How to Make Eyes Pop in Photoshop

The key to a great portrait is adding emphasis to the eyes; there are times when this very simple tweak to a photo can make a big difference. Photoshop makes it easy to make the eyes of your subject look more noticeable and striking. If you don't want to use an Action to adjust your photo, you can use either the Sharpen tool or the Burn/Dodge tools for easy editing of the eyes in any version of Photoshop.

Method 1 of 2: Using the Sharpen Tool

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   Zoom in on your image. Use the magnify tool to zoom in on your image, focusing on one eye at a time. This will make it easier to focus on your work, and to see the detail of the changes you are making.
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   Select the eye using the magnetic lasso tool. The magnetic lasso tool is a selection tool that allows you to select a rough outline of a shape, and it ‘magnetically’ selects the surrounding image to create a smooth, even selection. This is much easier than using the regular lasso tool, as you don’t have to draw perfect lines in order to get the whole eye selected. Click the magnetic lasso tool on your sidebar, and then carefully outline the shape of the iris (only the colored part of the eye).
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   Feather your selection. The feather tool allows you to blend an edited and an unedited portion of an image, so that any changes you make to a small area won’t be so harsh. You can find the ‘feather’ tool on the layer tab on the top menu bar. Change the number in the feather box to ‘10’ - you can play around with this number to see what you prefer, though.
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   Select the ‘unsharp mask’ tool. At the top menu bar, select the ‘Filter’ tab, and scroll down to the ‘unsharp mask’ tool. This tool, although it may sound like the opposite, works to sharpen the iris and bring out the details and color in the image. Once you click the button, you have the ability to adjust the settings on the mask. Change the ‘radius’ to 3.6, and the ‘threshold’ to 0. Then, move the ‘amount’ slider to adjust the total amount of sharpening you do. Play around with this until you find a happy medium that you like.

   • Keep in mind that less is more; sharpening the eye too much might take the realism out of the image.
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   Adjust the contrast. The last thing you can do to finish up your project is to slightly adjust the contrast. Select the contrast tool from the photo editing tab at the top menu bar, and move the slider (or change the number) to alter the contrast. A little goes a long ways with this tool, so be careful that you don’t overdo it.
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   Repeat the process with the other eye, being careful to use the same levels/numbers as you did on the first eye. When you think you’re done, zoom out to make sure the overall image is enhanced and doesn’t look too cartoonish.
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   Finished! ^[1]

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   Duplicate the background layer. This will help prevent you from making a mistake on the original image. Select the Background Layer, then click ‘Layer Menu’ and click ‘Duplicate Layer’. Rename the Layer in the dialog box that appears, or just click OK and the duplicate layer with be labelled as Background copy. To easily tell what you are working on, rename the layer to something like “Eyes”.
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   Zoom in on the eyes. Use the ‘magnify’ tool to zoom in on one of the eyes.
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   Select the Dodge Tool from the Tools Panel on the right. The Dodge tool will help the eyes stand out, but subtly lightening the selection.
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   Set the Dodge tool settings. Before you use the tool at all, you need to adjust the settings on the small dialogue box that shows up. You'll want to set the brush to cover only the iris (the colored part of the eye). Adjust the brush hardness to 10%, the ‘range’ to ‘midtones’, and the exposure to 20%.
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   Use the dodge tool on the eye. Slowly work around the eye, clicking on the colored part of the iris with your cursor to use the dodge tool. Avoid the pupils (the black part that dilates or contracts depending on the light). Notice that the dodge tool lightens the eyes.
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   Select the ‘Burn’ tool. The ‘burn’ tool is used to subtly darken the edges of objects. Right-click the Dodge button in the ‘Tools’ panel. A window will open that displays three more options. This time, select Burn. The symbol for the button changes into a hand.
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   Adjust the ‘burn’ tool settings. Change the brush size. Again, the brush size will depend on the size of the eye. Set the brush hardness to 10%, the ‘brush range’ to ‘shadows’, and the exposure to 15%.
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   Use the ‘burn’ tool on the edge of the iris. Click around the perimeter of the pupil and the iris to slightly darken and enhance their appearance. The brush will make the adjustments that you set automatically..
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   Finish your image. Repeat the aforementioned process on the second eye, making sure that the two match up. Take time to zoom out occasionally, to make sure that the changes you are making to the image aren’t too drastic.^[2]

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