Table of Contents
- What Is Lens Flare?
- How to Avoid Lens Flare When Shooting Real Estate
- How to Remove Lens Flare in Lightroom (Step-by-Step Guide)
- Outsource Your Real Estate Photo Editing to PhotoUp
Do you want to learn how to remove lens flare in Lightroom? Then, you’ve come to the right place!
Lens flare, while sometimes used creatively in photography, is generally undesirable in real estate photography as it can obscure important details and reduce image quality.
It occurs when direct light hits the lens, creating bright spots, streaks, or a hazy appearance.
In this guide, we’ll show you step-by-step instructions on how to remove lens flare in Adobe Lightroom and also share tips on how to avoid this phenomenon when shooting real estate photos, ensuring your images remain sharp and professional.
Alright, let’s get started!
What Is Lens Flare?
Before we roll up our sleeves and dig into the removal process, it’s vital to understand what we’re combating.
Lens flare occurs when sunlight or other bright light sources hit the camera lens directly, causing light streaks, spots, or haze across the image.
While lens flare can sometimes be used creatively, in real estate photography, it is generally unwanted because it can obscure important details and reduce the quality of the image.
Flare can appear as rings or orbs of light, bright spots, or a general haze that reduces contrast and clarity.
Now, let’s take a look at how to avoid lens flare when shooting properties, so you don’t have to deal with this in post-processing.
How to Avoid Lens Flare When Shooting Real Estate
To minimize lens flare during real estate photography, you can follow these shooting tips:
- Use a lens hood – a lens hood can help block unwanted light from entering the lens, especially when shooting exteriors under direct sunlight
- Change the angle – adjust the angle of your camera to avoid pointing directly at the sun or other strong light sources
- Use your hand or another object for shade – if you don’t have a lens hood, you can create shade over the lens with your hand or another object to block out the direct light (without appearing in the frame)
- Avoid shooting at midday – the sun is typically at its harshest and brightest during midday, which increases the risk of lens flare. Try shooting earlier or later in the day
- Use a polarizing filter – a polarizer can help reduce reflections and may cut down on lens flare when shooting in bright light conditions
However, even with precautions, lens flare can still sneak into your images. Thankfully, Lightroom offers effective tools to remove lens flare during post-processing.
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How to Remove Lens Flare in Lightroom (Step-by-Step Guide)
As mentioned, lens flare can be a distracting and unwanted element in real estate photography, but with Lightroom’s editing tools, it’s easy to remove and correct it in post-production.
By using the Spot Removal Tool, Graduated Filter, and Adjustment Brush, you can restore the clarity and quality of your images.
Here’s how to remove unwanted lens flare from your real estate photos using Lightroom. You can either watch the video tutorial or continue reading the text below:
One of the easiest ways to remove lens flare in Lightroom is to use the Spot Removal Tool. Here’s what to do:
1. Using the Spot Removal Tool
Step 1. To use the Spot Removal Tool, first, open your imported photo in Lightroom.
Step 2. Next, navigate to the Develop module. From the toolbar, select the Spot Removal Tool.
Step 3. Choose the Heal option for a more natural blend. Adjust the size of the tool to be slightly larger than the lens flare spot.
Step 4. Click on the lens flare to remove it. Lightroom will automatically select a nearby area to blend in.
2. Using Gradient Filters
You can also use the Gradient Filters to remove the lens flare in Lightroom.
Step 1. By selecting either of the two Gradient Filters from the toolbar, drag the filter over the area affected by the lens flare.
Step 2. Adjust the exposure, highlights, and shadows to match the surrounding area. This helps to blend the area more naturally.
3. Using the Adjustment Brush
Another way to remove lens flare in Lightroom is to refine it with the Adjustment Brush.
Step 1. Select the Adjustment Brush from the toolbar. Brush over the area where the lens flare was.
Step 2. Adjust settings such as exposure, contrast, and clarity to fine-tune the area. This allows for more precise control over the affected area.
And that’s it! You’ve now learned how to remove lens flare in Lightroom.
If you rather prefer to use Photoshop, you can check out our guide on how to remove lens flare in Photoshop.
Have You Ever Thought To
Outsource Photo Editing?
Try it today with 10 free edits from three professional photo editors.
Outsource Your Real Estate Photo Editing to PhotoUp
Mastering post-production skills is essential for photographers, especially in industries like real estate, where high-quality images can make all the difference in attracting clients and showcasing properties.
With regular practice, these editing techniques will become second nature, allowing you to refine your work quickly and efficiently.
But if you’d prefer to focus your time on shooting more properties and building lasting client relationships, why not leave the editing to PhotoUp?
PhotoUp’s team of expert real estate photo editors is ready to enhance your images for as little as $1.50 per image for on-demand editing (with a dedicated editor, you can get the price down as low as $0.50 per edit).
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Ready-to-hire editors for real estate photo editing, and more.
Our skilled editors can tackle a wide range of issues, including:
- Improper exposure levels
- Harsh shadows or insufficient lighting
- Blurred images from handheld shooting
- Cropping and creative effects
- Lawn greening and sky replacements
- Twilight editing
- Clutter and object removal
- Line and angle corrections
- And much more!
From basic touch-ups to complex edits, we handle it all.
Plus, with PhotoUp’s intuitive platform, you can easily upload and receive photos, provide detailed instructions and feedback, manage your team and clients, and deliver finished images directly to your clients with ease.
How to Get Started
Getting started is super easy – this is what to do:
Step 1. Sign up for a free PhotoUp account.
Step 2. Upload your photos to our easy-to-use software.
Step 3. Choose the level of editing that you need and provide instructions (optional).
Step 4. Wait for PhotoUp professional editors to edit and return the photos in less than 24 hours (48 hours for virtual staging).
Step 5. Download and start using your beautifully edited photos.
PhotoUp Real Estate Photo Editing Uploader Demo
To learn more, check out our real estate photo editing uploader demo:
It’s really as easy as 1-2-3 to get beautifully edited images!
A Complete Real Estate Marketing Partner
On top of that, PhotoUp is a complete real estate marketing partner and also offers additional services such as:
- Virtual staging
- Virtual house tours
- Custom websites
- Single property websites
- Property flyers
- Floor plans
- House portraits
- And Virtual Assistants
We have everything you need to enhance and market real estate photography in one user-friendly platform!
So, don’t wait!
Sign up for a free PhotoUp account today and we’ll help you remove lens flare and other imperfections in less than 24 hours.
Did we mention that you get 10 free credits when you sign up for an account that you can use for any of our services?!
We hope this blog post helped you learn how to remove lens flare in Lightroom. If you found this guide useful, you may also want to check out the following resources:
