What’s the most important thing to look out for when shooting a portrait? Let’s say you have chosen an 85mm f/1.2 lens and selected f/1.2 to get some creamy bokeh. With that f/1.2 lens, your depth of field is in millimetres, so where do you aim? You probably answered ‘the eyes’ and you’re right.
OK, this wasn’t a hard test – our eyes reveal so much. When we meet a stranger or look at a portrait, we tend to look at the eyes first. In a portrait image, the ears and nose can be slightly out of focus but it’s important to nail the eyes. It’s all about the connection, something all the best portraits have – that’s from the eyes and when you get it, it’s a wonderful thing.
Even if you have captured great eyes, a lot can be done afterwards to bring them out even more. Colour, texture and sharpening all play key parts in drawing us to the eyes when we view a face. Fortunately Lightroom Classic makes working on these easy, with AI Masks and masking presets to speed up our workflow.
Expert tip: Darken the iris
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Spice up autumn
Bold autumnal colours lend themselves to bold editing techniques, says James Abbott
Breathe new life into forgotten photos with Enhance
James Paterson tries out Photoshop's AI image-enhancing tools to see if they can rescue an old, noisy, heavily-cropped raw file
Scanning ahead...
Paris 2024 was memorable not only for sport, says Jon Devo, but also innovative video tech
Shot of the month
Photojournalist Aaron Gekoski has produced a documentary about animal exploitation
10 AMAZING AUTUMN PROJECTS TO SHOOT
With summer behind us and winter approaching, autumn is an exciting creative stopgap. James Abbott explores some of its possibilities
Hotshots
Our showcase of the winning entries from the World Sports Photography Awards 2024
The art of seeing
Benedict Brain examines the tourist gaze and explores why we take 'travel' photographs
Historic streets
Andrew Bransby reveals the secrets of successfully shooting popular tourist hotspots at night
Don't get stuck in a rut
Brian Wakeling explains how get a winning shot from herds of deer
How to capture canals and docks
Wendy Evans investigates the watery arteries of the Industrial Revolution