Digital SLR Photography - UK (2020-01)

Adobe Photoshop CC

Dodgeand

Burn skills

SOFTLY-LITPORTRAITS CANRISK

LOOKINGFLATANDUNINTERESTING

IF THEYLACKCONTRAST.CAROLINE

SCHMIDTEXPLAINS HOWDODGEAND

BURNARETHEIDEALREMEDY

T

HEBEAUTYOFdodgeandburnis its

abilityto givelifeto lacklustrephotos

witha fewsimpleclicks.Whetherit’sin

thedarkroomorona desktop,theaimof

dodgingandburningremainsthesame–

to extenddynamicrangebymakingmidtones

darkerorlighter– butthemethodand

effectivenessof thetechniquehasdeveloped

andimprovedexponentiallyovertheyears.

In theearlydaysofdigital,you’dhaveto

usetheDodgeorBurnToolstodirectlyalter

and,in theprocess,degradeimagingpixels.

Now,eventheDodgeandBurnToolsare

moreefficient,controllableandforgiving.

Thereareotherwaystoapplysimilar

benefitsthatarenondestructive,too,

whetherusingLightroom,AdobeCamera

Rawordirectlytoa JPEG.In fact,a mixtureof

thesetechniques,whichwillbeshownhere,

canoftenproducethebestresults.

Mostphotographersadvocateshooting

andeditingin Raw,butwithJPEGfilesbeing

packedwithpixelsthesedays,they'reusually

morethanadequateif you'venailedyour

settingsin-camera.Whichis why,here,we’ll

focusoneditinga JPEG,butif youdohave

exposureadjustmentstomakedothemin

AdobeCameraRawfirst.

3

USETHELAYERMASKWitheveryadjustment

layertherewillbea LayerMaskattached.

Usea large,soft-edgedBrushToolwiththe

coloursettoblackto‘paint’overareasof

theimage(ontheLayerMask)youwantto

removethe‘burned’effectfrom.Varythe

Opacity,FlowandSizeof theBrushToolcan

improvetheresult,especiallyneartheedges.

1

ASSESSYOUR IMAGELookat yourportrait

criticallyanddecidewhatcouldbenefit

frombeingdarker.Aretherebackground

distractionsyouwanttominimise?Could

thesubjectbenefitfromsomebackground

separation?Is therea goodrangeof crisp

tonesoris it muddyandflat?Afterwards,you

candecidewherebesttobegin.

4

DARKENTHEEDGESAnotherwayto‘burn’

backgroundsis toadda vignette.Select

theEllipticalMarqueeToolandsetthe

Featherto200px(seetheOptionsbar)then

dragit overyourfocalpoint.Addanother

Curvesadjustmentlayertomaskoffthe

selectionandinvertthemask(cmdI/ click

InvertviatheLayerMask’sPropertiespanel).

2

USECURVESOnewaytoburnlargeareas

easilyis touseadjustmentlayers.Start

byaddinga Curveslayer(Layer>New

AdjustmentLayer>Curves) andpulldownthe

middleof thecurvelineuntilyouadddepth

tothetonesyouwantdarker.In thiscaseit’s

thebackground,whichin turnwillmakethe

subjectstandoutmore.

5

EDIT THEVIGNETTEAsyoupullthecurves

linedownyou'llseethevignettedarken

aroundtheedges.As you’ve a large feather,

thevignette’seffectwillsoftenasit getscloser

toyourfocalpoint.If thevignetteneedssome

editingin place,likein step3, usetheBrush

To o l set to black to darken and set to white to

erase the vignette.

RATI

UBI

AU

/U

NSP

LASH

44 Digital SLR Photography Januar y 2020

ORIGINAL