Treat catchlights as reflections, not decorative stars. A modest local adjustment can improve readability, but should preserve pupils, iris pattern, eyelids and the subject’s gaze. Compare both eyes with the scene’s light direction before adding or strengthening highlights. If the source eye is too blurred to inspect, use a clearer authorized reference rather than inventing a detailed iris and presenting it as faithful repair.
Inspect the recorded light
Look for a window, softbox or other visible illumination in the source. The two eyes need not have identical reflections because head angle and occlusion differ. Copying the same bright dot into both can look artificial, especially if one eye is turned away or partly shaded.
Make a crop for review but retain the full photograph. The full scene helps explain why a highlight belongs where it does. Adobe’s layer-mask guidance provides an external way to limit adjustments; it does not promise an automatic eye-specific Imagild control.
Set protected details before editing
- Save a copy of the approved portrait source.
- Identify the existing catchlight and its relationship to the light direction.
- Protect the pupil boundary, iris pattern and eyelid shape.
- Make a small local treatment without enlarging the eye.
- Compare both an eye crop and the complete face at delivery size.
For an AI brief, describe the desired readability and the protected anatomy. Avoid requests such as perfect sparkling eyes if preserving identity is the priority. A generative result still needs direct comparison; wording alone does not enforce a pixel-level constraint.
Reject a changed gaze
A brighter reflection can hide the fact that the pupil moved, the iris grew or the eyelid opened unnaturally. Compare the pupil’s position relative to the eye corners, not just its apparent clarity. Ask the subject to approve the full portrait, since a technically clean close-up may still change their expression.
Can I use a highlight from another person’s portrait?
Use another image as an explanation of lighting if needed, not as evidence of this subject’s eye structure. A reflection should fit the current scene; retain this person’s recorded eye details whenever accuracy matters.
Is this a red-eye correction?
No. Red-eye cleanup addresses an unwanted flash-related color. Catchlight revision changes a visible reflection. Diagnose the issue first and avoid combining both with an undocumented face regeneration.
Sources and scope
This is an original Imagild Editorial workflow guide, assisted by AI and reviewed against the linked sources on October 12, 2026. External tool procedures do not imply that Imagild provides those tools or guarantees their results.