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March 26, 2026
Question

Does anyone have some tips on how to remove blotches in window panes due to polarization?

  • March 26, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 63 views

I know it wasn’t the wisest thing to do, but I didn’t have a chance to change filters or lenses.
I was walking through an airport’s departure hall and took a picture of the apron through a large glass window pane. Because I still had my polarization filter on the lens, blotches appeared throughout the pictures, in addition to light reflecting from within the hall. I tried using the removal tool (reflections), but the result was very disappointing. There was hardly a difference noticeable. Was this just too much for the app?
If anyone has a good idea on how to eliminate the blotches efficiently and effectively, I’m sure interested. 
I am on macOS 26.3.1 using Photoshop (27.4.0), Lightroom (15.2.1), and Camera Raw (18.2.2).
Thanks for any help.
Tom

    3 replies

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    April 13, 2026

    A polarizer would normally not produce “blotches”. What you get is an even gradient as the angles move away from the optimal.

     

    So yes, we need to see an example of this.

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    April 13, 2026

    The original post title says “blotches in window panes” and I responded because I remember seeing that effect in some of my own photographs. Although I don’t know the exact reason it happens, I think the polarizer might be interacting with how window light has been modified by various coatings and layers in modern windows. For example a “low-e” window has a microscopic metallic coating that helps block sunlight, intended to lower a building’s air conditioning load without blocking your view outside. Although the coating is invisible to the human eye, it uses a metal such as silver and I’m wondering if that is what creates blotches in polarized pictures through those windows. 

     

    So you are right, a polarizer would not normally produce blotches, but I think shooting through a window with a polarizer filter does introduce potential blotchiness depending on how the window was manufactured. And I don’t think the reflection removal tool is trained to recognize and remove those. 

    D Fosse
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    April 13, 2026

    True, glass coating could have some unpredictable effects. We’ll see if we get an example.

    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    April 4, 2026

    The results of reflection removal depend on what its machine learning model was trained to remove. For now, it’s been trained to remove reflections caused by having a pane of glass covering the entire field of view. 

     

    To effectively remove polarization splotches that model will need to be trained to recognize the consequences of polarization, but unless Adobe says otherwise there is no sign that the model has been trained in that way. Some people have wanted reflection removal to work on reflections in eyeglasses too, but it hasn’t been trained yet to do that either. 

     

    So it isn’t that it’s “too much for the app,” only that the model hasn’t been trained to deal with that specific problem yet. 

    John Waller
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    April 1, 2026

    Suggest you post an example file or two so we can see what you are seeing and offer some helpful suggestions.