How to get rid of window reflection from digital photos

[YS2003]

I took a sea port tour the other day and they allowed some picture taking. But, some of the pictures are taken through the bus window (as we were riding the bus for the port tour). There are some window reflection of bus' interior in the digital pictures. Is there a good method to Photoshop out those reflections? I appreciate any tip on this.

 

[cube]

You should have used a polarizing filter, assuming the bus windows were not polarized too.

 

[YS2003]

You should have used a polarizing filter, assuming the bus windows were not polarized too.

Does a polarizing filter actually get rid of the reflected images on the bus's window? I was taking the pictures on the objects outside the bus while sitting inside the bus. There are a bunch of reflected images on the bus window, which my digital camera also captured along with the target object.

 

[cube]

You rotate the filter until you see the reflections are minimized, and take the picture.

 

[killmoms]

No, there's no good way to Photoshop these out. Taking photos from a bus window pretty much always guarantees crappy shots. A polarizing filter will help minimize reflections.

 

[wiseguy27]

You rotate the filter until you see the reflections are minimized, and take the picture.

Apart from changing the composition, using a polarizing filter is your best bet to minimize reflections - the important word here is "minimize". You may not be able to eliminate the reflection entirely, depending on the shot and the environment.

Circular polarizing filters need to be rotated until you see the best picture (contrast wise or with minimum reflection). It's not something you can do for a spur-of-the-moment shot.

 

[ChrisA]

I took a sea port tour the other day and they allowed some picture taking. But, some of the pictures are taken through the bus window (as we were riding the bus for the port tour). There are some window reflection of bus' interior in the digital pictures. Is there a good method to Photoshop out those reflections? I appreciate any tip on this.

There is no EASY way in PS to remove a reflection. It will take much hand work when you are zoomed way in close. Basically you will have to paint over the worse of the reflections. Of course you can crop too. And if the the reflection covers a bare blue sky you are on luck because it is easy to paint over. If the reflection is over a background area you can blurr out that entire background.

It is very easy to prevent this problem at the time it is shot (1) Use a polarizing filter and rotate it for best effect before tripping the shutter. (2) shade the glass. Use your hand or place the lens shade in direct contact with the window

 

[OrdinaryImages]

Window Reflection Fix in Photoshop

I have often had to take the hard road to fix errors in my photos. Here is how I fix window reflections.
Open image in PS
Create a 2 duplicate layers (may only need one)
Except for the windows, enhance your image, in the top layer, how you like with contrast, vibrance, blue filters, etc.
Outline with the Polygonal Lasso the windows on this top layer that are too bright.
Cut this area (from the tools menu)
Click the 2nd layer of the image.
Enhance this as you look at it through the top layer, to how you want the windows to look.
Flatten image.
Save.

This is the very long and drawn out way to do what a polarizing filter will do. Fortunately, I was such a bad photographer in a remote area I had to learn to photoshop. Be patient and good luck.