SECTION HEAD
The
Mission
- Selectively lighten and
darken areas of an image
with Lightroom and
Photoshop
Time
- 15 minutes
Skill level
- Beginner
Kit needed
- Photoshop CC and
Lightroom Classic
Dodge and burn like a pro
James Paterson shows you how to enhance landscapes and
emphasize important details with selective tonal tools
The technique of selective
lightening and darkening has
been central to photography for
over a century. In the days of film,
areas of a print could be shielded
from the light of an enlarger, or
‘dodged’. Conversely, the light
could be focused on to smaller
areas to ‘burn’ them in.
Photoshop makes this
technique easier with dedicated
Dodge and Burn tools. The Dodge
tool lets you paint to lighten
areas, while the Burn tool
darkens. But there are still a fewsettings to master if you want to
get the most out of these tools.
The Dodge and Burn tools
aren’t the only features on offer
in Photoshop for selective
lightening or darkening. Most of
us begin editing our photos in a
Raw processor, like Photoshop’s
Camera Raw, or the near-
identical tools in Lightroom’s
Develop module.
We’ll begin in Lightroom by
using the Adjustment Brush, then
continue the adjustments in
Photoshop with the Dodge andBurn tools. A viewer’s eye is
naturally drawn to the lighter
parts of an image first, while
darker areas are less scrutinized.
This becomes even more
important with black-and-white
photos, which offer greater
headroom for these adjustments.
With the dodge and burn controls
we can boost parts of our image,
while drawing attention away
from other areas. We can lift
crucial details, hide distractions,
emphasize textures and gently
shift the balance of a photograph.BEFORE AFTERWATCH ON YOUR
DISC OR ONLINE
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