Top 5 Ways on How to Remove Glare from Photo

Glare is often defined as a bright spot in a photograph, but it is generally caused by light reflecting off something in the scene. Light reflecting off eyeglasses, the forehead of someone with long hair, a blown-out patch on a product photo, or even a glossy surface can create glare in your images. If you are wondering how to remove glare from photo results without spending hours in manual retouching, understanding the source of reflection is the first step toward fixing it effectively.

Fortunately, learning to remove glare from photo edits does not require an extensive retouching workflow, since modern AI-based editing solutions can eliminate reflections, recreate detail lost due to glare, and correct excessive brightness or contrast in just a few clicks. In addition to finding products that completely remove glare, I also focused on tools that can significantly reduce reflections while preserving natural skin texture and avoiding unnatural blurring.

In addition to reviewing all of the different editing solutions I have reviewed, I have compiled a list of my top recommendations for glare removal tools.

The best photo glare removers

• Luminar Neo for AI-powered simplicity 
• AirMore.AI for quick online AI enhancement
• Fotor for fast browser-based edits
• YouCam Perfect for mobile touch-ups
• Snapseed for free manual control

What makes the best photo glare remover?

The idea of eliminating glare from glasses when you’re editing photos is much bigger than simply getting rid of the white light or reflection that’s on the lens. The idea is to get back as many of those little details as possible, especially in the eye area while preserving natural skin tones, as well as maintaining a smooth and balanced light throughout the image. When learning how to remove glare from glasses in photo edits, the focus isn’t on erasing the glare or reflection off of the lens; rather, the focus is on creating a realistic representation of the eyes, along with a seamless integration of that correction into the rest of the image, where the viewer can’t even tell anything was done.

When testing I was looking at:

• Accuracy from an AI perspective: It should be able to remove reflections and retain as much texture as possible.
• Blending naturally: All of the edited areas must have the same tone and lighting conditions as all of the surrounding areas.
• Time: Removing glare should only take a couple of seconds, not multiple layer editing.
• Adjustment options. While automation can help, there are times when you need to adjust the corrections manually.
• Cost: No casual user should need to spend hundreds of dollars on a subscription to correct a few reflections.

The best photo glare removers at a glance

Tool	Best for	Pricing
Luminar Neo	AI simplicity	One-time or subscription
AirMore.AI	Online AI enhancement	Free plan available
Fotor	Quick browser edits	Free plan available
YouCam Perfect	Mobile portraits	Free plan available
Snapseed	Free manual control	Free

Best AI photo glare remover for simplicity

Luminar Neo

Luminar Neo provides Portrait and Lighting tools utilizing AI to remove the shine and reflections from photos using little to no effort which makes it a good choice if you’re searching for how to remove light glare from photo. Using smart sliders (skin tone correction, highlight reduction, structure) for adjusting to minimize or eliminate reflections from glasses and shiny skin typically does not leave any obvious touch-up artifacts as opposed to having to clone away the glare manually.

Pros:

• Ease of Use for Beginners
• Strong AI automation
• Option to pay once as opposed to on-going subscription fees 

Cons:

• Less detailed editing than top-end desktop editors
• Glare that is heavy will most likely need to be refined by hand.

Pricing: Either one time licensing or subscription pricing options are available.

Best online AI enhancer for glare reduction

AirMore.AI

While AirMore.AI does not have a specific tool to remove glasses glare from photo during photo editing, the AI Image Enhancement features can help minimize some of the appearance of glare in an edited image. The enhancements improve clarity and the level of detail. Users can edit their images using the web based interface, apply the enhancement feature, allow the AI to optimize the image (exposure) and adjust the most critical areas of the image, and then save the improved image. It will greatly enhance the quality of images that are being impacted by glare in such a way that softens key features or reduces the level of contrast.

Pros:

• Online only and easy to use
• Optional free service
• Fast process

Cons:

• There is no specific glare removal option
• Limited options for manual control over the enhancements.

Pricing: There are free options available and additional premium services available.

Best browser-based glare remover

Fotor

Fotor‘s AI retouch and blemishes are an option for removing some of the glare (manually) by brushing away it with a retouch tool, which blends the areas you touched-up into your image’s surrounding tones.

This is especially effective on small, minor amounts of glare on portraits or images you’re posting to social media.

Pros:

• No need to download anything.
• Easy to use retouching features.
• A free version is available.

Cons:

• The most quality results require manual intervention.
• Not ideal for strong glare/reflections.

Pricing: The free version is available; Pro versions will cost about $8 per month.

Best mobile glare remover for portraits

YouCam Perfect

This app is intended as a means of quickly using smartphone-based editing.
YouCam Perfect‘s AI skin retouching features will easily remove shine and smooth out highlights with just a couple of touches for selfie photographers and social media influencers who don’t want to use desktop programs for removing glare.

Pros:

• A super easy-to-use workflow.
• Very good auto-blending capabilities.
• An affordable option for the premium version.

Cons:

• Doesn’t do such a great job at reducing product/landscape glare.
• Lacks many advanced control options.

Pricing: There is a free version. Premium options cost about $5 per month.

Best free manual glare remover

Snapseed

One of the best ways to remove glare from photo online free is to use Snapseed. When you are using Snapseed’s Healing tool, you will be able to brush out or paint over glare areas (to diminish glare reflections) that have been applied manually. While the method of painting out glare areas can take some time and require considerable care and attention to detail, it provides a relatively simple way to manually paint out glare/reflective areas when used in conjunction with Snapseed’s zoom feature to provide greater detail and accuracy. It also does allow for manual correction of glare at no cost to you.

Pros:

• Completely free
• Doesn’t add watermarks
• Can be used off-line 

Cons:

• Fully manual method 
• Best suited for minor glare

Pricing: Free.

AI-powered glare removal

The modern tools for removing glare in images will typically perform intelligent adjustments to exposure, adjust contrast, and reconstruct details in an image. If you are looking for automatic ease of use, consider using Luminar Neo or AirMore.AI. If you would like to use something that offers the benefit of being used via your web browser, then try Fotor. If you simply need something easy to use to fix glare in images while on the go, then YouCam Perfect will get the job done as expected. Lastly, if you simply want something free to use manually, then Snapseed has been a reliable choice. 

The correct tool to remove glare from an image depends on how much glare is present and how much control you desire over the end result of your photo.