As author Paulo Coelho famously proclaimed in his novel Manuscript Found in Accra, “The eyes are the mirror of the soul.”
Considering the significance our eyes play in representing emotion, as alluded in the above quote, it only makes sense that they be a strong and important point in emphasis in photography.
It’s important to capture the eyes correctly in-camera when shooting photographs of people. But there are times when the eyes need a little tweak here or there to emphasize the mesmerizing details of our irides.
For those times, photographer and Photoshop guru Glyn Dewis has shared a helpful tutorial on how to create amazing-looking eyes in Photoshop with three simple steps. In it, he explains how to easily improve the detail in the eyes of a subject by using quick masks and a selective color adjustment layer within Photoshop.
Something to keep in mind, and something that Dewis points out more than once throughout the tutorial, the key to bringing out the beauty of eyes lies in subtlety. If you’re even slightly overzealous on the brightening or sharpening of the eyes, it’s easy to spot, either on the screen or in a print.
By taking it slow and making smaller adjustments, it’s easier to create a realistic photograph where the subject doesn’t appear as though their possessed.
At eight-and-a-half minutes long, the tutorial isn’t a quick watch, but it’s a piece of information you’ll inevitably use at some point or another, whether it’s in your photo career or touching up images at home. Dewis’ YouTube channel offers more tutorials and Photoshop tips.
