How To Change Eye Color in Photoshop
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Change eye color in Photoshop with a non-destructive technique that uses a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and a Levels adjustment layer to keep the result looking natural.
In this tutorial, we’re going to learn how to quickly change eye color in Adobe Photoshop.
You will learn a non-destructive technique using groups, Hue and Saturation Adjustment Layers, and Levels Adjustment Layers to complete the eye color effect.
Key Takeaways
- A single Hue/Saturation adjustment layer can shift the iris to almost any color, since the whole effect lives in its layer mask.
- The Lightness slider is the wrong tool for brightening an eye. A separate Levels adjustment layer in the same group gives you cleaner control.
- Grouping the Hue/Saturation and Levels layers under one layer mask means you only have to fix the selection once.
- Colorize pushes the entire iris to one flat color, instead of shifting the eye’s own natural hue.
- Duplicating and desaturating the original eye, then blending it with Vivid Light, brings back highlight detail that gets lost when you darken light-colored eyes.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- Keyboard Shortcuts to Change Eye Color in Photoshop
- Select the Eyes
- Hue and Saturation Adjustment Layer to Control Eye Color
- Use Levels Adjustment to Control Brightness
- Refine the Layer Mask
- Use the Colorize Feature
- Enhance Eye Brightness
- Recover Highlights When You Change Eye Color
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Change Eye Color: Conclusion
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to select just the iris with the Elliptical Marquee Tool
- How to change eye color with a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and a group mask
- How to control eye brightness separately with a Levels adjustment layer
- How to recover highlight detail in a darkened eye with the Vivid Light blending mode
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop 2020 (version 21.2) or the current version
Keyboard Shortcuts to Change Eye Color in Photoshop
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Reposition selection while dragging | Space Bar | Space Bar |
| Subtract from selection | Alt | Option |
| Intersect with selection | Alt Shift | Option Shift |
| Fill with background color | Ctrl Backspace | Command Backspace |
| Deselect | Ctrl D | Command D |
| Decrease brush size | [ | [ |
| Swap foreground and background color | X | X |
| Load layer mask as a selection | Ctrl click mask thumbnail | Command click mask thumbnail |
| Duplicate layer | Ctrl J | Command J |
| Desaturate layer | Ctrl Shift U | Command Shift U |
Select the Eyes
Start by creating a selection of the iris using the Elliptical Marquee tool. Hold Space Bar as you create the selection to reposition it.
Reshape the top curve part of the selection that settles on the eyelids by holding Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS). Your cursor will have a minus icon next to it.
Hold the AltShift (Windows) or OptionShift (macOS), and your cursor will have an X icon next to it instead.
Do this while creating an oblong shape that only covers the pupil while intersecting with the active selection to cut the top part.
Hue and Saturation Adjustment Layer to Control Eye Color
With the selection active, go to the Layers panel and click on the New Adjustment Layer icon > Hue/Saturation.
Current versions of Photoshop pull color swatches straight from your photo inside the Hue/Saturation panel, which makes targeting the iris even easier. See everything that changed in the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
To add the other eye to the Layer Mask, repeat the process of creating a pupil selection.
Then, with the Background color set to white (#ffffff), press CtrlBackspace (Windows) or CommandBackspace (macOS) to fill it with the Background color.
Press CtrlD (Windows) or CommandD (macOS) to deselect.
From here, you can start using the Hue/Saturation to change the color of the eyes by adjusting the Hue and Saturation sliders.
Use Levels Adjustment to Control Brightness
Note: The Lightness slider does not give the best results when you lighten or darken eye color. Use a separate Levels adjustment layer instead for better control.
Instead, we will use a separate adjustment layer to adjust the brightness of the eye.
Create a New Group.
Click-and-drag the Layer Mask from the Hue/Saturation layer into the Group, so this single Layer Mask controls multiple adjustment layers.
Then, click-and-drag the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer into the Group as well.
