Blackmagic Forum

Hi everyone,

What is the best way to remove reflections in mirrors and windows when creating a real estate home video?

TIA

The best way is to avoid them in the first place.

But to answer your question, object in mirrors or window are just objects far as video is concerned, so the techniques are the same as for any object removal and is heavily dependent on the specific situation in each shot.

Sometimes, particularly if the object is large, the fix looks worse than just leaving the offending object visible.

If it's more than a couple of shots, I'd be re-shooting. Much less time-consuming.

What may help when shooting, for architecture in particular, is a shift lens. You'll get a straight perspective from an angle where you could be out of the mirror with your camera.
Apart from that, it can be very complex work in post, including tedious rotoscoping.

Thanks guys. I tried to avoid them but they seem to get in the way in bathrooms. Some of those outside windows are like mirrors when doing drone videos. I didn't think there was any easy way to remove the objects in the mirrors or windows.

During my years as photographer for art installations and architecture, using films and without photoshop, i used a 4"x5" view camera with shift and tilt and a lot of black sheets, particulary around the camera/tripod/photographer, with just a hole for the lens. You can also use some polaroid filters. With careful lightning I avoided reflexions.
This way of doing can be use for video, without the necessity of polaroid test

Polarizers can help with the drone shots in particular if it's sunlight and not a covered sky.
I second that you should take any reasonable effort to avoid reflections in the first place, black cloth and careful lighting can go a long way.

Easy. Just punch holes in all of the walls.

LOL. Or shoot Unreal estate.

On film & TV sets where you can control the glass surfaces and mirrors, they sometimes have the glass on "tilt" mounts that can be hinged a little bit forward or back, which is generally enough to just miss catching the reflection of the camera & crew. I've been on shoots where the crew dresses head-to-toe in black Ninja outfits so there's almost nothing to reflect. In a bathroom, I'd say just cut around it. For a real estate video, I'd blur out the camera if I had to.

you can also remove the drone reflection with the clone stamp tool in Fusion, but you will need to make a mask and make it track the windows where you did your modifications.

this video might help you doing so.

Jason Conrad wrote:Easy. Just punch holes in all of the walls.

Great video! Punching holes in the wall seems easier than removing it by cutting it out frame by frame!

Uli Plank wrote:LOL. Or shoot Unreal estate.

Right!? Version 5 is...something else!