How to fix lens flares

[MartieTy]

Damien, How to I fix lens flares in my photos?

[Damien Symonds]

For the one on the left, just Content Aware it.

Duplicate the Background layer, then select around the flare with your lasso tool, then go to Edit>Fill, and choose 'Content Aware' from the little drop-down menu at the top.

Unfortunately that won't work for the other one.  So may I have a 100% crop of that one?

[MartieTy]

Here you go.  BTW, I have never done content aware..another first.

[MartieTy]

Still need to work on lasso not perfect. I'll still work on this.

[Damien Symonds]

45 minutes ago, MartieTy said:

Still need to work on lasso not perfect. I'll still work on this.

No, it should look much better than this.  Make sure you select OUTSIDE the flare with the lasso tool. Don't try to select it precisely at its edges.

[Damien Symonds]

For the other one, first add a Channel Mixer layer, check the "Monochrome" checkbox, then enter 0/0/+100/0 for the four sliders.  This will turn the whole photo black-and-white.

Then add a Levels layer and immediately clip it to the Channel Mixer layer.  Enter these values:
R 0/1.10/235 and 30/255
G 0/1.05/235 and 15/255
B 0/0.90/255 and 15/255

This will now turn the whole photo kinda brownish.

Return to the Channel Mixer layer and invert the mask to hide everything.  Then with a big soft brush, paint loosely over the flare area.

[MartieTy]

17 minutes ago, Damien Symonds said:

No, it should look much better than this.  Make sure you select OUTSIDE the flare with the lasso tool. Don't try to select it precisely at its edges.

How did you know that is what I did. As I said, first time.

This maybe a silly question. On the flare on the right, could a photo of the same tree that doesn't have the flare be cloned in? I haven't done any edits on this photo. It would use the same WB. Again, this is new territory for me.

[Damien Symonds]

That's harder to achieve than you would think.  The lining up of the two photos has to be exquisite.

[MartieTy]

This isn't easy either. But I am working through this. I finally found Monochrome. Now that took a while.

[MartieTy]

32 minutes ago, Damien Symonds said:

Then add a Levels layer and immediately clip it to the Channel Mixer layer. 

How do you clip it to the channel Mixer layer? I know how to create a Levels layer. but not "clip to".

[Damien Symonds]

Module 8 of the L&M class.

Literally the whole module.

[MartieTy]

19 hours ago, Damien Symonds said:

Module 8 of the L&M class.

Literally the whole module. 

Hey... I am re-reading L&M. I am stuck at "invert", but that is okay as I will work through this and see just what I missed when doing this module. BTW, I have to let you know something. What these classes have meant to me. When I call myself a "little old lady" it is the truth. When I am learning about Photoshop from you, I have to think. I know I mess up. Sometimes I *REALLY* mess up. What I am doing, is helping keep my mind sharper. You will be happy to know that since I have started your classes I have not once used LR. I still have a bunch of presets to delete. As for me, I wish I had started your classes earlier.

[MartieTy]

From this...

To This....

[Damien Symonds]

Great job.

[MartieTy]

2 hours ago, Damien Symonds said:

Great job.

Is this now ready for Levels? BTW.. Still liking this.

[Damien Symonds]

Yep, levels now.