How To Burn and Dodge Using Photoshop by Dax Borges
Burning and dodging is one of the most useful tools a printer can use in the darkroom. It allows for specific adjustment to an image, giving the printer the ability to either Darken (Burn) or lighten (Dodge) specific parts of the image.
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This can easily be recreated in Photoshop a number of ways. The most obvious way is to use the burn and dodge tools supplied by Photoshop. This of course works but is not the best way to go about it. When you use the burn and dodge tools supplied by Photoshop you are making changes to the original pixels of your image. This makes it difficult to take back any unwanted manipulation. Fortunately there is a much better way to achieve the same without ever touching a single original pixel on your image. The steps are simple.
Make sure you have your new layer selected, then go to Edit, Fill… once the Fill dialogue box is open select 50% grey under Contents, Use: then click OK. This should make your image, specifically your new layer, go completely grey.
Now right click on your grey layer and select Blending options… This will bring up the layer style dialogue box. Under general blending, blending mode select overlay. If your preview box is clicked it should immediately make it as if your new layer was never there. If not click OK and you should see the same.
Now all that is left is the burning and dodging. Instead of using your burning and dodging tool you will use your brush tool. Anything between 50% grey and 100% black is burning, and anything between 50% grey and 100% white is dodging. Rather then trying to change the black and white of your brush just have it so either your foreground or background color is 100% black and the other is 100% white. You can then adjust how strong your blacks or whites are by simply changing the opacity of your brush. I typically have my opacity around 10% but don’t be afraid to test higher or lower for yourself. Once you are sure you are selected on your 50% grey layer and are using the brush tool go to work burning and dodging where you see fit.
“x” toggles between your foreground and background color (in this case it should be black and white)
“1-0” number keys will quickly select between the opacity of your brush, 1 being 10%, 0 being 100%
When using your brush be sure to feather it so that your burns and dodges blend seamlessly. This can be done by holding Shift and clicking “{“ for more feather and “}” for less. If you click the brackets without holding shift “{“ will make your brush smaller, “}” will make your brush larger.
I had been frustrated by the burn/dodge designated tool in Photoshop and found this technique a much better process for cleaning up unwanted shadows, etc. Thanks for this great tip. anne
Posted by: Anne Hughes Sep 2, 2006 @ 4:27 PM EST
I found this very helpful. I had a hard time using the burning and dodging tool in photoshop.
Posted by: Jake Nov 23, 2006 @ 5:33 PM EST
I have destroyed some of my best images, using Dodge/Burn tool. Thank God i found this page and learned how to do that with brush.. thanks for the instructions..
