniques used here, check out these free tutorials:

• How to Select Subjects and Refine Edges in Photoshop
• Three Ways to Use Blend If in Photoshop
• Curves vs Levels in Photoshop: What the Difference Actually Is

Why This Approach Works

Confirming that one eye is genuinely clear of glare before starting is what makes this whole technique possible, since there’s no way to invent convincing eye detail that doesn’t already exist somewhere in the photo. The Clone Source panel’s horizontal flip does the mirroring work automatically, which is far more reliable than trying to manually match a mirrored angle by eye. Finishing with a reduced-opacity blending pass is what turns several separately cloned patches into one smooth, consistent-looking repair instead of an obviously stitched-together area.

Final Thoughts

Removing glare from glasses is one of those Photoshop fixes that looks intimidating at first but comes down to a few specific Clone Source settings, sampling from the correct side, and a bit of patience around the fine detail of an eye. As long as one eye in the photo is clear, this same flip-and-sample approach works reliably every time glare gets in the way of a great portrait.