Why can't I get great eyes in a picture??

[teelicious]

The one thing I can't seem to do is manage to get great eyes in a picture. I work with mainly with kids and always natural light, mostly outside.
I have a Canon 40D with 28-135mm lens and a Tamron SP 90mm macro

I've read about the "a better bounce card" would that help?

I talked briefly with a VERY good photographer that gets the look I want. She uses a Canon 5D and 24-70 2.8 lens. Is the equipment making the difference? She also said she uses gold reflectors when doing portraits... is she talking about when the kids are posing (which her pictures don't look posed) or do they make on that hooks to the camera? Surely it would be hard to be at a childs level roaming around carrying a reflector AND then trying to get the shot! She said the gold reflector is what gives the soft skin appearance and eyes that pop.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated... I'm doing a shoot this weekend at the park for a mom and 2 kids 8 and 15months.

Bellow is a sample of the quality and look I want to achieve... is it possible with my gear?

[PicBug]

I've seen better eyes than these examples; on the first, her left eye is oof (the depth of field is too short), and the second the eyes are just basically soft. Kristy Snyder, a poster here, does amazing children and her eyes are so spectacular.

Whatever your equipment, make sure you have sufficient DOF for both eyes, you have a focus point on the eye or eyes, that you use fill flash or have good ambient light to achieve some catchlights, and then PP using sharpening, saturation/vibrancy, and dodge the lower half of the iris perhaps.

[Permagrin]

teelicious, if those aren't your photos, then you should convert them to links. The forum's rules are pretty strict about not posting photos unless they are your own.


As for your question, lighting is a big thing. Get the lighting right and you are 3/4 of your way there. Then there are photoshop actions to get the eyes to look like this. MCP has some.

On this forum, Kristy S & Cheetapita are excellent at doing eyes. You might find some pointers on their threads.

You also should be able to get this look with your tamron 90 & your 40D. Maybe no so much with the 28-135

[bobbyz]

I think lot of posters do pp on the eyes.

Besides that some kids have awesome eyes and if you nail focus you will get very good shots. Light (natural or artificia) also helps.

I would post an example of your shot that you want to improve. I agree the above sample shots don't look good to me.

[teelicious]

didn't even think... just wanted to show an example... how do I delete them? GOT IT!
Thanks for the replies!

[PicBug]

teelicious, I had time to look for Kristy's posts on how she does the eyes:

One post:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=10307339&postcount=6471

One recent thread:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=894092

[egordon99]

I talked briefly with a VERY good photographer that gets the look I want. She uses a Canon 5D and 24-70 2.8 lens. Is the equipment making the difference?

It's the lighting, NOT the body/lens.