How can I reduce reflections on glass in an old photo using GIMP or similar editors?

Question

I have an older photo from 2009 of objects behind a vertical glass front, and the reflections make the subject hard to see. I can’t go back and reshoot it, so I’m looking for a post-processing approach.

I use darktable and GIMP 2.8. What editing techniques work best for reducing or removing reflections in a single image, especially when I only have this one shot?

user34085 · Accepted Answer

Although I am not a Gimp User, but the process I use in Photoshop will most likely be very similar and it should not take more than 5 minutes to reach a satisfactory result.

I will start with the Clock first

COPY VIA NEW LAYER, the bottom half of the clock
FLIP IT HORIZONTAL to cover the top part of the clock
SKEW, DISTORT and WARP this Layer until it matches the top part of the clock
CREATE a LAYER MASK on this New Layer and INVERT so it shows Black
Select White as the top colour on your Colour Palette
Use the BRUSH TOOL to paint over and reveal the new adjustment.
CLONE TOOL to tidy up and to bring back the Red Second Hand needle

Now for the Platform Indicator

Create a Curve Adjustment Layer, but DON'T do anything just yet.
Then from the COLOUR SELECT, use the dropper tool to Select the areas you want reduced (The Reflections area)
This will now allow the Curves Adjustment to only effect this.
Pull down the curve adjustment until it matches. ( you may have to do several separate passes to achieve this.
Unfortunately, this will effect some of the writing too ( Wilhemshagen) and for this, you need to either.....
...... Clone in the letters from other more readable areas
...... Or, create COPY VIA LAYER for each letter required and bring them down to create Wilhelmshagen.
With the “W”, you will need to draw that in as there isn’t one to copy from
Finally, just clone and tidy up

How can I reduce reflections on glass in an old photo using GIMP or similar editors?

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