A comment on the following shot asked if I had any advice about dodging and burning. In this photo, I didn't do any!
However, I did go into levels and adjust the middle ranges and boosted the highlights.
In this shot, I did some burning (of those ultrabright spots in the clouds), but no dodging:
Generally, I do dodging only to enhance brightness that was already present. I use burning for all kinds of reasons, but I haven't had much success with dodging or burning to drastically lighten or darken anything. Only subtle changes. I usually use a largish brush at 5%.
I did do slight dodging in this shot, but only to amplify the mist, which the camera had a hard time capturing correctly:
I would be very interested to see specific examples of dodging and burning as you've done it!
In my experience doge and burn in photoshop tend to give artificial results. maybe I'm not doing it right! The best results tend to be when they are used sparingly, like so many post shot adjustments.
There's no real substitute for camera work!
In my experience doge and burn in photoshop tend to give artificial results. maybe I'm not doing it right! The best results tend to be when they are used sparingly, like so many post shot adjustments.
There's no real substitute for camera work!
So true, so true. On the other hand, the camera cannot capture what they eye sees, and so the photo often needs fiddling with, IMO. My camera does a good job, but its sense of contrast isn't what my eye's sense of contrast is, so I like to use Levels adjustments. I often use the middle slider to tweak things, and then I use Selective Color to select the whites, for instance, and make them whiter.
I dodged a lot of the shadows and also a few highlights to get them brighter, and burnt the sky nearer the top to exaggurate the gradient.
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Before
*/clone/dodge/burn/*
After
I cloned out the horrible wires and phone pole, and also dodged around the concrete structure to add some depth. I also burnt the sky to stop it being as blown out. I wouldn't do this much editing anymore as I think it's going a little too far.
---
Before
*/crop/clone out a little bit of tree/dodge/burn/*
After
I found out that a little dodge and burn can often save a badly exposed photo rather successfully. Obviously it's nowhere near as good as exposing right to begin with :)
I do something a little different than using the actual dodge and burn tools in Photoshop. I saw this in a PS tutorial somewhere.
It is called the 50% greyscale overlay method. You start with Select Layer->New->Layer. In the dialog under "Mode:" scroll down and select "overlay". Then check the "fill with overlay-neutral color (50% grey)" checkbox.
This creates a new layer set to 50% grey. In that layer you can select a brush to alternatively either "darken" brush to dodge and "lighten" brush to burn in the greyscale layer. It is pretty slick. "Burn color" and "Color Dodge" are also effective brush settings with this technique.
You can turn on and off the layer to see how you are progressing as you work. This has the effect of dodging and burning but the joy of it is that the next day if you decide you didn't like what you did the day before you can always adjust it or delete the layer entirely and start over.
Like dsidwell, I recommend about a 10% or less brush opacity when used.
Like konador said, it is best to properly expose the image in the first place.
These are great examples. Steve, the work you did seems to have enhanced the color. Ben, your work is fantastic. It seems so drastic, yet the photos have a dreamy feel to them, too.
These are great examples. Steve, the work you did seems to have enhanced the color. Ben, your work is fantastic. It seems so drastic, yet the photos have a dreamy feel to them, too.
My example, per se, is not really a typical dodge and/or burn situation. But it is a good example how minor greyscale adjustments can have a big impact on color and texture in an image after first saturating colors.
I do something a little different than using the actual dodge and burn tools in Photoshop. I saw this in a PS tutorial somewhere.
It is called the 50% greyscale overlay method. You start with Select Layer->New->Layer. In the dialog under "Mode:" scroll down and select "overlay". Then check the "fill with overlay-neutral color (50% grey)" checkbox.
This creates a new layer set to 50% grey. In that layer you can select a brush to alternatively either "darken" brush to burn and "lighten" brush to dodge in the greyscale layer. It is pretty slick. "Burn color" and "Color Dodge" are also effective brush settings with this technique.
Another alternative method is to use a new layer set on 'soft light' blend and use brushes between 20-30% to 'lighten' or 'darken' the image.
