The Eyes Have It

People often ask what they can do to improve their portrait photography instantly. My response is always the same; focus on the eyes. If the eyes are sharp, everything else will follow. Unless there’s a specific reason for not wanting the eyes in focus, of course.

Our eyes do so much more than see. They are part of our repertoire of communication devices, and can convey a multitude of emotions even when the rest of the face appears impassive. Eyes are often the first thing somebody notices about you. In a 2017 survey, just over half the respondents said the eyes were the first facial feature they noticed.

Eyes can reinforce or contradict verbal messages. They can show emotion, state of mind, feelings … it’s easy to understand why people refer to eyes as the windows to the soul.

For this post, some simple pictures to demonstrate the importance of keeping the eyes sharp.

In the first, the cat’s nose is in focus, but the eyes are not sharp. It’s a nice enough photo, but has lost appeal because the eyes are slightly soft.

The next pictures show the difference made when the eyes are sharp. Even if the cat is not looking directly at the camera, having the focus on the eyes makes the image more pleasing. It is a subtle difference, but has a huge impact on the aesthetics of the photographs.

I took these pictures with my DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera. The same rule applies to any photography though. The following images were taken using my mobile telephone’s camera.

Again, a subtle, but important, difference between the two. The top photograph has some elements which are in focus, but not the eyes, whereas the lower image shows eyes in focus. [On most mobile devices, a simple screen tap will direct the camera to which part of the image you’d like to focus on.]

It’s a small adjustment to make to photography technique, but results in a big difference.  Whatever else you do with your portrait, or wildlife, images … try to ensure the eyes are in focus. The rest will follow.