Portrait Photography

The Glowing Eye Effect You Can't Fake in Post (So Stop Trying)
Video Tutorials

The Glowing Eye Effect You Can't Fake in Post (So Stop Trying)

There’s a specific flavor of frustration I know well: spending twenty minutes in Photoshop pushing the iris brightness slider on a portrait, adding fake catchlights, maybe throwing a curves adjustment on a layer mask - and still ending up with eyes that look like they were lit by a refrigerator. The result is always a little off. A little dead. You can tell it was done in post, and so can your client.

Clone Stamp Secrets: How to Actually Fix Eyeglass Glare Without Making It Look Weird
Video Tutorials

Clone Stamp Secrets: How to Actually Fix Eyeglass Glare Without Making It Look Weird

Portrait retouching is full of small disasters, and eyeglass glare is one of the most common ones clients will actually notice. Nobody’s going to flag slightly off skin tone, but they will absolutely see a white blob where their eye is supposed to be. I’ve lost count of how many portrait shoots I’ve had to rescue in post because someone’s studio umbrella decided to park itself right in the middle of a subject’s lens.