Dodge&Burn

[jayson]

Hey everyone,

Can anyone share their techniques on dodge/burn? I just bought the Totally Rad Action Mix from the Boutwells and it has a dodge/burn action in it. I thought it would be an easier way to dodge/burn, but it has me stumped too!!

Any help would be appreciated!!

Jayson

[shutterdrone]

I use them sparingly, it's very easy to over-use them. I find areas where contrast enhancements (ala levels, curves, etc.) have reduced _too much_ detail in a shadow region, and use dodge to bring back a little detail. One of my most common uses for the burn tool is to handle edge-case highlights in clouds and other bright areas. I.e. they're perfectly exposed, but the rest of the image is under-exposed, so you bring up the overall exposure and contrast, leaving you blown clouds (a big blob of nothing but white) -- gently burning it in, slowly, and paying attention to the form of the clouds that aren't blown can bring them back to normal without looking "edited". I rarely use more than 10-15% on either tool, and try to stick to which points I want to bring up/down (highlights, mid-tones, or shadows).

!c

[barP]

an action for d&b makes no sense to me at all. it was a totally manual art back in the day, and it still is as far as i can tell. ansel adams is rolling in his grave!

wp.

[adirty1]

create new layer
double click on new layer
you should now have layer style menu open
set blend slider to 50%
set blend mode to soft light
now you can burn and doge with the paint brush. white will lighten. black will darken

adjust your brush opacity for desired results. if you want more burn or dodge than what that can give you just duplicate the new layer. you have a lot of control over doge and burn this way and it looks much better than the doge or burn tool.

[jayson]

shutterdrone and adirty1,

Thank you so much for the tips, it really helps.



barP

I'm not sure the reason for your reply, but if you are under the impression that the action does not rely on user imput, or manually painting the dodge or burn, thats not the case. the action works pretty much like d/b but is (in theory) an improvement.

[my3peas]

Adam, thanks for that little tutorial! :)

[barP]

Originally Posted by jayson

barP

I'm not sure the reason for your reply, but if you are under the impression that the action does not rely on user imput, or manually painting the dodge or burn, thats not the case. the action works pretty much like d/b but is (in theory) an improvement.

that was actually my impression, and i confess to being pretty ignorant about actions. how does this one work? why is it better than doing it manually?

wp.

[jayson]

to be honest, I don't know how or why it is suppose to be better. I did not buy the actions for the d/b and was surprised to see it was included. When you run the action, several layers come up in your layers palette; one for dodge and one for burn. you just paint in the area that you want to change. my problem is that I have a hard time getting it to look natural (i.e. it does not blend well) I have this problem no matter what technique I use.

[LoungeLizard]

I think what Doug has done is create several layers that you can then paint on to burn/dodge.

TO make it look "natural" change the brush type and opacity!

Disclaimer: I don't have Doug's actions yet, but I know him and have seen him do his PS magic and that's what he does!

[jayson]

I've messed around with the opacity and it helps alot; what kind of brush does he use?

[Arnor]

I generally use either a levels or curve layer with a mask and just paint what I want lighter or darker. No pixels touched and I can play with it all I want:) If I want quick and easy I use levels, if I want more control I use curves.

Best regards,

[LoungeLizard]

Originally Posted by jayson

I've messed around with the opacity and it helps alot; what kind of brush does he use?

It'll vary...mostly focusing on the ones that have a "fade" (whatever you call that) at times while other times the hard edged ones. The trick is in the blend mode, the opacity, and the fill. Just play with it...

[jayson]

Thanks guys!!! That helps so much.

[barP]

i do it the old fashioned way, but with layers. it's heavy handed, though, so i typically never set my opacity to more than 5%.

wp.