I love making eyes the focal points of my photos. Besides being windows to the soul and all that jazz, eyes are great to photograph. There are so many amazing details to capture in such a small space – flecks of color, eyelashes, and reflections.
There are a million different photo editing programs out there that you can use to artificially make eyes stand out in a photo. There’s definitely a time and place for that, but in this tutorial I’m going to show you how to make eyes the focus of a photograph with as little post-processing as possible.
If you’re taking a straight out portrait or head shot, you want to keep the background simple. I took some pictures of my brother and I posed him in front of an outdoor wall at my parents’ house. The simple background makes sure Kyle is the focus of the photo:
Zooming in or cropping is another great way to narrow the focus of a photo. In the above photo of Kyle, there is still a lot to look at. So I cropped the picture:
Now his face IS the photo. With his eyes placed where the top third of the photo starts, the viewer is drawn there immediately. POP!
Sometimes, the photos that make eyes pop the most are the ones that have gorgeous bokeh. For the longest time I thought bokeh was a made up word because it sounds so weird. But, it’s a real photography term for the area that is out of focus in your pictures. This picture of Kyle has gorgeous bokeh:
The blurry (or bokeh) background with the clear subject (Kyle) really makes this picture awesome. On top of that, the colors of the green trees mixed with the blue sky help his eyes look amazing (it doesn’t hurt that he already has pretty nice eyes). To get great bokeh with a point and shoot camera, set your camera to “portrait.” Your camera will know to focus on the foreground, and will automatically blur the background. On a DSLR, put your camera in Aperture Priority mode and put the aperture on the lowest number your lens allows (like f/1.4 or f/3.5).
Do you have tips to help make eyes pop in photographs?? Leave them in the comments. Then, upload your favorite examples to the TSAM Photo Fun Flickr group so we can compliment and learn from each other (If you don’t have a flickr account, just link to your photos in the comments).
Any questions? Fire away!
Want more tips? You can find them here thanks to HP, my awesome photo partners.
Anthony from CharismaticKid says:
Yeah! I’m learning to keep the background more simple. Get’s my point across easier. Thanks for the lil’ tip.
Molly says:
all I can think of when I see him is “Unlce Kyle” or however you spelled it. Does he still have the shirt?
Rebecca says:
Your brother is a cutie pie!
Here is my little boy…he has some amazingly blue eyes and I’m pretty proud of these photos
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/k3KyK-NSauSkl41HSciG9HPJaHpp0NOirZzkocicBGA?feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/KJwQa0OR40kjTni5hTW3_3PJaHpp0NOirZzkocicBGA?feat=directlink
Zandi says:
catchlights ( where the eyes reflect light in a photo ) are one of my fave ways to make ’em pop. Have the subject face into the light , so it reflects back at the camera. That, and for me personally, having Graves Disease ( where your eyes bulge ) really makes my eyes POP in photos!! hahahaha!
Kristin says:
Great tips. I love photography and I love anything that makes me better at it.
Tina says:
Good tips!
It is also important to find the light. Catch lights in the eyes really make them pop. Like in this photo:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e0YyRf8G-Rs/TbL7cYcH2MI/AAAAAAAAAn0/dTd4xrKt0Fw/s1600/easter2.jpg
I also like to overexpose some of the clothing or background to draw focus to my subject. True, “technically” this is not a correct photo but it gets my point across
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T_BXSrSDeaI/TbL7nAiVOrI/AAAAAAAAAoM/07AXF0dAOyU/s1600/easter8.jpg
And I guess you already know to point your focus point(s) on the eyes right?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MELdTFR24PQ/TZoaFDPrY1I/AAAAAAAAAl8/GYwwj-4DZN0/s1600/johncute1.jpg
Here is another example of catchlight. You can actually see me reflected in his eye (and I have on purpose made my focus very narrow so everything else blurs in)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JLPCqn9wzzo/TXzt9QOFA6I/AAAAAAAAAjY/kGc0jFBuORk/s1600/johneyes3.jpg
I was wearing an orange dress and it reflected in his eyes, giving them an eerie brown/orange hue in this photo:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-zBKiiRn4u5A/TXzuA3v12BI/AAAAAAAAAjg/BwMUT3jBczI/s1600/johneyes.jpg
Amy says:
My little boy has gorgeous eyes. It’s fortunately very easy to capture them! Here’s one I took of him on our Italy trip, right before we hit the Colosseum.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/proffittfamily/5950208034/in/photostream/
Tina says:
BTW my little guy above, in my original comment, is John, my former preemie and IUGR survivor. he will be 6 in November Heather, and we still face the aftermath of prematurity. For instance (and that’s the least of our probs) he is missing his top front teeth because of adamantine aplasia due to prematurity.
Mrs Catch says:
I’m a beginner when it comes to photography, but am finding it fascinating. Thanks for all the tips.