The Eyes Have It!

You get an invitation to a bit of a do. It could be a wedding, a christening or baptism, a birthday or retirement celebration, a garden party or a barbecue, in fact any one of a multitude of possibilities. What these and the many others have in common is the opportunity to take photographs. Photographs of people both inside and outside, besides the weather the other thing you cannot control is the amount of available light. Inside we would use a flash. I would use a separate flash attached to the hot shoe with its head angled towards the ceiling just in front of the subjects, a technique called bounced flash, where the flash is bounced off the ceiling. It virtually eliminates red eye. Modern cameras have a red eye reduction system, this fires a pre flash that has two purposes, one; to illuminate the blood vessels in the eyes, the cause of red eye, two; for the camera to establish the shutter speed and aperture setting if on full auto.

Outside we face different challenges. It was and still is customary to place the subjects facing the sun, although there is a reason why we shouldn’t. Before I go into that let me explain a few little know facts. There are just three main eye colours for us humans, blue, green and brown. Certainly there are numerous shades of these. Eye colour is determined by the amount of melanin in the iris it’s a pigment that also influences skin and hair colour. Blue eyes are the most light sensitive, next is green around the mid point, and finally brown, the least sensitive of the three.

I imagine you are probably wondering what this has to do with photographing dolls? Well now I’m going to tell you. Soon after Elina arrived in May 2019 I took a portrait photo of her, when I loaded it onto the computer I was shocked with what I saw. Her deep, ocean blue eyes were blasting out of her head. It was not realistic, it was not human like.

I spent a few hours considering various methods to eliminate this effect, one I kept coming back to as it was the least aggressive. I put it into practice a couple of days later. I will tell you what I did a little later. In the meantime here’s some photos I found from some doll manufacturers that illustrate the problem. Consider; if a professional photographer can make this mistake how easy it is for us to also fall foul.

Here’s what I did and what I used. You will need to obtain a few clean soft cloths, these could be cotton (like an old shirt sleeve) stockinette (also known as ‘scrim’) or microfibre cloths, a partially used container of cream cleaner, preferably left standing for a few months or years. Method: Remove the eyes and take them to the bathroom or kitchen, wipe them over with a clean cloth, place them on a clean, dry surface. With one of the cloths put a small drop (about the size of a petite pois (very small pea)) of cream cleanser on it straight from the container without shaking it. Gently rub the cleanser over the eye in a circular motion from the centre outwards, stopping when you get to the white section. As you rub you will feel the gritty particles cutting into the surface, when it has ceased to be felt stop and rinse the eye. Leave to dry and repeat for the other eye. Once dry polish them with another clean, dry cloth. Hold each eye in turn in front of a window and look at the sheen, the sheen should be all around the eye except for the centre (iris and pupil) which should have a mattish appearance. If not repeat, if it does then refit the eyes, and have a well earned brew of your choice. The eyes are made from acrylic which is a hard wearing material although it’s surface is easily damaged, it is repairable.

The easiest way to avoid this is to have your model looking away from the camera. Here is Elina to demonstrate:

Reading a book, something happening outside the window or a partially heard conversation she wants to listen to. In fact look at Elina, Rosina and Leonora very seldom do they look directly at the camera. Refer to my original post here post 4. A little about me.

Regards,

S.

Helpful post, thanks 👍🏻

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of an unedited human portrait by Jovana Rikalo and my unaltered, factory acrylic doll eyes.

Both sets of eyes share a naturally vivid blue and are looking directly into the camera. My doll eyes have not been sanded, polished, or altered in any way nor the photo altered or enhanced in any way.

This comparison highlights two important points. First, intense blue eyes are not unrealistic. Human blue eyes vary widely in brightness, and their apparent intensity depends heavily on factors such as the angle and direction of light, overall exposure, shadow placement, and iris scattering. When directional light hits a blue iris from slightly above or the side, the natural scattering makes the color appear extremely vivid — exactly what’s happening in both photos.

Second, acrylic doll eyes already reflect light in a very human-like way. The clear acrylic dome of a doll eye behaves similarly to a real cornea. Acrylic has a refractive index close enough to real ocular tissue that it produces comparable catchlights, reflections, subtle shadow transitions, and the appearance of iris depth. This is why the highlights and reflections in the doll eye match those in the human portrait. The realism comes from optics and lighting, not from altering the eye surface.

High-quality doll eyes actually borrow directly from prosthetic artificial eye design. Lifesize dolls often use the same principles as prosthetic eyes, which must convincingly match real human eyes at conversational distance. Both use a polished clear acrylic cornea, layered or printed irises with radial detail, a white sclera bowl with realistic reflectivity, optical-grade surface smoothing, and dome geometry designed to mimic natural light behavior. If prosthetic eyes can look realistic head-on, brightly lit, and close-up, doll eyes using similar methods absolutely can too.

Sanding or scouring acrylic, on the other hand, reduces realism. Cream cleansers or abrasives remove the factory polish and create micro-scratches that lead to clouding, haze, and a loss of specular highlight clarity. The result is a dull, matte look that real eyes do not have. The factory polish exists specifically to mimic the glossy, moist human cornea, so damaging it works against realism rather than enhancing it.

Ultimately, the lifelike appearance of doll eyes comes from lighting, angle, and optics, not from grinding or altering the surface. When the lighting is correct, unaltered acrylic eyes can look just as natural as real ones. The comparison photo demonstrates this clearly, disproving the idea that dolls must avoid looking into the camera or that their eyes need abrasive treatment to appear realistic. In my photo, the doll eye is completely untouched, yet it looks natural because the lighting and optics are doing the work they’re designed to do.

--Hanna--

NoFA / NoAI / No Photoshop on my eyes.
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Great video and I really must visit your cake shop, Lady J.
But I’m just wondering why this has been posted in the thread about eyes? 😁😁👍🏻

Did you not see my big eyes then?, Lady-J (y)

I did and you do have pretty eyes 🥰

Thank you Hanna, Lady-J (y)

Yes, they’re lovely. I’m just a little bit slow 😁