Skip to main content
MARTINO™
Known Participant
September 7, 2026
Question

Photoshop action / PSD to automatically clean up a photographed reflective CD?

  • September 7, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 92 views

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a Photoshop Action, PSD template, plugin, or any other Photoshop-based solution for a very specific workflow.

I have attached two example images:

IMAGE 1 — ORIGINAL CAMERA PHOTO / INPUT
This is a real CD photographed directly from above, with the disc lying flat on a white background and the camera sensor positioned parallel to the surface of the CD.

Because the CD is highly reflective, the photograph contains uneven brightness, darker and lighter areas, reflections, rainbow/iridescent effects and other photographic artifacts.

IMAGE 2 — REQUIRED RESULT / TARGET OUTPUT
This shows the result I need: the same type of CD, still viewed perfectly straight-on, perfectly circular and flat, on a white background, but with a clean, even and uniform metallic surface.

IMPORTANT REQUIREMENTS:

The original printed information must be preserved exactly.

I do NOT want AI to redraw, reinterpret or recreate the text.

All lettering, catalogue numbers, logos, symbols, track listings and printed graphics must remain exactly as they appear on the real photographed CD.

Ideally, the process should separate the printed ink/artwork from the imperfect reflective silver surface, preserve the original printed information, and place it over a clean and uniform CD surface.

The final CD must remain in a true 90-degree top-down / orthographic view.

I do NOT need a perspective, tilted or 3D mockup.

My ideal workflow would be:

REAL CD PHOTO
→ Photoshop Action / PSD / Plugin
→ one click, or very few automatic steps
→ CLEAN, UNIFORM, PERFECTLY FLAT CD IMAGE

I need to process dozens of CDs, so manually retouching each disc for hours is not practical.

I am mainly interested in standard silver reflective CDs with printed text, logos and relatively simple graphics.

Picture discs and full-surface photographic artwork can be considered a separate problem.

Does a Photoshop Action, PSD template or plugin already exist that can do this?

If not, would anyone be interested in creating such an Action/template?

I think this could also be useful for CD collectors, music archives, Discogs-style databases and online discography websites.

I can provide the original high-resolution photograph as a test image.

Thanks!

NOTE: The first image is only an example of the reflection problem. In my actual workflow, the CD will be removed from the jewel case and photographed by itself, perfectly flat on a white background at 90°. The Action does NOT need to extract the CD from the jewel case.

2 replies

MARTINO™
Known Participant
September 7, 2026

@ D Fosse

Thanks. I understand the photographic suggestions, but that is not what I am looking for.

My question is specifically about a Photoshop product/workflow, similar in concept to the many automated PSD templates and Actions sold on marketplaces such as GraphicRiver.

For example, with a professional jewel-case mockup, I can simply insert flat booklet artwork into a Smart Object and the PSD automatically produces the finished case with the correct geometry, plastic, reflections, shadows and presentation. I do not need to learn how to manually recreate all of those effects.

I am looking for the equivalent kind of solution for the CD itself.

Please consider IMAGE 1 as the fixed input. I am not asking how to improve IMAGE 1 photographically.

What I need to know is whether an existing Photoshop Action, PSD, script or plugin — or one that could reasonably be created — can process that imperfect photographed CD and produce something comparable to IMAGE 2, automatically or with very few steps.

INPUT: imperfect photograph of a real reflective CD

OUTPUT: clean, standardized silver CD, while preserving the original printed text, catalogue numbers, logos and graphics exactly.

If such a Photoshop solution already exists, I would like to know where I can obtain or purchase it.

If it does not exist, I would also be interested to know whether someone experienced in Photoshop automation could create it.

I am deliberately asking about Photoshop post-processing/automation, not about lighting, polarizers or photographic technique.

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 7, 2026

You need to reconsider your photographic procedures. That’s how you attack this.

 

A well-known trick among photographers, to kill reflected light, is to use cross-polarization (a polarizer on both the lens and the light sources, rotated 90°). However, not having tried it as I write this, I suspect that might turn the whole CD very dark.

 

So if that doesn’t work, a very simple solution is to take two exposures with the light sources placed east-west and north-south respectively. Stack them in Darken blend mode.