Eyes ... and hot to achieve this eye reflection

[Alexandria]

I am trying to make eyes from scratch for a game but I cannot figure out what the images that are used for the eye reflection, It looks as if it is someone looking from dark into the light in the image. I have searched high and low. I google for things like "looking out window" etc. but nothing satisfying comes up. Any help please?

 

[IamSam]

It's not so much what you're image is, as it would be in what your doing to simulate the effect. Let's see some of your attempts.

 

[Alexandria]

Don't understand, simulate what effect? The glossiness? I have no attempts because I don't know how its done, all I know is that it is an image with layer effects. It does seem to matter what the image is because with "any image" the eyes don't seem natural anymore.

 

[IamSam]

Don't understand, simulate what effect?

A reflection in the eye. Didn't you say you were trying to make one from scratch?

Like going from this...


....to something like this.....


...or this?

 

[Alexandria]

Yes exactly like that last one ... can you explain please?

Also, what on earth do I search in Google? I have tried everything from "looking out window" to "hotel balcony view". I can seriously say ... nothing!

 

[IamSam]

can you explain please?

Certainly..........I may not have time this am, but I will get to it.

Also, what on earth do I search in Google? I have tried everything from "looking out window" to "hotel balcony view". I can seriously say ... nothing!

As I stated, it's not about the image, it's what you do with the image in order to use it in the effect/reflection. I just searched "window" in a Goggle Image search and found 30 or so possibilities. If I search "Looking out window" the possibilities are endless!

I'm not sure as to what you're looking for, but if you are not finding anything, then maybe I don't understand what it is you're looking for.

 

[Alexandria]

I don't get that high gloss like in your 3rd picture. So yes, when you get some tie, I would highly appreciate your help Thank you so far.

 

[IamSam]

I don't get that high gloss like in your 3rd picture.

I would like to see the results that you do get.

So yes, when you get some tie, I would highly appreciate your help

I will definitely show you what I do when I get some time. My work schedule has been hectic yesterday and today! Sorry.

 

[IamSam]

I really want to see your results.

I thought this subject sounded rather familiar because we have already gone over this here: https://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum/threads/catch-lights.68078/

I did the exact same thing for the eyes I posted here in post #4 that I did in the other tutorial with the exception of darkening the outer edge of the iris.

I'm not sure as to what you're looking for, but if you are not finding anything, then maybe I don't understand what it is you're looking for.

Also you need to provide some better information on what you are looking for!

 

[Alexandria]

Well, as you see I am no further. Here is an example of the exact way you explained it



I don't see no gloss whatsoever and there is nothing realistic about that eye.

How did you get the 2nd eye even glossier? Screen?


I thought it was the colour of the eyes but it's not, I have seen this HIGH GLOSS effect in the palest of eyes. In the very first picture I posted the light from the window is very bright. My example is just dull. Anyway, thx for helping

 

[IamSam]

In the very first picture I posted the light from the window is very bright. My example is just dull. Anyway, thx for helping

OK..............now I understand a little better. Thanks for posting your work.

How did you get the 2nd eye even glossier? Screen?

No.

So...............if you want a brighter reflection, what do you do? You make it brighter with a Curves adjustment layer clipped to the reflection image.

Form this....


To this...




You may need to paint out some parts of the Curves Adjustment layers-layer mask to darken the the the silhouetted figures/objects in your reflection image.

 

[IamSam]

Quotes form previous thread....

So you are saying its more about the adjustment layers and I can use actually any image?

Sure! I would also consider searching for high contrast images with a darker foreground or altering my image of choice with adjustment layers to increase the contrast. Brightness can also be increased and adjusted with masking. Use adjustment layers so they're editable.

This would be an example of a high contrasted imgage...


Quote from this thread..

It's not so much what you're image is, as it would be in what your doing to simulate the effect. Let's see some of your attempts.

As I stated, it's not about the image, it's what you do with the image in order to use it in the effect/reflection.

It has always been about what you do with the image rather than the image itself. If the image being used in the reflection is not bright enough.......make it brighter. You can apply as many adjustment layers to the reflection image as is need to get the effect you desire. It just may take some experimentation. This is why I was having such a hard time understanding that you could not find a suitable image.

Since I feel that it would be more beneficial for you, later this evening I'm going to cover exactly how I would prepare an image to be used in an eye reflection.

 

[Alexandria]

I was just going to write that I can't even find an image like that, tried: silhouette at window, from dark to light ... like everything Anyway, I await your explanation eagerly and will try out another eye later this evening ... again ty

 

[IamSam]

I was just going to write that I can't even find an image like that, tried: silhouette at window, from dark to light ... like everything

Well.........I'm not sure what to tell you there. These images are everywhere. I used "Looking out window" in a Goggle search. The point that I'm trying to push home here is that the image really doesn't matter, it's what you do with it.

Let’s talk about altering any image in order to make it suitable for an eye reflection.

As we have already discussed, you can use any image since it really doesn’t matter. It’s not the image as much as it is what we can do to it in order to make it fit your needs.

