how to make eyes *pop* ?

[Mamarazzi_2008]

Originally Posted by Brittainy

i really love, love, love portraits with the sparkle eye effect. is this a lighting trick, or an angle trick, or is it done in PP. i don't have fancy lighting equipment, but i really think that sparkle makes an otherwise average photo magnificent.
also on the topic of eyes, how does one brighten the color of the eyes, or is this part of the first question?
thanks!

p.s.
forgive me if this was already posted somewhere. i HAVE spent an unnatural amount of time in the forums and tutorials but i haven't seen it.

Britt

I usually sharpen them - and then to brighten the color and get that nice dark ring around, you just create another layer, pait using white on the color part of the eye - make sure you are inside the line of the eye though. Then change the layer to overlay or soft light - and adjust the opacity to your liking.

If you want you can also create another layer and create catch lights where you want them. You do that by using a soft white brush super tiny, and opacity down a tad. Then put a smaller dot inside that that is 100% opacity. Looks natural if you get both eyes on track - but you have to know your lighting in the pic or you can make it look silly.