Impressive eyes photo in 3 steps

The first thing we hear, when we take photo portraits, is to focus on the eyes because the gaze. If it is perhaps not the most important, nevertheless remains one of the essential elements of the protagonist. The eyes can indeed transmit sensations, without the individual in question needing to tell us what is happening.

We will try today to capture all the strength of the eyes by focusing on them and on the details that compose them. It is true that we all have eyes, but they are all different, full of nuances and shapes that make them unique.

So how do you achieve striking eye photos? Let’s say that you will need specific macro photography equipment and a very specific working formula.

Use a polarizing filter

Here, using a polarizing filter can make the difference between professional, striking eye shots and dull eye shots.

One of the main pitfalls to avoid in this discipline is the reflections that appear in the eye, even reflections of yourself, hence the great importance of using a polarizing filter.

The polarizing filter will prevent the appearance of reflections and shine on your photos, for sharp photos, with enhanced contrast and saturation.

Consider your camera settings for eye shots

As we have seen, you will need to use the optimal aperture of your parfocal lens to take very clear photos of the eyes. Otherwise, with smaller diaphragm openings, but this will also depend on the light conditions in which you will be working.

If you find it difficult to get sharp photos using apertures of f/8 or f/11, due to low light, and even using longer exposure times, you will need to opt for apertures larger apertures, like f/2.8 if your parfocal lens doesn’t have a large aperture. You can always use LED torches or macro flashes.

This is what is for the aperture and shutter speed . But when it comes to ISO, try to use values ​​between 100 and 200 and you’ll avoid noise in your shots. Don’t forget that you will have to work in RAW format if you want to improve your photos later in post-production.

Manual focus

Even if the autofocus of our cameras can give impressive results, as we have seen in this article, the best is still to work with manual focus to take pictures of the eyes. Indeed, the camera does not always succeed, but you do: you will know exactly where you want to focus on the image.

Work on a single point to take photos of the eyes

Once you have chosen your parameters to obtain a good exposure and therefore good lighting, you must now obtain all the sharpness necessary for this discipline. It is true that the details of the iris will make the difference between a flat photo and a professional photo.

This is why it will also absolutely be necessary to take into account the focus area when using the single point, in addition to knowing how to focus manually.

The focus area is the part of the image where we will place the focus and the single point is the most precise point to focus on the eyes since it will be you who will tell the camera exactly where you want to focus.