Need help making eyes POP!

[MrsA2009]

I'm using CS4. I've tried searching online for tutorials and I tried some fuzzy youtube videos, but I can't find anywhere that shows how to make eyes really POP! I have tried darkening the outer rim and brightening the the inside. I can't get them just right without looking fake. Here is one of the images I was working on. Would love some CC! Sorry these are so big. No time to resize. Too frustrated. ;)

[dive4fun]

the reason her eyes don't pop is because they are out of focus. You need to nail the focus on her eyes and then run an eye-pop action on them, or simply select the eyes, make a new layer, sharpen with unsharpen tool, and erase all but the irises. Don't over-do it. Nailing focus is a much better way of getting great eyes.

[Digigeek]

Everything looks out of focus.

I would also watch the partially blocked eye (her right). If you run an eye pop action it will look weird. Right now, it looks like a dead eye.

Kelby has a pretty good set of instructions for brightening the eyes in his books.

[S-Man]

For eyes, I usually dodge, sponge (saturate) and sharpen. If it's real close, you can burn the outer edges of the iris to make a little dark like around them, but not too much.

But as others have said, this photo is just OOF.

[DigitalDiva]

Just my quick edit

[AndrewCCM]

Nothing more to add really. They are out of focus which is the number one problem. I'd add a little contrast to the entire image as well as tweak the curves a bit. The last two examples are a bit too oversharpened for my taste. Here is a quick edit that I just did.

[mmuhlenkamp]

I agree, the photo is OOF. Make sure to get the focus perfect on the eyes and also look for (or create with off camera flash) great catchlights in the eyes.

Afterwards you can enhance the look even further in post.

[epoh]

When the in-camera stuff is correct (focus, lighting, white balance, etc) you shouldn't need to do much of anything to make them pop. You can make a new layer on top, fill it with grey (0/0/50) and change the layer to overlay and then burn the color part of the eye. I usually make the opacity of the layer around 15-25% max.

[Friendomyn11]

After about two hours of very precise tweeking, this is what I came up with. I think the "eye" is making a better pop. When you have to do serious post processing, you have to think about what makes eyes pop - normally - in the first place and then try to replicate that with the graphic art - or at least that is what I find works for me. :) I also recropped to avoid some of the distractions.

[ngoduyviet]

Originally Posted by Friendomyn11

After about two hours of very precise tweeking, this is what I came up with. I think the "eye" is making a better pop. When you have to do serious post processing, you have to think about what makes eyes pop - normally - in the first place and then try to replicate that with the graphic art - or at least that is what I find works for me. :) I also recropped to avoid some of the distractions.

No offense RJ, but did you even read what people said above?

I think your shot is pretty much a lost cause since it was out of focus. You might be able to sharpen it slightly, but eye-popping, it's not.

[S-Man]

Ouch Viet! That hurt me!

But yeah, it would have been a nice shot, but the out of focus'nessessess of it makes it a recycle-bin special. You might want to keep it for perhaps small avatar like photos on the web.

[ngoduyviet]

Originally Posted by S-Man

Ouch Viet! That hurt me!

But yeah, it would have been a nice shot, but the out of focus'nessessess of it makes it a recycle-bin special. You might want to keep it for perhaps small avatar like photos on the web.

Sorry Sam, that wasn't what I intended to say, peharps I should clear that up.

To the OP, I meant it was a lost cause for processing the eyes to pop, not as an image :)

[S-Man]

No, I think you misunderstood.
I was just commenting on the harshness of your comment to the OP!

Not that I thought you were commenting on my comments :P

I was just saying that what you said to the OP was so harsh, that I felt the sting!

J/K though. We need to 'keeps it real' sometimes.

[Patti Edens]

My try using Dave Cuerdon's video in the Kelby training series. I didn't spend much time on this, but I think it is certainly worth some time.

In addition to Dave's action, I did a selective sharpening on the eyes and lips only. I cleaned up the background and ironed her shirt too.

After posting I see I did a bad cloning job in the corner. That's easily fixed.

The training is here.

[J Eddington]

Holy cow Patti! I would have trashed that photo in camera. But you took a sows ear and made it presentable! It may be more than presentable, just always hard to tell on here. Great Job. I think I have some training to do!

Originally Posted by Patti Edens

My try using Dave Cuerdon's video in the Kelby training series. I didn't spend much time on this, but I think it is certainly worth some time.

In addition to Dave's action, I did a selective sharpening on the eyes and lips only. I cleaned up the background and ironed her shirt too.

After posting I see I did a bad cloning job in the corner. That's easily fixed.

The training is here.

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