Eyes and Light

[jtmorales]

How do you get the eyes to be bright and vibrant in a photo? I can never seem to get the eyes to shine they way I want in any photo and it's really beginning to bother me. Are there specific techniques or methods of lighting or is most of this done in PP after the fact?

[Adaptive]

1. Set the focus on the eyes.
2. If you can position the lighting make the lights higher than the eyes.
3. Dont shine lights directly at the eyes but more from the sides.
4. If you are good with lighting and shadows you can really make the eyes pop!



Here's a shot I did today

[savona]

How do you get the eyes to be bright and vibrant in a photo? I can never seem to get the eyes to shine they way I want in any photo and it's really beginning to bother me. Are there specific techniques or methods of lighting or is most of this done in PP after the fact?

Can you show us an example photo? One in which you think the eyes should have been brighter? I think that would help us give you a answer that you can wrap your head around. This is a pretty vague question, which is fine. But we can only give you vague answers unless you give us more information.

[Adaptive]

Can you show us an example photo? One in which you think the eyes should have been brighter? I think that would help us give you a answer that you can wrap your head around. This is a pretty vague question, which is fine. But we can only give you vague answers unless you give us more information.

I thought my answer was pretty good, also look at my example, soo sharp you can see the umbrellas in her eyes!


That's a 100% crop of her face. The full picture has her whole body in it.

[jtmorales]

I'll see if I can find one for an example.

Adaptive - thanks for the info. I'll give that a shot and see if I can get it to work. I think I just need to position my lights better overall. Lighting can be such a PITA

[Adaptive]

I'll see if I can find one for an example.

Adaptive - thanks for the info. I'll give that a shot and see if I can get it to work. I think I just need to position my lights better overall. Lighting can be such a PITA

I wish I knew of any lighting tutorials. I basically just learned from experience.

[Desmond]

I am also learning from experience. I get to play in a "real" studio in the near future and will have lots of horrid shots to start with - apparently I have two big strobe units to use in the studio

What are you using to mask with in Photoshop? There's a really good plugin (forgot the name, will look it up later if interested) that will allow you to work around HAIR and select and deselect colour masking. It's really good to be able to cut around objects/people in Photoshop, especially if you don't have a tablet. Otherwise it would take ages to work around...

Des.

[LuisV]

I thought my answer was pretty good, also look at my example, soo sharp you can see the umbrellas in her eyes!


That's a 100% crop of her face. The full picture has her whole body in it.

Actually, I'd say it's soft. You can get sharper.


The question is how to get the eyes bright........

I have to agree with the other comments.....show us the trouble shot.

Second......... don't rely on Photoshop..... shoot it right first. Photoshop is not a way to fix everything. Look at photoshop as a way to perfect a great image.