A reflection in a photo is light from your side of the glass, such as a lamp, a window or your own shirt, laid over whatever is behind it. The most reliable way to remove a reflection from a photo is to keep it out of the shot, and the next best is an editor that rebuilds what the glass was hiding. Shooting fixes for windows, framed art, screens and water are up top. Steps for iPhone, Samsung, Canva, Photoshop and Lightroom follow, plus AI instructions for reflections that won't erase cleanly. Glare on eyeglasses needs its own approach, covered in how to remove glare from glasses.
Why glass reflects, and how angles help
A pane of glass acts like a weak mirror, so a reflected ray leaves at the angle it came in, mirrored across the perpendicular. That means the reflection you see depends on where you stand: take a step sideways and a lamp's reflection shifts across the glass, often out of the frame.
Reflected light is also partly polarized, which is why polarized sunglasses cut glare from water and windows. The angle where a reflection becomes completely polarized is called Brewster's angle. For crown glass it works out to about 56.7 degrees from straight on, and for water about 53.1 degrees. Near that slant, a polarizing filter held the right way can block most of the reflection. At other angles the reflected light is only partly polarized, so the filter dims it without removing it.
The other factor is brightness. A reflection shows most when your side of the glass is brighter than the far side, which is why a window at night turns into a mirror.
Stop reflections before you take the photo
Each kind of glass has its own fix at the moment you shoot.
- Windows and aquariums. Press the phone's lens flat against the glass. With no gap, room light can't bounce into the lens.
- Storefronts and car windows. Shoot at a slant, around 55 to 60 degrees off straight on, with a pair of polarized sunglasses in front of the phone's lens. Rotate them until the reflection fades.
- Framed art and photos behind glass. Turn off the lights in front of it, light it from both sides at an angle, wear dark clothing and stand square to it. Take the print out of the frame if you can.
- Screens. A screenshot beats a photo of your own screen every time, with no glass in the way at all.
- Water. Use the polarized-sunglasses trick at a low angle to see into a pond or pool, or keep the reflection and use it on purpose.
- Night windows. Switch off every light in your room, or hold a dark jacket around the phone to block them.
7 ways to remove a reflection from a photo
When the reflection is already in the photo, pick by how much of the picture it covers. As of September 2026:
| Method | Works on | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erase reflections (Samsung Gallery) | Galaxy AI models, when the photo gets the suggestion | Part of Gallery | Window and glass reflections on a Galaxy |
| Ask Photos in Google Photos | Adults on Android or iPhone, where Google has launched it | Included in Google Photos | Typed fixes such as "remove the glare" |
| Magic Eraser and Magic Edit in Canva | Any browser, or the Canva app | Counts under Canva's AI usage rules | A reflected object, or a patch you brush and describe |
| Clean Up in Apple Photos | iPhone 16 models and later, plus the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max | Part of iOS | A small reflected object, like a lamp in a window |
| Dehaze in Snapseed | iOS 17 or later, or Android | Free; no ads or in-app purchases | A faint, even haze of glare across the glass |
| Reflection Removal in Photoshop, or Reflections in Lightroom Classic | Photoshop or Lightroom Classic on a computer | Adobe subscription (Photoshop: US$22.99 a month, annual plan) | A window reflection spread across the whole photo |
| Smart Editor in Toybox AI | Web browser; Pro plan required | At current prices, 85 credits an HD edit | Large reflections where the view behind must be rebuilt |
How to remove a reflection from a photo on iPhone
The iPhone's Photos app has no reflection tool, so use Google Photos for a full reflection and Clean Up for a small reflected object.
- In the Google Photos app (iOS 18 or later), open settings and switch on Ask Photos, listed with the app's Gemini features. Face Groups must be on, and so must location estimates. Google offers these features only to users 18 or older, and only in countries where they have launched.
- Open the photo, tap Edit and Ask, and tap Continue.
- Type the fix, such as "remove the reflection of the lamp from the window and keep the view outside the same", then tap Enter.
- Zoom in on the glass and the edges of the frame, then tap Save.
For a small reflected object, like a ceiling light or a bright lamp in the glass, Apple's Clean Up works on an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max and on iPhone 16 models and later. Under Edit, go to Tools, pick Clean Up, and mark the reflection by tapping it, brushing over it or drawing a circle around it. Apple built Clean Up for distracting objects, so check that the area behind looks right.
How to remove a reflection from a photo on Samsung
Galaxy phones have a reflection tool built into Gallery on Galaxy AI models.
- Find the photo in Gallery.
- Swipe up on the photo to open its details and look through the edit suggestions.
- If Erase reflections appears, tap it and follow the prompts. You may need to draw around the reflection or move a slider.
- Save it as a copy (More options, then Save as copy) so the unedited photo stays in Gallery.
