Photoshop Tutorial: How to Enhance Eyes with Textures

Photoshop Tutorial: How to Enhance Eyes with Textures

In Photoshop, you are able to change eye color. But did you know you can apply a texture to it to make it stand out even more? Apply a texture to the eye can make it more appealing than just changing the eye color. In this Tutorial I will be using Photoshop CS3. Once you learn how to do this, you will be able to use any texture you want to. This is a little more advanced for beginners, but I think it's something easier to learn.
Picking or Taking an Image of an eye.

If you're planning to take your own picture, make sure you use the Macro setting on your camera. This will allow you to take a clean, close up, good quality picture that you will be able to work with. If you using someone else's picture, the same rules still apply. Good quality, close up, and clean.

Picking Out A Texture.

When picking out a texture for your eye, there are a few things you should consider. The first thing you want to think about is "What would work well with my image?". If you're image is intense and powerful, you probably want to use fire or something along those lines. You also want to make sure it's a good quality texture. If it's not, it won't look very good with your eye. The last thing to think of is picking out a certain part of a texture you want to use. If a part of a texture is dull or doesn't have good detail, you probably shouldn't use it.

Applying The Texture.

Step One: Open the eye image you want to use (File - Open).

Step Two: Copy and paste the image you want to use to your image (Edit - Paste). The texture should appear on a new layer and ready to work with.

Step Three: Transform the size of the texture to the size of the eye (Edit - Transform - Scale). If you know the hot keys: Ctrl + T. Once you press that, move around the texture to the size of the eye.

Step Four: Once you have the texture is the eye size; bring down the opacity of the layer to around 30% or so. This will allow you to see the eye. Erase around the eye. Make sure you use a soft edged brush to erase. Make sure you erase the texture on the pupil.

Step Five: Bring the Opacity back up to 100. This will now allow you to have the full effect of the texture on the eye while we change the Blending Options.

Step Six: This step is entirely up to you. Change the Blending Options to what you find looks the best. I used hard light but that's just what worked well with my image.

Step Seven: If you don't think the texture works well with the image after you have tried it, use a different one. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get what you want.

And that's all there is to it! It's easy, simple, and fun. You're never limited to what textures you can use or which Blending Options you can try. Just as a tip, if you have a blue eye, try a water texture. If you eye is green, try a leaf texture and so on. Just remember: Experiment!