Remove Glare from Photos Before Translation

Move light before tilting the page

Turn off a direct flash and move beside the overhead light rather than beneath it. A larger, diffuse light source produces softer reflections. If the object can move, rotate it slightly while keeping the text area as square to the camera as possible.

A steep camera angle may remove one reflection but creates perspective distortion and uneven character size. Make two moderate-angle captures when no single position reveals the full line.

Build a complete record

For a glossy menu or curved bottle, take overlapping photos where the glare falls on different areas. Label or order the captures before extraction. The overlap lets you confirm that a word reconstructed from one image occupies the same place in another.

Never combine fragments only because they form a familiar sentence. Confirm that each fragment comes from the same line, panel, and edition of the object.

If reflections have already erased character edges, follow the recovery limits for a blurry or low-contrast photo.

Know when editing cannot help

Lowering highlights can reveal faint detail that still exists, but a fully white reflection contains no recoverable character information. Content-aware fill and generative cleanup are unsuitable evidence because they can create convincing text.

When the hidden field is a warning, price, dose, expiry date, or model code, recapture it or find an official source. A partial translation should identify the obscured span rather than complete it from context.