Edit your photos using the tutorials from this section that deal with a wide range of tasks, from correction to effects and filters.  Home Photoshop Photo Editing Enhancing Eyes in a Photo

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo


Decide which photo you will be using - a good candidate is one with a nice resolution, and the eyes clearly visible. This method works best for lighter eye colors, but can be used for darker eyes also.
Below is the image we will be working with.

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 1

The first thing we will do is to zoom in one the eye we'll be working on. (Press Ctrl+ to zoom in and Ctrl- to zoom out. Then hold spacebar and click and drag to pan around). The first tool we will be using is the Dodge tool (Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 2). Once selected, choose the Range as Midtones and the Exposure around 20-30%. This will depend on your image, so try different settings. Also, choose a brush size that fits the iris in the image. Then, paint around the iris, making it lighter:

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 3

Next, change the Range of the Dodge tool to Highlights, and repeat the process. If you go a little overboard, and the effect is too much, try using Edit > Fade Dodge Tool.

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 4

Now choose to Burn tool (Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 5) with a similar Exposure and set the Range to Midtones. With the same brush size(s), go over the borders of the iris to increase the contrast:

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 6

As an optional extra, you can use a selection tool to make a selection of the iris, something like this:

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 7

Then, right-click the selection and choose Feather. Depending on the size of the photo you are using, you want to aim to blend the selection into its surroundings. For this example, I choose 2 pixels.
Now goto Layer > New > Layer via Copy, and set the Blending Mode of the new layer to either Multiply, Screen or Overlay, depending on which you prefer. You can also play around with the opacity of the new layer to get the right amount of 'wow'.

Original:

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 8

Overlay @ 25%:

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 9

Multiply:

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo image 10

Screen @ 35% Opacity:

Enhancing Eyes in a Photo Tutorial: Final Result



Author's URL: PhotoshopAtoms
Thank you for voting.
Rate this Materials:
Bad 
1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
print this page subscribe to newsletter subscribe to rss

Advance your current skills or acquire new skills in Photoshop by creating projects using our step-by-step tutorials. More Tutorials: Most Popular Materials | Fresh Materials | TutorialKit New Photoshop Tutorials

Add comments to "Enhancing Eyes in a Photo"

Only registered users can write comment

No comments yet...