Selective sharpening, iris color boost, and catchlight addition for striking portrait eyes that draw the viewer in.

Step 1: Select the Eyes

Use Elliptical Marquee Tool to select each iris. Feather selection 2px. Save selection as channel.

Step 2: Brighten Iris

Add Curves adjustment layer with eye selection as mask. Pull midpoint up slightly for brightness.

Step 3: Boost Color

Add Hue/Saturation clipped to eyes: increase Saturation +20 on Reds and Cyans channels.

Step 4: Sharpen Eyes

Merge copy of eye area. Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask: Amount 80%, Radius 1px. Mask to eyes only.

Step 5: Add Catchlight

New layer. Paint small white dots at 10 o'clock on each iris (2–3px). Soften with 1px Gaussian Blur.

Step 6: Whiten Sclera

Select white of eyes with Lasso. Feather 5px. Hue/Saturation: reduce Yellow and Red saturation.

Step 7: Subtle Dodge

Dodge Tool on iris edges at 15% exposure for dimensional pop. Keep effect natural.

That's it! You've completed this tutorial. Experiment with the techniques and share your results with the Designstacks community.