Brightening eyes works in three layers, and keeping them separate is what stops it looking fake: Levels raises the brightness, Color Balance adds blue and cyan to the highlights, then you hand-paint the catchlights and lock the transparent pixels to refine the edges. For portrait work these three steps earn their keep.
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Zoom into the eye area
Pick the Zoom tool (Z) from the toolbox and enlarge the subject's eyes to a size that is comfortable for detail work.
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Enter Quick Mask editing mode
Click the Edit in Quick Mask Mode button at the bottom right of the toolbox (the icon that looks like a circle with a dot in the middle). In the Quick Mask Options dialog that appears:
- Set Color Indicates to Selected Areas.
- Click OK to confirm.
The image is now covered with a translucent red, which means you are in Quick Mask editing mode.
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Paint the selection (trace the eyes)
First set the foreground color (FG) to black and the background color (BG) to white. Then:
- Choose the Brush tool (B) from the toolbox.
- Open the brush options in the options bar at the top:
- Set an appropriate brush size (5–15 px is a good starting point, depending on image resolution).
- Set Opacity to 100 %.
- Hold down the left mouse button and paint over the eye area (iris, pupil and whites). Only the areas you paint black become the final selection.
When you have finished painting, stay in Quick Mask mode and make sure the eye area is completely covered.
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Leave Quick Mask → get a selection
Click the Edit in Standard Mode button at the bottom left of the toolbox (the rectangle icon) to return to normal editing.
Photoshop now converts the black areas you painted into a selection, and the eyes are outlined with marching ants.
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Lift the brightness — Levels
Open Image → Adjustments → Levels.
- In the dialog, drag the Output slider on the right (the white triangle) to the left (about 10%–30%) so the eyes get brighter.
- Click OK.
If noise appears in the whites of the eye, lower the left Input Shadows slider slightly.
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Color Balance — add blue/cyan to the highlights
Go to Image → Adjustments → Color Balance.
- In the Tone Balance section, select Highlights.
- Drag the slider toward Cyan‑Blue, roughly +5 to +15 in each direction, to give the eyes more life.
- Click OK.
If the eyes look overall too green or too yellow, fine-tune under Midtones or Shadows.
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Hand-paint the highlights (white + blue)
Now paint white and blue catchlights onto the highlights of the eyes on a new layer.
- In the Layers panel, click the New Layer button (the + icon) to create a blank layer.
- Set the foreground color to white and use the Brush tool:
- An appropriate brush size (about 2–5 px), opacity 100 %.
- Dot a white highlight on the brightest points of the eye (the top of the pupil, the reflection in the iris).
- Switch the foreground color to light blue (#88c0ff) and add a touch of blue highlight to the left or right of the white dot with the same brush size, creating a natural glow.
- If you want a softer result, change the layer's blending mode to Screen or Overlay after painting, and lower the layer opacity a little.
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Refine the highlight edges (lock transparent pixels)
With the highlight layer selected in the Layers panel, click the Lock transparent pixels icon (the small padlock button) so you can only paint on existing pixels.
- Keep the Brush tool (still at 100 % opacity) and the light blue foreground color.
- Trace a thinner blue line around the edge of the highlight to give it more dimension.
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Deselect and finish
Press Ctrl + D (or choose Select → Deselect from the menu) to drop the selection.
The eyes are now brighter, richer in color and have natural catchlights. If the result looks too strong, lower the opacity of the highlight layer, or use Image → Adjustments → Curves for a gentle overall correction.
💡 Tip: while you work, the Alt (or Option) key swaps the foreground and background colors on the fly, and Shift keeps the brush perfectly round.
References
- Online PS
- Adobe official documentation