On this video, portrait photographer Nathaniel Dodson (from the website tutvid) does a 5 min quick eye enhancing in this video using the adjustment brush in Lightroom.
First you should zoom in into the eyes and and using the adjustment brush Dodson increases the exposure to the eye (both the pupil and the white part). Reducing the saturation on the red parts of the eyes should also work. Make sure you create a new brush each time and paint along the edge of the iris and the sides of the eye – this should create more contrast – just don’t over do this – it will look unnatural. Finally you can increase the brightness of a catch-light and areas in the bottom of the eye.
That is it – look at the before and after and see if what you have done looks better (and natural) and that is a really quick eye enhancement.
We have already looked at correcting and improving eyes in images in depth on several past videos including “How To Brighten, Color and Sharpen Eyes in Photoshop” with photographer Craig Beckta, a Quick Tip: How to Change Eye Color in 1 Minute in Photoshop! by Howard Pinsky, “Retouching Eyes in Photoshop: Color, Brighten and Sharpen” and Creating Realistic Eye Makeup in Photoshop by Aaron Nace, photographer’s Michael Woloszynowicz “How To Brighten Eyes in Photoshop” and Photoshop senior product manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes video on “How to Brighten Eyes in B&W Photos Using Photoshop“. We also had a very extensive “The Ultimate Eye Retouching Guide to Photoshop” with Colin Smith from PhotoshopCAFE.
You can find many more Lightroom video tutorials on LensVid’s Lightroom section. You can also check Dodson’s previous videos here on LensVid.