catchlights

[dboelter]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advise. I took some pictures of a baby using natural light from a large picture window. This was an office setting and I didn't notice the flourscent lights above until I viewed the pictures and the catch lights in the eyes. Wondering should I try to edit them and how should I or should I leave it as is. It bugs me, but not sure others will notice.

Thanks!

http://www.designerdigitals.com/digi...hp?photo=76638

[beehive50]

Gosh, Dinah... wonderful photo, actually! I'm not sure I would've noticed the "additional" catchlights if you hadn't said anything. Maybe a professional would catch it (pun intended! LOL) but maybe not... I'm thinking if you really wanted to get rid of a couple of the "spots", you could probably CLONE them out in PS/PSE. But, again... not really sure they need to go.

Maybe some others (read that: better photographers then me!) have some better input and insight!

[bluelemur01]

That is a very cute baby & a cute photo!

If you WANT to get ride of some of the pin-lights in the eyes, you could use either the healing brush tool or the clone tool. Sometimes I will zoom in on the eyes so they fill a majority of the screen, select the healing brush, alt-click on a nearby patch that I like, and gently paint over the problem area. I may also try cloning a nearby area. Some people prefer to use the paint brush and actually paint pixel by pixel to get the right look. I have not been successful at making that work for me; I guess I need to practice it more!

If I'm working on eyes, I always zoom back out and check after EACH thing I do. I find that if the heal or clone isn't perfect, the eye will look like it has weird little circles or dark patches that look dirty or even worse than the lights themselves! Eyes are tough. I think the hardest thing about eyes is trying to fix glasses glare, though!

I think it's up to you on whether you want to do anything to these eyes, b/c the photo is very cute as it is. If you take out too many lights, the eyes might end up being too dark, or the remaining lights might seem too small.

Some photographers actually ADD catchlights if they don't have ones they like, in order to make the eyes seem more lively. A lot of pros feel that one or two catchlights is optimal, and more than 2 is "unreal." They also like seeing larger lighter catchlights with a neutral white light in them. There are tutorials (free) on the web on how to make large catchlights for eyes; I don't know of one offhand but I've searched for this topic before -- just googled "creating catchlights in eyes" or something similar.

I have actually created catchlights in a few photos where the eyes turned out very dark and black w/out any lights. But those weren't really my best photos ANYWAYS..I was doing it more to see how it worked. It did make the face look more lively & alert, more interesting, so I'll keep it in my bag of tricks for future use!

So it's possible a pro would REMOVE some small small catchlights & then CREATE a new, larger one! But honestly, your pic is cute as is, so I'd say you only "need" to do something to it if you just want to play around & experiment & try out techniques for fun.

good luck!
jennifer

[dboelter]

Thanks so much for the tips!

I might check out some of those websites - I've tried adding my own catchlights in the past, but they end up looking fake...

Thanks again for the advice - I admire those who take baby photos - It's MUCH harder than it seems.

Dinah