Need help with "catchlights"

[acostica]

Hi everyone,
I would love some feedback on the photo below.
I like the depth of field and composition (although now that I think of it, I wish I had caught his whole finger in the picture) but am considering cloning out the blood on his poor little nose (he ran into something) and the stuff in the right hand corner which bothers me. Lastly, how do you go about emphasizing the eyes (I have Photoshop CS2 and lightroom)
Any suggestions?
Thanks!




This image was taken with a Sony DSC V-3 (not an SLR unfortunately but I have since upgraded)

[Nicole]

Here's a few ways to make eyes pop, though you may want to tone them down possibly. Or there's also a photoshop action to do it. It may not be exactly what you're looking for, but the technique is one way that can really help bring focus to the eyes.

[FrankenPengie]

It would have been great if you could have included the whole face and hand in the shot, but I think this is a very telling picture. Here's a kid with an awful scrape on his nose, and is smiling happily indicating he has 'moved on'. He's pointing up at the camera happy to be the center of attention.

The most problematic issues I see here are the partial left eye, and what looks to be a stray finger visible in the very bottom right corner. Even thought it still seems a bit off, I'd crop the left eye out, no further. It's hard enough losing the cheeky smile line. Playing with the rotation to crop out the eye, retain the smile and keep what finger you do have would never work. If some editing can be done to reduce, if not eliminate the stray finger that would be great. Cropping that much off the bottom would lose too much.

To bring out the eye I would duplicate the layer. With the new layer selected, mask out or erase the thumb from the new layer. Use the lasso tool with a feather between 50 and 90 to select the eye and the surrounding facial area. Some playing with the feather will be needed. Apply an unsharp mask to the selected area just enough to give it some focus. Since you have erased the thumb from this layer it will not be affected. Do *not* overdo the sharpening affect.

I do not have CS2 so I'm not sure what all it has or does not have. This is a really good shot. Boo-boos are a part of childhood and should be included in the photographic story.