Tip of the Week: Sparkly Eyes

Oops! Last week I said that I would post a new tip every Thursday or Friday, and here it is Saturday, and no tip. Can you ever forgive me? To make up for it, I'm going to share a real quick and easy one today that you can do with a point and shoot or a DSLR. It's all about the eyes.

Big, beautiful, sparkly eyes

Before I had learned anything about photography, I remember telling Alex, "I really love those pictures that you can see sparkles in their eyes." Now, I love sparkly stuff to begin with (I have been both a sparkler and a "sparkle monster" for Halloween just to give me an excuse to wear lots of glitter), but I was really on to something when I mentioned this. Do you know the sparkly eyes I'm talking about? Black and white images of babies come to mind when I think of them. All you really see are these big beautiful baby eyes.  Anyway, little did I know that you really REALLY want those lights in their eyes! They are called "catch lights" and it makes your subject seem alive and vibrant, of course, even more stunning.

No Catch Lights (or very minimal catch lights):

So, how do you get these so called "catch lights"? You turn your subject towards the light source. Easy as pie! If you're not sure where you'll get the best catch lights, take your subject and just turn him/her until you see those eyes light up like magic! It really is something spectacular, and so easy to do.

 Fairly Awesome Catch Lights:

And this one I don't love, but her catch lights are sparkly. Sometimes you can even see the photographer's reflection in the subject's eyes. I think that's pretty cool.

So there you have, your fabulous photographic tip of the week. May you have beautiful weather this weekend, and plenty of opportunities to use your camera!