How to make eyes or lips shine?

Sometimes you see a photo where the subject has the most beautiful eyes and I know post processing can help. They just shine. But also the subject himself/ herself can make a big difference. But is there a good way to pp a pic where either the shot made the eyes look a bit dull or the subject has some not so shiny eyes?

Also I would like to know if there would be a different process for asian eyes or African eyes?

Heres a pick of a young girl who naturally has good eyes.

Depending on how dark the eyes are, you can make them pop a bit more by lightning the iris a bit. Also if you have some catchlight in the eyes (from a fill flash for instance) it'll help a lot when you sharpen the eyes a bit extra. If the lips has some moist (or gloss on them already) you can also sharpen that for a better effekt.

Original image:

In my opinion it all starts with a great, or at least good, photograph. In the example you posted the dilated pupils, pinpoint catchlights, and highlights on the subject's lips suggest the use of the camera's built-in flash. It can be corrected but its much better to avoid such problems in the first place. Using an off-camera flash and otherwise modifying the harsh lighting conditions would go a long way to improving the photo. Then after that you can use post processing to further enhance the photo.

FedkaTheConvict wrote in post #7844114
In my opinion it all starts with a great, or at least good, photograph. In the example you posted the dilated pupils, pinpoint catchlights, and highlights on the subject's lips suggest the use of the camera's built-in flash.

This plus good make-up. I'm sad to say that no amount of PP on the eyes and lips could distract my attention from the spider leg eyelashes. But Cyberpet's post pretty much hits the nail on the head once you have the initial prerequisites in place.

i have actually played with this photo a few times now.... while she is beautiful.. the mascerra did her no justice at all. it is hugely distracting. and your not in aww at how pretty she really is.. instead.. your thinking.. " whats up with the make up?"

i think if you play with this photo.. you can get some really nice results. i removed her eyelashes, and put some natural looking ones ( kinda) on with some photoshop brushes.. i cleaned out the spot on flash, and hand drew some catchlights.

it does give it a better feel.. but after a while you keep feeling like your going too far.. because you are working with a picture that has pretty hard light.. and that hard light makes the depth of face kind of go away, and it loses that three dementional look.

but as far as making the lips shiny, and same with the eyes. the suggestions that are listed above are key. and when you go to PP.. what cyber pet has done, is really outstanding, and prettly much standard practice when in pp.

but..you can use the plastic wrap filter in your filter menue. and adjust opacity, and sharpness of that to give a glossy feel. and i see some people do that on photoshop tutorials on you tube.. i think when done in moderation it looks ago.. but again.. it gets overdone really fast.

so i think starting off with the basics up front will always be key in getting what you want.

good lighting makes a world of difference. then the pp, and come in later.

err im rambling.
sorry.

Here's a try to make this image better. But it's not perfect as it's a low-res image. What I did was to smooth the skin a tad, increased the eyes (the blues) so they popped a bit. Removed the glare on her teeth a bit and added a new glare in her lips (using the plastic wrap and masking). Also removed the direct flash in her pupil and moved the "glare" to just off the side.

Then the tricky part was to make som better eye lashes. I found a bunch of eye lashes brushes online (search for "eyelashes+brushes" and you'll find some good ones).

If I had more time/energy I'd make the eyes and eyelashes looks more natural and not so black. But this was a quicky, so live with it.

cyber.. my attempts were somewhat the same.
but i didnt post because image edit was turned off. but i like those lashes you used.. where did you get them?
shan

Shan, I found these to look the best: http://www.obsidiandaw​n.com …es-photoshop-gimp-brushes

CyberPet wrote in post #7851111

I don't want to be rude, but did you ever stop to actually look at what you were creating here? Those eyes look awful - drawn on, you know what I mean?

Damien, did you READ what I wrote???

Let me recap for you:

If I had more time/energy I'd make the eyes and eyelashes looks more natural and not so black. But this was a quicky, so live with it.

Live with it!!

Then I suggest that your "quicky" is of very little use to the OP.

Wow, lovely attitude dude. I had no access to the high res image, and I gave him/her some pointers on what to do. I wasn't going to post process this image as it was going to hang on the wall, but give some ideas.

Go back to sleep or something.

Damo77 wrote in post #7851475
Then I suggest that your "quicky" is of very little use to the OP.

The thread was pretty interesting....until you jumped in!

Anything else constructive to say?

Yes, I do. Petra's quicky neatly encapsulated everything that's bad about eye retouching - you see it everywhere, and it sh*ts me to tears. Her initial post proved that she can do wonderful work, but her subsequent effort was a disaster.

To the OP - if this example image is indicative of the type of pic you want to fix, then forget about the eyes and lips for the time being. You'll find that by fixing the overall contrast, exposure, etc of your images that they'll look wonderful already, then it just takes a tiny bit of attention to the small details to make a really lovely image.

Don't put the cart before the horse.