How To Make Eyes POP In Lightroom Tutorial
This is a question I see a lot amongst photographers starting out. How do I make eyes pop? There's a decent amount of information out there although a lot of it revolves around not just making the eyes "pop", but making them pop unrealistically. It's a common problem I see where a photograph will have some flat lighting, but then eyes that SCREAM out at you and the dichotomy is quite drastic. I wanted to create a tutorial showing a way to make the eyes match the photo they reside in. I used a dramatic photo in the tutorial, so the eyes are very dramatic. This photo below is a much more common portrait setting and you can see how using all of the techniques I used in the video below can also be applied to something a little more normal just by toning down the settings a bit.
In the video I go through a couple of the steps I like to use when I'm editing a photo to bring out the beauty in the eyes. The key here is local adjustments using adjustment brushes. I go through singling out the irises by adding a little bit of saturation and clarity while raising the exposure and shadows a bit. Next I use a little technique I found really adds something cool that I don't see anyone else doing which is burning a ring around the irises. I got the idea from certain colored contact lenses from Asia. The mentality behind doing this is to make the eyes appear slightly bigger than they actually are. Plus this adds some contrast between the iris and the white of the eye which allows them to pop even more.
I also talk about brightening the whites of the eyes, enhancing makeup to add contrast and also how to deal with veiny, red eyes (too many late nights ;)). If all of this seems like a little much, don't worry about it. I go through step by step in an easy to follow and understandable tutorial. I guarantee that it's so easy anyone can do it. If not I'll give you your money back, ha. *ahem* So if you've got any tips for anyone or maybe a different approach to bringing out the natural beauty of the eyes that everyone seeks, then feel free to leave a comment below describing your process. Also, if you've got any photos that you've taken using my awesome eye making technique™, go ahead and leave those down below as well.
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