How To Brighten Eyes In Photoshop

How To Brighten Eyes In Photoshop: Is it possible to capture a perfect photo easily? The answer is no. Even a professional photographer can’t ensure a perfect picture with a single click because several issues can impact the image to be toppled. He may shoot a great shot, but there is a chance that the eyes may look gloomy and lifeless.

When we see a person’s photo, what is the first thing we notice? Eyes! Because the eyes are the window to the soul. That’s why we always wish to have excellent eyes in our pictures. But due to inappropriate lighting, shades, angles, or other issues, we fail to achieve it.

Fortunately, we can solve this problem with the Image post-production service. With this, we not only can brighten the skin but also we can bring life back to the eyes by brightening it.

You are on the right page if you don’t know the process and are looking for solutions. In this blog, I will share How to Brighten Eyes in Photoshop. So, don’t move anywhere. Keep reading!

Table of Contents

How to Brighten Eyes in Photoshop

In this part of the blog, I will share the whole process of How to Brighten Eyes in Photoshop. It is a simple and easy method but can produce the opposite result if you can’t execute it properly. So don’t fear, face it. Let’s move to the details:

How To Brighten Eyes In Photoshop- Method 01: Using Curves Adjustment Layer

Open the photo in photoshop to duplicate the layer.
Go to the Adjustments panel located on the screen’s right side and pick the Curves Adjustment Layer.
A pop-up with a curved panel will appear. You will discover a graph showing a sloping line, and you have to pull the right curve above to brighten it. However, when you pull it upward, it will brighten the whole photo. We can fix it later by applying the Photo Color Correction. But now, focus the eyes.
Invert the mask by holding Ctrl+I for PC or Command+I for mac. You will find the photo in normal appearance now because the changed one has been shifted to the back. As a result, the box beside the adjustment layer will become black.
Go to the left-hand side of the panel, where you will find the toolbox. Pick the brush tool from there. As a shortcut, you can hold B on the keyboard.
In this case, make sure the foreground color is white while the background is black (the box below the toolbox)
Change the brush size according to the eye’s size.
Now use the zoom tool to magnify the eyes and apply paint to them carefully. Keep a sharp lookout that you are not painting the outside irises. If you mistakenly do it, it will make them look weird.
If the effect seems brighter than the necessity, put the finishing touches by dragging the curve down. Alternatively, you can reduce the Curves layer’s opacity.
Finally, you have successfully brightened the eyes of your photo.

How To Brighten Eyes In Photoshop- Method 02: Using Level Adjustment Layer

As before, open photoshop and load the photo. Here the image is set as the background layer.
Go to the bottom of the layer panel and select the New fill, alternatively known as the Adjustment layer, shown as a circle in Black and white.
From the appeared list option, select the Levels.
It will create a new layer named Layer 1 above the previous background layer.
Go to the Properties panel, and you will find the options to handle the Levels adjustment layer. But we don’t need them. What we need is to modify the adjustment layer’s blend mode.
Go to the upper left of the layer panel and find the blend mode set as Normal by default. Next, change the mode from Normal to Screen.
Immediately once we have altered the mode Normal to Screen, it will make the photo brighter. But our goal is not to brighten the entire picture. We expect to brighten the eyes only. So, we have to fix it.
Using the Image masking service, we can easily protect the part we don’t want to change and release the portion we need to modify.
Applying the image masking, you can find the layer as white color by default. It is because the white color indicates the observable parts of the photo. On the contrary, black represents the opposite result. So, to protect the image part, we will furnish the layer mask with solid Black.
Go to the Edit from the top of the Menu bar and select the Fill option to do the above.
A pop-up showing Fill settings will appear. From the available settings, set the contents as Black and select OK. Consequently, the mask thumbnail will become solid Black, and we will see the original photo.
Now it’s time to fill only the eyes zones of the mask with white color. Pick the Brush Tool from the toolbar and colorant the eye zone with white paint.
Make sure the Foreground is white, and Background is Black. If it is not like this, swatch them or press D on the keyboard to interchange them.
Zoom in the eyes portion to check the paint result using the zoom tool.
While painting the eyes white, ensure you are not painting outside the iris. If so, it will make it look bizarre.
For the best result, resize the brush accordingly. Use the left 3rd bracket key ([) in the keyboard as a shortcut to make the brush smaller and the right 3rd bracket key (]) to make the brush larger.
The soft-edged brush can make the result stunning. Hold the Shift on the keyboard while pressing the left 3rd bracket key ([] frequently, making the brush softer. Hold the Shift on the keyboard while pressing the right 3rd bracket key (]) continually to make the brush harder.
As we are coloring on a layer mask, you can’t notice the brush color but witness the brightening result.
If you accidentally paint the iris or eyelids part, don’t worry much. We can fix them. Press X on the keyboard to shuffle the brush shade from white to Black. Then, zoom in to paint over those parts and around the eyes with Black to conceal the unwanted brightening part.
Zoom out to see the photo if it looks perfect. For that, go to the view menu from the top menu bar and select the Fit on Screen option.
Looking at the Level 1 layer, you will find two white circles in the whole black layer that show the activity we did with paint in the above steps.
If you think the eyes are brighter than demand, you can lessen it by decreasing the opacity. For that, go to the upper right of the panel beside the Blend mode. Then, keep a beady eye on your photo while decreasing the opacity until it becomes excellent.
Finally, you have successfully brightened your eyes. Now if you want you can Remove Background from the Image and include it in an appropriate one.

How To Brighten Eyes In Photoshop- Method-3: Applying Retouching Tools

Open the photo as usual in photoshop for design.
Go to the Layer option from the top menu bar, select the New Layer icon, and rename it.
From the toolbar in the left part, Select the Spot Healing Brush Tool. It will permit you to keep the original photo as a sample and work on a fresh layer holding no pixels.
Use the Modes option from the option bar to get a better result. Then from the drop-down of Modes, select darken or lighten based on your photo.
If you select the Mode as Lighten, it will privilege you to pick out the darker pixels. It enables maintaining the actual attribute and consistency, providing better outcomes.
After selecting the Mode as Lighten, paint the part that contains distractions.
Once you remove the distractions, focus on isolating the eyes.
Take the Elliptical Marquee Tool and draw selection over the top curve of the eye.
Repeat the process for the lower angle of the vision.
Recount the same steps for the eye next in order.
Intersect both upper and lower curves that will create the shape of eyes.
Now you can create a new adjustment layer with the selected part and choose the Hue/Saturation option.
Now the selected part is in a new layer. Fine-tune the mask and edges.
Adjust the mask with a density slider and feather slider dragging left to right. You can find those in the Properties Panel, where the density controls opacity and feather controls the sharpness of the edges.
Continue the process until you find a satisfactory result.
Going to the Layer panel, select the Blending option.
Move the Underlying Layer slider left to right to eliminate the darker pixels.
Based on your picture, decrease the saturation to make the eyes brighter by Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer.

Finally, you have acquired the technique of How to Brighten Eyes in Photoshop! I believe now you can brighten the eyes of any photo following the methods mentioned above. You are now also familiar with the fact that how long does it take photographers to edit photos? Yes, it’s a time-consuming and laboring task that demands time, skill, proficiency, and last but not least, patience with a keen view.

You may have a lot on the plate to do. So, without wasting your time doing this toilsome time-consuming task, you can hand this over to professionals. It will preserve your time and supply you with a stunning resulting photo. Cut Out Image Inc. is one of the best image post-production service providers to ensure a satisfactory result. In addition, you can knock on their Customer service team if you have any other questions.