Gallery doesn't offer it on every photo. Without Erase reflections, open the Edit icon, then the Photo assist icon, and use AI Eraser on a small reflected object. Galaxy AI tools need Android 14 with One UI 6.1 or higher on select models, plus a signed-in Samsung account and a data connection. Samsung also notes that images made with Galaxy AI carry a watermark.
How to remove a reflection from a photo in Canva
Canva has two tools for this, one that erases and one that replaces.
- Select the photo in your design, then select Edit.
- Under Tools, select Magic Eraser for a reflected object. Choose Brush, paint over it, and select Erase. If some of it stays, Canva suggests erasing a slightly larger area.
- For a reflection spread across the glass, go back to Tools and select Magic Edit. Brush over the reflection, describe what should be there, such as "clear glass showing the garden behind it", and select Generate.
Canva notes that Magic Edit results can come out with light that doesn't match and a brushed area that looks more pixelated than the rest. Canva's AI usage rules apply to both tools, so check your plan's allowance.
Remove a reflection in Photoshop or Lightroom
On a computer, Adobe has built-in commands for the hardest case: a window reflection spread across the whole frame. In Photoshop, Reflection Removal is aimed at large reflections from shooting through glass.
- Open the photo with File, then Open, and select the layer that holds the reflection.
- Choose Edit, then Reflection Removal.
- Leave "Create separate reflection layer" checked to get the reflection on a layer of its own, and pick a Quality: Preview, Standard or Best.
- Select OK. Photoshop adds the cleaned version as a new layer and leaves your original layer untouched.
In Lightroom Classic, select the photo, choose Remove, then Distraction Removal, and select Apply in the Reflections panel. Lightroom finds the reflection itself, and the Amount slider sets how much goes: 100 removes it, 0 shows the original, and -100 shows only the reflection. If 100 still shows the reflection, Adobe says to try -100 instead. Best quality renders at full resolution and takes the longest, and Adobe suggests removing reflections before your other edits. The Reflections option isn't available on Windows computers with ARM chips. Photoshop by itself runs US$22.99 a month with annual billing, as of September 2026.
AI instructions for removing reflections
A big reflection hides part of the view, so the editor has to rebuild it. Tell it which reflection to remove, what should show through the glass, and what must stay. Paste these three into Smart Editor's instruction box as they are, or reword them for any editor that follows written requests:
Remove the reflection of the room and the ceiling lights from the window glass. Show the garden outside clearly in natural daylight, and keep the window frame, the curtains and the view exactly as they are.Remove the white glare and the reflected window from the glass over this framed watercolor. Leave the painting, its colors, the brush strokes and the wooden frame untouched, with the picture flat and square.Remove the reflection of the street and the parked cars from the front window of the bakery, so the cakes on display inside are clear. Keep the lettering on the glass, the door and the brick front unchanged.When the reflection hides something you can't describe, like the details of a painting, the editor will invent them. Reshoot at an angle instead, and use the edit only to clean up what's left. When the reflection is a person, such as a passerby in a shop window, name their position and one visible detail, as the guide to removing someone from a photo shows. If you're also swapping the sky, the guide to replacing a sky in a photo covers making reflections in water and glass match the new one.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A foggy patch where the reflection was | The edit removed the light but not the haze | Ask for "clear glass" and describe what's behind it, or try Snapseed's Dehaze |
| The painting's details changed | The editor rebuilt the area it couldn't see | Reshoot at an angle and edit only the leftover glare |
| The polarizer made no difference | The camera was far from the angle where reflections polarize | Move to a slant of about 55 to 60 degrees |
| Half the reflection is gone, half remains | The filter or edit caught only part of it | Rotate the filter again, or remove the rest one patch at a time |
| The view outside looks too bright or too dark | The rebuilt area doesn't match the room's light | Balance the exposure, then match the two sides |
| Erase reflections isn't offered | Suggestions depend on the photo and the model | Use Ask Photos, Canva or an AI editor |
Clear a reflection in Smart Editor
Toybox's Smart Editor rebuilds what the glass was hiding from your description, which suits big reflections where the view behind has to come back. Smart Editor comes with Pro and higher plans and runs in a phone or desktop browser. Upload the shot as "Your image" (JPG or PNG, 10 MB or less). Then use "What should change?" to say which reflection goes, what the glass should reveal, and what must not change. The new version shows up about 30 seconds after you tap "Apply edit". Credits: currently 85 for HD and 110 for 4K.
Smart Editor doesn't use a mask. The whole photo is generated again on each pass, so a frame edge may shift a little and lettering on the glass can change. Check both against your original. When one corner still reflects, keep editing the "Latest result" and mention only that corner. If the rebuilt view looks too dark or too bright next to the room, balancing light across a photo explains how to even out the two sides.