Take this image for instance. It's not the best but we can make it work.


The first thing we need to do is to warp the image as it might appear in the reflection of a curved eye. we do this first before we apply adjustments so that we can tweak them later if needed and it give us a better representation of how it will look on the eye itself. How the reflected image is warped can vary, it does not have to be exactly round.

In order to visualize the entire Iris, I will create a circular template. But this is not necessary, you can just use the eye image itself.


Add the image and then use Free Transform and Warp to make the cat image fit and curve to the circle or eye.


Let’s now turn the eye image off an only deal with the cat image.


What makes for a great eye reflection image is a sharp contrast with a bright background. Let’s start adding and CLIPPING adjustment layers to the cat image layer.

A clipped Black & White Adjustment layer helped in getting it off to great start.
Note: Color would be reflected in the eye so doing this is strictly up to you. You could leave this part out.



But we need to really darken the foreground to almost black in order to create a silhouette effect. I really want to preserve the contrast so I will now make a selection of the foreground objects that I want to be darkened. For this you can use whatever selection tool you are comfortable using, I use the Pen Tool.

The selection is added to the clipped Curves Adjustment layers-layer mask. It will preserve the lighter background while allowing me to darken the foreground.



If you're not happy with the brightness of the background, add/clip a Brightness & Contrast or Levels Adjustment layer to brighten.



Now select the Cat image layer and all of the adjustment layers and create a group with them.
You can now turn on the eye layer.
Adjust the group layers opacity to your liking.
Add a layer mask to the group layer and use the Brush Tool to blend in the edges of the reflection with the Iris.
You can also add a new layer above the group layer to darken the Pupil.




The beauty is that everything is editable! It's not the image, it's what you do with it in order to make it work!

 

[Alexandria]

Well, I think yours is very cool, as the eyes I posted in first post but as you see I have been at it for years on and off and I just cant do it. I have no idea what I am doing wrong but these following eyes are like all the ones I make, just "dead".



I highly appreciate your help, thank you

 

[IamSam]

I have been at it for years on and off and I just cant do it. I have no idea what I am doing wrong

What do you want to improve?

One thing I see is that you have covered up the eyelash reflection with the cat reflection. You need to mask that out so you can see the eyelash reflection. It should be fairly dark.


Also, your "eye" is just a bulgy Iris and Pupil without any of the normal (skin) eye structure and accompanying shadows. It just looks odd anyway. Could this be why you don't think your getting it right? Have you tried adding a reflection to just a normal eye image?

I didn't even go over this yet, but the newly added reflection will also require some shadowing.

Last result from above.....


Shadowed.
I can always increase brightness of the window background reflection by reducing the shadow opacity, adjusting the layer mask, or by increasing the brightness of the B/C adj layer.


Can you provide your "eye" example that you have been using?

 

[Alexandria]

This is what I was working with

 

[Rich54]

I have no idea what I am doing wrong but these following eyes are like all the ones I make, just "dead".

For the past few months, I have been intensively teaching myself to draw the human figure (with paper and pencil, not Photoshop). I'm certainly no expert, but I have a few ideas for why the eyes you are trying to draw look "dead" to you.

First, I opened a Levels adjustment on your eye to look at the histogram. If you don't know what that is, it's a graph that examines every pixel in your photo and plots them on an axis from left (darkest) to right (lightest). If you look at the histogram for your eye, the darkest possible black is in the far left, where you see the little black triangle. You'll notice that there are no pixels there and you need to travel a long way to the right before any pixels show up. The same is true for the far right of the histogram—there no whites. For a vibrant image, it's often best that the full range of darks and lights be present, so the first thing I would do to your drawing is a Levels adjustment to reset the black and white points. See the second image, below.






My next observation is that the pupil you drew is just a black spot. In reality, the pupil is a hole in the iris that makes the iris look like a donut. I took your drawing and created some gradual shading to make it look like the iris is receding (curving) away from us into a black hole.

I also made a few other adjustments to your drawing:

• I sharpened the iris and increased its saturation.
• I rotated your drawing 90 degrees to the left, so that the dark black shadow around the iris is on top rather than on the right. An eye is covered by the upper lid—like the hood of a sweatshirt on somebody's head—that creates a dark shadow on the upper half of the iris.
• Eyes usually have a highlight—a reflection from the light source of whatever the eye is looking at, so I added a highlight at the "2 o'clock" position.

After all of that, here's what I've got. You can be the judge to decide if it looks more "alive".

Rich

 

[Alexandria]

Its nice but I am also trying to acieve "powder-pastel" colours and that's another battle. Did you possibly keep an image of the PSD so I can see the layers?

 

[Rich54]

Did you possibly keep an image of the PSD so I can see the layers?

Yes. Here it is.

If you're interested, I'm also attaching a tutorial on how to draw an eye. This is for actual drawing, not Photoshop, but it does a good job of explaining the different parts of the eye and their basic shapes. This guy "Proko" is very good. He has lots of tutorials, including others about the eye.