POP! goes the weezle

[Avandria]

Now that I got your attention

Here are a few photos that a girl from deviant art has done (really take the time to look she's pretty good for her age):
http://pretty-as-a-picture.deviantar...hings-94271713
http://pretty-as-a-picture.deviantar...stars-89379060
http://pretty-as-a-picture.deviantar...nous-114923225


She always makes her eye so intense and beautiful and yet doesn't make them look incredibly fake. I know she works on them in photoshop because in the last photo she gives you a link to an unedited version for comparison.

I've tried all sorts of tutorials and advice and I can never get them to work for brown/hazel/green eyes (blue are so easy )
RuthieMae was kind enough to inform me not to long ago that catchlights and reflections help a lot, but I'm still not getting the effect I want.

Any advice is always appreciated! <3

Ava

[Trader]

Yes, she does do nice work on eyes. The third link to the blue eyes was the best in my opinion. Blue are always easiest to get to pop.

Have you seen this technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kIkarvhoa8

He is using blue eyes in the video but I have applied that technique to other color eyes with some really good results.

[OsmosisStudios]

Some good PP, but a bit much in my opinion.

(When it comes to favourite dA artists, HannahHavoc is my absolute FAVE! A great example: http://HannahHavoc.deviantart.com/art/Pixie-124737472 . 17 years of age and such talent.)

[cphoniball]

I've tried a couple different things with eyes.

I usually create a layer and mask everything but the eyes to do the adjustments. I usually apply an unsharp mask to them and then drag up the curve a little bit to brighten them up.

I don't know if this works on brown eyes as well as blue, but I found that created a new layer and masking everything but the eyes (the irises, actually) and setting that layer to dodge and then lowering it's opacity really, really brings out the color in them. Of course that's dependent upon getting a good exposure and being spot on with your focus in the first place.

Still looking for new techniques though... I'm not a fan of replacing the pupil, but that's just a personal preference.