Beginner Bright shiny eyes?

helentwinkle

helentwinkle

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Helen
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I'm hoping you all know what I'm talking about because I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but....I keep seeing portraits where the eyes really stand out, they are bright & shiny, almost metallic looking. Does anyone know how this is done? I'd love to be able to do this with my kids' portraits.

TIA
Helen
 
There's a tutorial on this exact processing technique in the Tutorial section of the forum. A quick look through should find it.
 
helentwinkle said:
Thank you :ty:
Click to expand...
If you're planning on following that tutorial...
please do so onto a layer and then reduce the opacity. Eyes overdone look unreal and make people look like dolls rather than people.

The biggest problems we see from newbies on portraits are over sharpened eyes and over smoothed skin.
 
1) A sparkling highlight in the eyes, sometimes called a catch-light, is a reflection of the light source - could be the sun, or a studio modifier like an umbrella (octagonal) or softbox (octagonal or rectangular) or whatever. Using a large softbox, close to the subject, increases the size of the catch-light.

2) Shoot in bright ambient light, rather than flash. Bright ambient closes the pupils, showing more colour of the iris. Flash, usually in low ambient light, shows the pupils as large and black.

3) Adjust brightness and/or colour in post processing. But as Phil says, don't overdo it.
 
Be subtle!
You see overcooked attempts at this kind of thing all the time and they look completely stupid.
We've all experienced becoming overexcited at learning a new technique; so try not to let that excitement ruin your photo.
 
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