Sun glare, while often creating dramatic and beautiful lighting effects in photography, can also interfere with your image quality and make editing a bit more challenging. Whether you’re capturing breathtaking landscapes or taking candid portraits under bright sunlight, sun glare can obscure details and distract from the focal point of your photograph. Luckily, Adobe Lightroom Classic offers a variety of tools to help you minimize or completely remove sun glare from your photos.
In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the step-by-step process of removing sun glare in Lightroom Classic so you can enhance the Clarity of your images without losing the natural beauty of the light.
Step-by-Step Guide to Removing Sun Glare in Lightroom Classic
Import Your Image into Lightroom Classic
Before you begin any edits, make sure that you’ve imported your photo into Lightroom Classic. Open Lightroom, go to the Library module and import the image you’d like to edit.
Adjust the Exposure
Sun glare can often cause overexposed areas in your image where the highlights are washed out. The first step in addressing sun glare is to manage the overall exposure of the image.
- In the Develop module, navigate to the Basic panel.
- Adjust the Exposure slider to decrease overall brightness, which can help tone down the sun glare.
- Alternatively, try adjusting the Highlights slider to lower the bright areas that may be directly affected by the sun’s glare. Be cautious not to reduce the exposure too much, as it may cause the entire image to lose brightness.
Use the Adjustment Brush Tool
One of the most powerful tools in Lightroom Classic for removing sun glare is the Adjustment Brush. This tool lets you paint specific areas of the image for localized adjustments, ideal for working on the glare without affecting the entire photograph.
Here’s how to use the Adjustment Brush:
- Go to the Develop module and click on the Adjustment Brush tool (shortcut: K).
- Set the brush settings. Start with a soft brush with a fairly low flow and feather for natural blending. You can always adjust these settings later.
- Adjust the sliders to correct the sun glare:
- Highlights: Lower the highlights in the areas affected by the glare.
- Exposure: If the glare has overexposed the area, reduce the exposure.
- Contrast: Decrease contrast if the glare is making the area appear too harsh.
- Shadows: If your photo has become dark due to reducing the exposure, increase the shadows to bring back some detail in the dark areas.
- Paint over the sun glare: With the brush selected, click and drag over the area where the sun glare appears. Don’t worry about being too precise at first; you can always fine-tune the area with the brush settings.
- Refine the adjustment: If needed, use the Eraser option to remove any unwanted brush strokes from areas outside the glare.
Use the Radial Filter Tool for Glare Around the Sun
If the sun glare is not just a harsh spot but a soft glow that extends outward, the Radial Filter tool can be a great solution. This tool allows you to make circular or elliptical adjustments, which are ideal for modifying areas with radial glare, such as light spreading around the sun or a reflective surface.
To use the Radial Filter:
- Select the Radial Filter tool (shortcut: Shift + M).
- Draw an oval or circular shape around the sun or the affected area. You can click and drag to adjust the size of the filter as needed.
- In the Radial Filter settings, reduce the Exposure and Highlight sliders to dim the glare and brighten the surrounding areas to bring back detail.
- You can also adjust Contrast, Whites, and Clarity to make the area appear more natural and less affected by the bright spot.
- If the glare only affects certain parts of the image, use the Invert Mask option, which allows you to adjust the area inside the radial filter without affecting the rest of the photo.
Use the Clone and Heal Tool for Small Glare Spots
For small spots of sun glare that appear as bright white blobs (often referred to as lens flare), the Clone or Heal tools can be helpful. These tools allow you to sample pixels from other parts of the image and replace the unwanted glare spots.
Here’s how to use the Clone and Heal tool:
- In the Develop module, select the Spot Removal tool (shortcut: Q).
- Choose either Clone or Heal. The Heal option blends the surrounding area with the area being corrected, which is usually better for sun glare removal.
- Click on the glare spot. Lightroom will automatically select a source area nearby to replace the glare.
- Suppose the source area doesn’t work well. In that case, you can adjust the sampled area by clicking and dragging the source area to a more suitable region of the image.
Fine-tune the Details with the Tone Curve
Once you’ve made the primary adjustments to the glare, fine-tuning the overall tonal range can further enhance your image. The Tone Curve allows you to make more precise adjustments to the highlights, midtones, and shadows.
- In the Develop module, scroll to the Tone Curve panel.
- Lower the Highlight section to further reduce brightness in the affected areas.
- If the glare made certain colors appear washed out, try adjusting the RGB Curve to boost saturation and bring back vibrancy in those areas.
Use the HSL Panel for Color Adjustments
In some cases, sun glare can affect the color balance of your image, especially in areas where the glare is concentrated. Suppose you notice that the colors are off. In that case, you can use the HSL/Color panel to tweak the hues, saturation, and luminance of specific colors in the image.
- Adjust the Saturation and Luminance sliders for the affected colors to balance out the tones and make the image appear more natural.
Sharpening and Final Touches
After you’ve removed the sun glare and made any necessary adjustments to exposure and color, finish the image by sharpening and adding any final touches.
- In the Detail panel, use the Sharpening sliders to enhance fine details and ensure your photo looks crisp.
- Review the image zoomed in to check that no unintended artifacts remain from the glare removal process.
Pro Tips for Preventing Sun Glare in Future Photos
While Lightroom Classic has powerful tools to remove sun glare, it’s always best to prevent glare from happening in the first place. Here are some tips to avoid glare in your photos:
- Use a lens hood: A lens hood can help reduce direct sunlight from hitting your lens and causing unwanted glare.
- Adjust your angle: Change your shooting angle to avoid direct sunlight hitting your lens. Experiment with different compositions until the glare is minimized.
- Use a polarizing filter: A circular polarizer filter can help reduce glare, particularly on water or reflective surfaces.
- Shoot during the golden hour: The soft light during the early morning or late evening is less likely to cause harsh glare than midday sunlight.
Conclusion
Sun glare can be a beautiful and dynamic element in photography. Still, it’s also a common challenge that requires attention to detail when editing. With Lightroom Classic, you have access to a wide range of tools—like the Adjustment Brush, Radial Filter, Clone/Heal tools, and more—that allow you to remove or reduce sun glare effectively, restoring detail and balance to your image.