Photography tutorial part 2: How I make the eyes look so expressive.

Emotion in the eyes:

When it comes to capturing emotions in the eyes, I do a few tricks.  It’s not natural by any means.

1.       I do use mesh eyes. (Catwa eyes to be exact)  The hud that comes with the Catwa eyes allows you to move the eyes in different directions. This is helpful when you are posing to have the eyes stay in the position that you want them in.  You do not have to use Catwa eyes but it is handy to have that Hud with the eyes.

2.       Depending on what emotion I am trying to capture, I will move the mesh eyes up or down.  I find if I want to capture anger, hostility or even a sensual pose; I move the iris more towards the top of the eyelid. If I am looking for a soft, sad, depressed or even a more innocent expression; I move the iris closer to the bottom.  (See pictures below)

3.       I edit my face shape.  I have several shapes saved for pictures that I custom made myself.  With one shape, the outer corner of the eyes are intentionally turned downwards.  (Not a lot because I don’t want to make it super noticeable)  This gives the face a natural sadden appearance.  When you experience grief or are crying, the outer corners of your eyes will turn downwards.  When you are overjoyed or excited, those outer corners will turn up.  So based on the type of picture is the shape I use.

4.       Not all mesh eyes are created equal.  I think we all can tell the difference between noob eyes and high quality eyes.  I tend to use eyes that I know will photograph well.  There are a lot of good quality eyes that look great but for some reason just don’t photograph well. It’s just like real life when you think you look great and then somebody shows you a picture of yourself from a party and your eyes look like they belong in the black pits of hell.  After a lot of trial and error, I have found several people that make wonderful photographic worthy eyes.  (I have not tried all the eyes in Second Life – these are just my personal preference – use the eyes you personally like)

5.       Here are a list of eye makers to try out if you are struggling:  (Again, I use the Catwa Eye system with appliers from the designers below)

a.       A R T E

b.       Euphoric

c.       Go & See

d.       Song

e.       IKON (He doesn’t really update but his eyes are mesh and they come with a hud)

5.  Eyebrow shapes are seriously important to your picture.  The wrong eyebrow shape can really make your picture look like shit.   Here are two pictures using different eyebrow shapes: I think you can see the difference in facial expressions.

Will write up a tutorial for wind lights soon. So look for part three soon.