Burning and dodging

Most post-processing programs have tools that allow you to darken bright areas of your image and lighten up parts that are too dark (like shadows). In this way they enable you to achieve a better balance of brightness in a picture.

A first technique is to use the burn and dodge tools. You can select them from the toolbox on your screen. When using these tools, it is best to keep the level of exposure at a low setting. In this way you can gradually get to the result you want. Usually a setting of about 10% will do the trick.

This alternative technique, using layers, will allow you to simulate the effect of the burn/dodge tools:

• first add a new layer on top of your image (press control+shift+N or Command+shift+N)
• in the box that pops up make sure that ‘use previous layer’ is selected, select ‘overlay blending mode’ and chose ‘fill with 50% grey’
• next chose a brush with a soft edge and set its opacity to about 10%
• select the colour: black if you want to darken parts of your image - white to brighten them
• paint with your brush (with the top layer selected) and you will see the corresponding parts of your image will darken/brighten

It’s now also easy to check the changes you made by switching the top layer on and off.

If you prefer to use the burn/dodge tools, you might also want to do your changes on a copy of your image.

The advantage of using layers is that you can compare before and after by turning the layer on which you made the changes on and off. Also, when you don’t like the changes, you can just delete the top layer and start over again on a fresh layer.

For more information, you can also listen to following TFTTF shows:

• TFTTF 13 - Burn/Dodge, Light, Rotation
• TFTTF 93 - PSC06: burn/dodge

Or you can check out the Photoshop Corner.