9 Ways to Reduce Screen Reflection

The sun has finally put his hat on, for the first time in a while. I love the sun, giver of all life, etc. but what I don’t love is my monitor being obscured by reflections of what is going on behind me. I’m just trying to be a freelance web designer in London – I would love to work outside in the sun with a laptop but I would be spending all my time trying not to look at reflections.

My friend asked me how he could work with his computer outside in the blazing sun. This post is dedicated to him and my friends who used use super size bath towels to put over their heads and monitors to stop the glare while playing computer games in the midday sun.

Without further ado, here are 9 ways how to reduce screen glare and reflection.

1. Anti-Glare / Privacy Film

Anti-reflection screen covers can help you keep privacy but also they are brilliant at stopping reflections on your screen and reducing glare:

• Privacy Filter for 27″ Monitor
• Privacy Filter for 24″ Monitor
• Privacy Filter for 22″ Monitor
• Privacy Filter for 13.3″ Macbook

DIY option: Pull a pair of tights over screen.

2. Monitor Hood

You can buy monitor hoods from a number of online retailers here is one on Amazon.

DIY option: get a big cardboard box and put the monitor inside it.

3. Wear Dark Clothes

When you wear light coloured or white tops you will create a light source out of yourself – wear dark clothes and lower your albedo.

4. Wear Sunglasses

Dust off your aviators, you need to get some sunglasses preferably with polarised lenses. They will reduce the glare of everything. Update: As well as standard sunglasses there are also a range of glasses dedicated to reduce glare from screens, although I have only heard negative things about them.

5. Clean the Screen

Particles of dust on your screen can reek havoc in the sun. So get yourself a screen cloth (the microfibre type), or the cloth you clean your Ray-Ban’s with. Turn your screen off because it’s easier to clean when the screen is black and give it a good dusting. If there are still marks you will need to get a damp cloth and give those areas a light cleaning, a 50:50 water and white vinegar is ideal for this, or of course a screen wipe.

Screen Cleaner on Amazon

6. Angle Your Screen

The angle, height and general positioning of the screen will play a big part in weather you see a reflection. Try not to have a light directly above or behind you. Avoid having your screen facing glossy surfaces. Remember that you can tilt your screen, raise or lower the screen using the adjustment that some screen have, or just put books under the stand.

7. Angle Your Seating Position

In tandem with the positioning of your monitor you can also try moving where you are sitting in relation to the screen. You may find you can avoid the glare if you move your seat up or down, side to side, once again this is case of experimenting.

8. Adjust Monitor Brightness

Another thing to try is increasing the brightness of the monitor. Using the buttons on the front of the screen will enable you to do this. Higher brightness can sometimes reduce the amount of reflection seen. But playing around with the brightness levels will have some influence on reflections and glare.

9. Work in the Dark

This is clearly the most obvious of all the ways to reduce reflections. No source of light equals no reflection. Work in a cave – shut the curtains, blinds, doors, turn the lights off, but who actually want to do that.

Enjoy the sun and get out the office!