Brightening Eyes

I’ve been using a pretty awesome action from Paint the Moon to brighten eyes in my photos but have since found a great little tutorial online to create the effect myself.  Of course, wouldn’t you know, I can’t find it.  I could have sworn that I pinned it to a board on my Pinterest page but apparently not so much.  Thinking back, I don’t think I pinned it because it was so easy for me to remember.  If I’d a known I was going to do a post on it, I would have saved it especially so that I could give credit.

Anyhow, for those of you that don’t have actions and want to give eyes a little pop, you just need to know where your dodge and burn tools are in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements!  All I did in my example below (original on left and edited on right) was dodge the whites and irises and burn the pupils and outline around the irises.  To keep my changes subtle, I decreased the opacity of the tools.  To finish it off, I sharpened it with the Cuts like a Knife action from Paint the Moon (part of their The Essentials bundle).  It’s nice because it allows you to selectively sharpen. 

Pretty great right? 

And just in case you are unfamiliar to Photoshop, your dodge and burn tools look like this:

Okay, now onto my photos.  The hubby and I took Alivia to the park on Sunday.  It was gorgeous out!  We were lucky it wasn’t crowded so that we could monopolize the swing!  She must have stayed on it for a good half an hour!  I sat on the one to her left and the hubby pushed us both!  We are such lucky girls!

This next shot was blurry but I sharpened as much as I could in Photoshop.
It was too cute to not include!

These next few shots are of Alivia on the climbing structure.
The hubby lifted her up to place her on the ropes and she held on for dear life!
I got underneath her and took these next few shots of her!
Look at that smile!

Hold on baby!

Speaking of subtle, this next shot is anything but!

I used an action and it lightened and brightened the skin which I like,
however, I feel like her eyes pop way too much now (a little scary)!
It’s looking a little over edited for my taste.
Or maybe it’s the sharpness?  Too sharp maybe?  IDK.
I didn’t have the strength to process it again!
Besides any picture of my baby is a beautiful one.

I’m linking up the shot below to the following photo challenges.

It’s a favorite!
Look at my peanut standing on her tippy toes!
This park used to be a zoo and some of the animal cages have been left up.
This particular cage was for the gorillas!
I told the hubby if he wasn’t good, I’d close him right in (of course I’d grab Alivia first)!