Newbie Eye Retouch

[Taylor Davis]

I have always found the eye something that I struggle with. I feel that I sometimes make them look unrealistic. I'm fairly new to retouching and feel like I would really benefit from some critiquing. Thanks for all of your help!

I apologize for the small file sizes on this shot. I just took it quick this morning and really wanted to just focus on the eye.

[igot2pman]

Th main issue here is only the inner eye. Use the hue/sat adj to color match the other side. Just use the mask to only effect the inner eye.

Good job on the eye lash fill.

Good job,
-Keven

[Taylor Davis]

Thanks a bunch Kevin! That makes a lot of sense and explains why the inner eye looks off. Great advise.

[0lBaldy]

Taylor, welcome to RetouchPro Have a look around and enjoy your stay. Looking forward to seeing some more of your work

I hadn't noticed you were also working on lashes before Keven mentioned it.. Using the pen tool is the best way and there is a good video tutorial HERE on using the pen tool to fill in the eyelashes that will look real..

Always work on a copy of the original... or copy the eye layer and work on that... I worked only on the Iris of the eye because usually that is all that is necessary to make the eyes POP.. I may have gone a little overboard but you can get the idea..

[yelhsaneerg]

it looks pretty good...just the white part looks too white to me .... i usually just mask that area and go to selective color, choose whites and take out the red or yellow or whatever tint u need to remove and also bump up the whites a tad if they need it. for the iris, i mask it then in this case i used the shadow/highlights to brighten it and sharpened it some and added a bit of contrast...might be a bit much as i don't normally do ALL those things every time but i thought it looked pretty nice. I hope this helps you
ashley

here's my version:

[Taylor Davis]

Thanks a bunch guys for taking your time to help me out! I love how the iris in both of your examples has a ton detail and contrast. I never thought of using dodge and burn on the iris and pupil. I'll look into the pen>eyelash tutorial right now =]

[Damo77]

My method for eyes. Vastly different to most, but it gets me great results.

I loathe dodge and burn.

[tw2112]

Very good .........I think it looks great...the skin around it looks a little too touched up.........but the eye looks good..........

[Algarve Images]

Yep the lashes look really good, i also would go for selective colour and bump the white or if you have Nik filters, the "neutralise white" is a good one...

[Tareq]

Here is my attempt

[0lBaldy]

Another quick method:

Eye Tutorial
(Stolen from Splanky and modified some)

1. Select the eyes. Use your lasso tool (or equivalent) and go around the irises. Try to get fairly close, but a perfect selection isn't necessary. If you hold down the SHIFT key while selecting, you can add the second eye to the selection.

2.. Soften (feather) the selection. Usually, unless you're working with an IMMENSE image, you'll just want to feather a couple pixels. This is just so you don't get a hard edge once you move the eyes to their own layer.

3.. After you've gone around both eyes, hit CTRL-J. CTRL-J adds a new layer...if there is a selection, it will copy whatever is in the selection to the new layer.

4. Now you are going to sharpen the eyes. Actually, you're going to OVERsharpen the eyes.
Make sure you are on the Eyes layer, and go to Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. (This picture 136, 6.2, 3) The size of the photo, the quality of the photo, and the detail in the eyes will determine your settings - you'll just have to play around a little to get a feel for it.

5. Now add a little color. Hold down the ALT key and click the button at the bottom of the Layers palette that's a circle that's half white, half black. That button adds a new "Fill or Adjustment Layer." Click on "Hue and Saturation" to add a color adjustment layer.
If you held down the ALT key while doing this, it pops up a dialog box that asks if you want to use 'the Previous Layer to Create a Clipping Mask" - check that box and click OK.
You'll notice that the new adjustment layer is offset a little to the right of the Eyes layer. This means that it will affect that layer only.

6. To colorize the eyes a little. Increase the Saturation a bit (this example +40). Click OK, and then lower the opacity of the colorization layer in the Layers palette. Adjust this until it looks about right.(This example 65%) But as with all images, come back to it the next day and take another look - you might find the eyes need a little more, or less, color than you originally set.