Brad Ashbrook
August 2026 - Pretty Girl in Starbucks
Original
About the Image(s)
This was photographed during my trip to China in January. During the last day, we went back to old Guangzhou and walked around the city, visited Bruce Lee and other memorials. As we were walking by, the young lady dressed and on her cell phone caught my eye. I only grabbed 2 quick photos at 1/20th of a second at f5.6 and ISO 400 with OM5. I recently received an email highlighting the new reflection removal tool in PS. I did some basic LR adjustments for shadow recovery, clarity, dehaze and vibrance. Then I brought it into PS and tried the removal tool in Camera Raw and it did a really nice job, but not perfect. Then I selectively used the Remove brush to clean up some of the very faint reflections and other distractions.
6 comments posted
Brad,
You are to be commended for seeing such a great scene. Love the outfits that these two women are wearing. Also I am impressed with your ability to get rid of the reflections on the glass. I'll have to try doing that! The woman on the right is sharp and has a great expression. The woman on the left is not in focus. This is probably due to the very slow shutter speed (1/20 sec) and wide open aperture (f5.6) that you employed. A faster shutter speed might have frozen this moment more effectively. Posted: 08/07/2026 18:20:19
You are to be commended for seeing such a great scene. Love the outfits that these two women are wearing. Also I am impressed with your ability to get rid of the reflections on the glass. I'll have to try doing that! The woman on the right is sharp and has a great expression. The woman on the left is not in focus. This is probably due to the very slow shutter speed (1/20 sec) and wide open aperture (f5.6) that you employed. A faster shutter speed might have frozen this moment more effectively. Posted: 08/07/2026 18:20:19
I agree with David, a faster shutter speed would have stopped the motion of your subjects. Don't be afraid to use higher ISO values as the post-processing tools that we now have do a very good job at removing noise.
This is an incredible example of removing a reflection. I do believe that I have a few photos that could benefit from this technology. Thanks for demonstrating this for us. Posted: 08/08/2026 20:48:26
This is an incredible example of removing a reflection. I do believe that I have a few photos that could benefit from this technology. Thanks for demonstrating this for us. Posted: 08/08/2026 20:48:26
Yes it would have.. This was a very shot while walking by and didn't even look at it till later. I saw a video posted about the reflection removal process and remembered this image. I have no issue pushing the ISO thank to the tools that are available. Posted: 08/08/2026 23:12:34
Brad, so glad you posted this. I had no idea we could get these kind of results with the new tool. Awesome job on photo and editing. I love how happy these two ladies are. Posted: 08/15/2026 14:21:08
Morrie Carter
WOW great example usig a very useful tool in PS. Street photography at its finest. I have not used the reflection remove tool but it will now be on my radar to use.
Posted: 08/23/2026 23:09:48
Posted: 08/23/2026 23:09:48
Hi ,Great job on removing the refections.This looked like a great PJ shot while traveling.The expression of the girl on the left makes the image although it is quite soft.The bright primary phone colors really grabbed my attention. Posted: 08/25/2026 07:45:49