Photographing eyes. . .

I am an EXTREMELY amateur photographer. My brain sees the picture I want to take, but my camera skills don't always allow me to translate that image to pixels.

When I view portrait photography I looooove the pictures that make the eyes really stand out.

Unfortunately, these pictures often involve doe eyed, blue eyed kids. . .

My babies have beautiful brown eyes. I think hat makes is hard to get those dramatic pictures.

I like a challenge! I am on a mission!

I feel like I achieved reflectivity and some clarity on these two pictures, but they are far from perfect.

I had to lighten them up during processing and that faded some of the detail. I had my f stop all the way down to 1.8, but I always forget to adjust the shutter speed!
 Shutter speed is my nemesis. . . .curse you thumb toggle!!!

Any suggestions are welcome. I am gonna keep practicing!