Unwanted reflections.....

[ermel]

Does anyone know how to get rid of unwanted reflections on a photo of a framed poster?
The glass is very reflective and will reflect any light that it encounters, even natural light.
I can see a reflection of myself as I was photographing the poster. I have attached the photo of which I speak of.
Any and all ideas are welcomed! Thank you!!

[LeviFiction]

My suggestion: You can clone them out. Or retake the photo with a better set-up.

[ermel]

I will try to re-shoot photo using a polarizing filter on camera, is there a polarizing effect in PaintShop Photo Pro to correct the photo already taken like the one shown?

[df]

This is better done in camera than in the editing program.

You'll want to just light the poster, not the entire room. If the rest of the room is dark you won't get enough reflections to see anything in. The reflections will still be there but they won't be as prominent. This is true of the big $$$ product setups as well. You can usually see a reflection or two if you really look for it in anything that's been shot of a reflective item.
Light from the side. Think of how the light is going to reflect off the glass. If you bounce the light at an angle that's going to go straight towards the camera then you'll see that in the camera. If you bounce the light off the glass and it goes past the camera to the other side of the room (but not behind the camera) then you won't see the reflection in the camera.

And you don't need to get fancy lighting for smaller stuff. Just a couple of desk lamps placed to the sides should be OK. Just tell your camera to turn the flash off, otherwise you'll be right back where you started from.

[ermel]

Thank you "df", I will let you know how this works out, when I get a chance to try it!!

[teknisyan]

ermel,

Like what LeviFiction suggested you can use the clone tool to remove the reflection or you can also use the object remover but it will be better to reshoot the photo for a better quality.

[Joelle]

Does anyone know how to get rid of unwanted reflections on a photo of a framed poster?
The glass is very reflective and will reflect any light that it encounters, even natural light.
I can see a reflection of myself as I was photographing the poster. I have attached the photo of which I speak of.
Any and all ideas are welcomed! Thank you!!

Suggestions:
Scan the poster.
Photograph it again on a dull day.
Take the poster out of it's frame.
Do a lot of cloning (never very satisfactory).
A hefty dose of Clarify might help. Do this on a duplicate layer.
Adjust>Backlighting might be worth a try, also on a duplicate layer.
Can't think of anything else right now

Joëlle

[df]

There's also the thought of using a circular polarizer but I assume that you're not using a dSLR.

[ermel]

The camera I am using is a Canon G11. I used a Polarizing filter and retook the photo with natural light.
It still had reflections but they were fewer, so I used the cloning tool in PSPP to paint away the reflections.
It looks a lot better. Tell me what you think! I have attached new photo.
Again, thanks to all who helped me and especially the ones that suggested I retake the shot.

P.S. I wish PSPP had more different brushes to clone with!!!

[wds937]

Tell me what you think! I have attached new photo.

You did a nice job with reducing the reflections.

Depending upon what you ultimately want to do with the picture, you may want to apply the Perspective Correction Tool to make the picture appear to have been taken head-on and level. Afterward, you may want to apply some Barrel Distortion Correction so that the picture frame is straight lines (not bent-looking). Because the above corrections will distort the overall border of the picture, you would then want to crop some of the yellow background so that the overall picture is again rectangular.

I wish PSPP had more different brushes to clone with!!!

I think I counted about 40 brushes. Maybe one of the Smoke or Fuzz brushes would have been useful around the edges. Experiment with the different brushes until you find what works for you in the particular situation.

Again, good job with the reshoot and removing reflections.

[LeviFiction]

Ermel, the clone brush can use all of the exact same brush heads as normal burshes. So if you want more brushes you just have to make them or import them.

[Tim Morrison]

In an ideal world you'd only have the image lit at equal intensity with lights at 45 degrees to either side, so that their reflections aren't seen. It's a bit more complicated though when you need to use existing lighting and the frame of the picture is rounded and catches light from any angle.
To hide the camera reflection, you would sit as far back as possible, directly in front of the picture, and with the camera in complete darkness. Any other reflections would be hidden by arranging a matte black board or cloth to hide them. It might even be a case of having all but the front of the lens hidden by a black cloth.
Having the camera directly in front and zoomed in would mean the picture would be rectangular and the sides would be straight. You can correct the image's barrel distortion using Adjust > Barrel Distortion Correction with a value around 28. Then use the Perspective Correction tool to make the image rectangular. Drag the corners of the tool's overlay so that they are directly over the picture's corners, then click the green tick on the Tools Options palette.

[ermel]

I cannot find the Perspective Correction Tool, does anyone know where it is?

[LeviFiction]

The perspective Correction Tool is under the same button as the Straighten tool. Just click on the triangle and you should see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOydrWAIAco