Inside Photoshop® CS

Editing Eye Highlights

Okay, return the last of your telephone messages, and take a long, deep breath because this journey into retouching and embellishment, although not tremendously difficult, will require patience and some concentration. But each little step will carry its own reward—promise!

To begin with, if you zoom at 200% on the eyes, you will see that the girl's eyes are a little unfocused; apparently, she doesn't know where to look. Each eye has two catch lights, which is one too many per eye and is partially responsible for that “distant gaze.” But which is the good catch light, and which needs to be edited away?

A basic optics principle tells us that the catch light must be in the opposite area of the lightened part of the eye—the ...