Dodge & Burn in Photoshop

Dodging and Burning in Photoshop

Under normal non-extreme lighting conditions the modern camera of today will give a well-balanced exposure for highlight and shadows, in some circumstances fill flash will also improve exposure. Where flash is not practical, editing techniques in your photo editing software will enable you to fine-tune the exposure short falls in the highlight and shadow regions to produce a well-balanced image. Two of the most misunderstood tools found in most editing programs are the dodge and burn brushes. Too many people don’t use them at all, and too many people who do use them do so incorrectly. With any kind of luck this tutorial will provide a little insight into what these tools do, and how you can use them to make better images.

Simply put, the dodge tool lightens the pixels you paint, and the burn tool darkens the pixels you paint. An old analogy is when you burn a piece of toast you darken it so the burn tool is to darken. It’s not entirely different from using Levels or Curves. The difference is that you are not applying the changes to the entire image; you’re applying them only to the places you paint with the brushes. Think of it as a way of selectively adjusting the brightness or darkness of your image. Also no adjustment layers are created & you don’t need to mask them so this is easy. Dodge tool is excellent to brighten eyes & teeth.

You can use these tools to improve your images in several different ways:

1. To improve the exposure of your photo and bring out detail
2. To direct your viewers attention through creative use of highlights and shadows
3. To create impact by adding dramatic highlights and shadows

Choosing “Highlights” will affect the lighter areas Choosing “Midtones” will affect the middle tones Choosing “Shadows” will affect the darker areas

As a rule of thumb, you will most often use the “highlights” setting for the dodge tool, and the “shadows” setting with the burn tool.

Exposure: In most applications, the key to effective dodging and burning is subtlety. If you create the effect you’re after without allowing the viewer to detect the changes, the image will have far more impact. For this reason, I suggest setting your exposure to only 3-5% and use repeated sweeping movements over the area you are trying to affect. It makes the changes far more gradual and harder to detect; it also requires a little patience. It’s slow, but it works. I promise. Put on some music or something to help pass the time. Protect the original picture & making another layer click on background, [control+alt+j], name the layer.