portrait - What are some effective techniques for photographing subjects who wear glasses?

What are some effective techniques for photographing subjects who wear glasses?

I am sorting out my collection of digital images as I install new software, and find there are many images that would otherwise be really nice, if it weren't for eyes being distorted, or even cut out of view, because of the glasses people wear.

Both my parents wear glasses, and asking them to remove them is not an option when most pictures are candid and shot in the moment.

Is there anything I can do to remedy this problem?

Answer

Posting some examples will help us identify your problem, but if you're getting distortion because they're wearing very thick, corrective glasses - there's not alot you're going to be able to do.

If you're getting odd angles of reflected light, either change the angle of the light by moving the flash or tilting the subject's head.

Obviously you can also move the camera itself. Its about changing that angle that the light is reflecting off the glasses into the lens.

The strobist has an excellent article here: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/lighting-101-lighting-for-glasses.html

Here's an example of changing the head's angle to avoid odd reflections from glasses:

Here's an example of changing the light source (bounced off the ceiling here) angle:

Doing candid shots means this is obviously much harder, you'll have to be distinctly aware of the angle of the light and your subject. It can be done, it just means putting a little more time into the shot when you have it.