Photo Tip Friday~ Dodging the Eyes

One of my most used tricks for portraiture is to dodge the eyes a little bit. Doing this really makes the eyes pop, even though this is a very subtle trick.

Start off in Photoshop with your photo already "popped" or color corrected. This trick I'm sharing today is usually one of my very last steps.

Select your dodge tool and use a Soft Round brush. Set the Dodge Tool to Midtones and about 15% exposure. Lightly stroke the bottom half of the eye, just a couple strokes. Make your strokes in a crescent moon shape. Be careful~ not too much! While you are at it, stroke the white parts of the eyes too.




Next, select your Burn Tool. Same thing, Soft Brush, Midtones, 15% exposure. Then burn the top half of the eye and iris of the eye. If you are working on a girl's photo, don't be afraid to burn the eyelash line too. I do this!


And here you go! Before and Afters with a blue eyed boy and a darker eyed boy, so you can see the subtle-yet-full of impact eye popping tip this is.

Enjoy! If you use this tip, feel free to leave a comment linking me to your photo! I'd love to see some of these tips in use!

:c)