[nick_caesar]

Okay, I've seen several artists doing this trick lately, giving their models really brilliant sparkling eyes. jayjay's Francine Dee as Pocohantas is the most recent example that comes to mind, but far from the only one. Any suggestions as to how one would go about trying this? I'm totally at a loss, but I'd like to give it a shot. Any help would be most appreciated.

[Blax12]

Usually I do this way:
go very close to the eyes, I mean enlarge your picture to have only eyes visible. Choose the color you want from the palette. Take the pencil tool. Choose various gradients of the color and go on the pupil pixel by pixel: where the original color is pale use a pale gradiation of the color you want to put on, where the original color is darker use a darker grade. Then use the blur tool (I'm not sure what's the english name; in photoshop it is the one that seems a rain drop) and mix the pixelized colors.

Let me know if my suggestion was useful

Blax12  

[nick_caesar]

I shall give it a try and post the results. Thanks for the tip!

[KBA]

Hey Nick

Good to see your quest continues!

You could try a lens flare tool* to either retouch or remake the eyes.

*These tutorials may help [names may change between programs but the options are about the same]
http://www.geocities.com/benzene265/irisflare.html
http://www.developingwebs.net/photoshop/EyeTutorial.php
http://www.prestigiousdames.com/dee/eye/Eye.html
http://www.developingwebs.net/photoshop/greateyeballs.php

Oh and don't forget you can get good effects by playing with Hue, contrast and intensity by using them in layers and then experimenting with each ones opacity!



KBA
     

[nick_caesar]

Excellent! I shall give all of these a try.

Now all I need is a decent picture that's close-up enough on the face to give the eyes a good working-over... When I get something good, I'll post the results.

Thanks!

[Pi_]

EXXTREME CLOSEUP!!!!!

I someimes redraw the whole eye. by making the whole thing white (or red or yellow or green....)
then i redraw iris and pupil (the iris is dark with some transperant color like blue over.), here u can use your imagination to make strange eyes using different shapes of the iris.

An extra touch is to make a reflecton from a studio flash
it's a white dot somwhere in the eye, and it's important that the dot is on the same place in both eyes.  

[tndvrs]

yoh, nice tip, thanks master PI.  

[Imaginos]

Go check out Franz' tutorial in our very own tutorials section. He used to do this alot.

Imaginos

[jayjay88]

I only just saw this thread so i'll offer my contribution, although it's fairly comprehensively covered with the above tutorials.

I quite often spend time on the eyes and mouth to make sure they are well defined...if the model is looking at 'you', you should feel the 'engagement'...that's what i go for...and most photos, even hq ones, fall short in this regard. I use white to regain the shine in the eyes [often the photo has turned to a milky color]...and then i emphasize the colour of the iris, but try not to overdo it...i try to achieve a realistic look, and therefore subtlety and a 'painterly' eye is required.  Lastly the hi-lite, or reflection, in the iris is applied.

The technique varies with how close the subject is...obviously you can do more with a close-up as with the Pocahontas morph, Nick referred to.  A combination of pencil and paintbrush, and variation of hue and colour can give striking effects...also don't forget to work on the blackness of the pupil, and the definition of the eyelid with shadow underneath.  All that helps regain the 3D impression and sense of 'immediacy'.

As i said, i also work on the mouth...often enlarging by 10-15%, reworking the form sometimes, and redefining hi-lites and shadows...i like a generous mouth with luscious lips...

As with all things,  it just takes a litle time and patience...and practice to achieve what you want.

Some of what i've said is redundant, i know, but it may help to emphasize one or two things.

[Blax12]

 
According to Franz75's tutorial:

In Photoshop (version 5 or 6)
I treid to develop this technique. Select the iris.(here we start with the usual problem: I only have italian version of this software, I'll try to translate command names or I'll tell you where they are) Go to "image" menu (in italian "immagine" that's the third menu after "File" and "modify". By the drop down list choose the second item "regulation" (in italian "regola") and by the second field of the appearing list, choose the first item (in italian "Tonalità/saturazione" in english I don't know).
Here you can try to change the color: choose the proper color category by the dropdowning list (default is "composed" but you can choose for the reds the blues and the others). Example: if you got brown eyes, choose to regualte the reds to turn them into green eyes.
The results are very good, because you don't need to re-draw the eyes and its shape will be perfect.
Blax12

   

[Blax12]

 
According with my dictionary "Tonalità/saturazione" should be"Tonality/saturation" (what an incredible translation, whoah!)

Blax12

   

[Cris_H]

Here's my first attempt at changing Eliza's eye color with Photoshop CS5.  I'm just at the very beginning here, but couldn't figure out how to clean up the edges since I couldn't quite get a clean outline with the lasso tool.  I tried selecting the layer mask of the adjustment layer so that I could try to paint the mask to hide areas where I'd gone over the edge, but I couldn't get it to work.  If anyone has a suggestion as to how I can clean up the edges, I'd love to hear from them.

[gonZo]

Cris, stop using the Lasso Tool. The Lasso Tool is imprecise, and is intended for quick-and-dirty selections.


Here's one way to change her eye color. It's a fast, easy, old-fashioned method. There are more streamlined ways to do it, but this will certainly work...

Create a new empty layer above the photo layer, and highlight it in the Layers Palette so that you're working on the new layer.

Use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to precisely select one of her irises. It may be easiest to hold down the Option(mac) or Alt(pc) key and drag outward from the center of her pupil. Don't worry yet about any part of the ellipse that may overlap her eyelid.

Once you have the elliptical selection, use the Polygonal Lasso Tool while holding down the Option(mac) or Alt(pc) key to slice away any parts of the selection that overlap her eyelids.

Use the Fill menu command to fill the selection with the desired color (which will become a flat area of color on the new layer).

In the Layers palette, change the blending mode of the new layer from Normal to Color. (And/or experiment with other blending modes.) You can also experiment by varying the Opacity of the layer in the Layers palette.

If you decide you want a somewhat different color, lock the opacity of the new layer in the Layers Palette, choose a new color, and then use Edit Menu: Fill.

Once you like the results, repeat with the other eye using the same layer for the color overlay. If you locked its opacity in the previous step, be sure to unlock it again before using the Fill command.

[Benji Dude]

This guy has got a very good, quick and easy method of changing eye colour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otvOEzLpzEM