Click on the New Adjustment Layer icon > Levels and add it to the group.
Use the Levels to modify the brightness and contrast by individually adjusting the Shadow, Midtone, Highlight, and Output Level sliders to achieve the desired effect.
Refine the Layer Mask
With the Layer Mask in the group, it means that you can easily control multiple adjustment layers at once.
To demonstrate, zoom into the image, and you may notice how the new pupil colors affect the upper lashes.
Use the Brush tool and set the Foreground color to black (#000000). Use it to paint over the affected eyelashes to hide them from the Layer Mask subtly.
To retrieve areas back into the Layer Mask, press the X key on your keyboard to switch the Foreground color and the Background color.
Then, with the white set as the Foreground color, start painting in areas you want to bring back to the mask.
Tip: From the Properties panel, adjust the Feather slider to soften the edge along the iris for a more natural look.
Once the eye color looks right, the skin around it matters too. See how to remove dark eye circles in Photoshop next.
Use the Colorize Feature
By checking the Colorize box, you can colorize the entire layer instead of shifting along with the Hue slider that works with the eyes’ natural color.
With Colorize, it turns the entire pupil into a specific color, and you can change the color by adjusting the Hue slider and the Saturation slider to set the intensity.
Once again, to achieve better control of the luminosity, use the Levels adjustment layer.
Enhance Eye Brightness
If you are working with light-eyed subjects, you may need to darken the pupils to achieve the desired color. However, this also results in washed-out details and dull highlights.
Click here if you also want to learn how to change hair color in Photoshop!
Recover Highlights When You Change Eye Color
To fix this, press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) as you click on the Group’s Layer Mask thumbnail to load it again as a selection.
Select the original image layer and press CtrlJ (Windows) or CommandJ (macOS) to duplicate it onto a new layer.
Click-and-drag the new layer into the Group.
Desaturate the layer by pressing CtrlShiftU (Windows) or CommandShiftU (macOS).
Then, change the Blending Mode of the layer to Vivid Light and decrease the Opacity.
Tip: If you decrease the Opacity, the highlights on the eye can lose their intensity. Check the Levels adjustment layer, and make sure the Output Level slider’s Highlight point is not set to the gray area.
That’s the trick on how to change eye color in Photoshop in a couple of steps and can dramatically improve your next portrait project!
Frequently Asked Questions
Select the iris with the Elliptical Marquee Tool, then create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from that selection. Drag the Hue slider to pick a new color, and the Saturation slider to set its intensity. Add a Levels adjustment layer to the same group to fine tune brightness.
A Hue/Saturation adjustment layer stays fully editable. You can reopen it at any time and change the hue, saturation, or lightness without redoing the selection or damaging the original pixels.
The Lightness slider tends to wash out detail instead of producing a natural brightness change. A separate Levels adjustment layer, grouped with the Hue/Saturation layer, gives you a cleaner result.
Colorize replaces the eye’s own color with a single flat hue you choose, instead of shifting the existing color. Use the Hue slider to pick the color and the Saturation slider to set how strong it looks.
Select the Brush Tool, set the foreground color to black, and paint over the eyelashes on the layer mask. Press X to swap to white if you paint away too much of the mask.
Duplicate the original eye layer, desaturate it, and set its blending mode to Vivid Light inside the same group. Lower the layer’s opacity until the highlight looks bright without losing the new eye color.
This technique works in Photoshop 2020 (version 21.2), when the video was recorded. It also works in the current version, because it only uses Hue/Saturation, Levels, and layer masks. None of those tools have changed in a way that breaks the steps.
Change Eye Color: Conclusion
You now know how to change the color of your eyes in Photoshop using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, a Levels layer, and a shared group mask.
The same masking and grouping approach carries over to other portrait retouching work, from whitening eyes to matching skin tones.
Watch the full video above, and comment on the video if you have a question.
Selections and Masking Mastery
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Next, learn how to whiten eyes in Photoshop.
Related Links
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