Eyes are powerful in portraits and they draw viewers’ attention. The eyes can convey a great deal of emotion and say a lot. When taking portraits, it’s important to keep the eyes sharply in focus.
If you pay attention to certain techniques and details, it is possible to capture sharp eyes in camera. These can be enhanced later during the editing process. If the eyes are out of focus, no amount editing will bring the desired sharpness level.
Select sharp lenses and preferably prime lenses that are fast to capture portraits. To get sharp pictures, you will need to select the correct shutter speed and aperture value. Focus on the eyes so they are sharply focused.
The camera’s settings, such as shutter speed, ISO, etc., will need to be adjusted. To compensate for subject movement and handshake, the shutter speed should be faster than the reciprocal focal length.
Focusing is important when choosing an aperture value. When using large aperture values, manual focus is better as long as the subject does not move. Use the back button to lock and track your focus with a single click. You can take test shots by zooming in 100% on the eye to check if it is sharp.
You can edit the photos after you’ve captured them to make the eyes pop. It will enhance the eyes and give your portraits more character. The editing process can sometimes correct a small error in focus or soft eyes caused by wide aperture values.
Lightroom has many tools that can help you to edit portraits with sharper eyes. Lightroom offers a variety of tools, such as brush tools and masking options, to help you select specific parts of a subject’s eye, like the Iris or eyebrows. To make the eyes pop in the portrait, you can enhance features, add colour to the Iris, and whiten the eyes. Use the texture and clarity sliders to give the eyes some extra details.
