Tutorial 7: Non-destructive burning and dodging

In the past when I have used the burning and dodging tools in Photoshop, there are some aspects and changes I initially made first, and though the History browser allows you to return a few actions, there is a limit to how far back all actions can be traced, leaving me to have to clear the entire history of work and begin from scratch.

Using a blended layer, I can burn and dodge sections of images and undo sections I decided I don’t want to have the effect. And if I want to start all over again, it is as simple as deleting the layer.

The image I want to adjust:

After opening the image in Photoshop, I then create a new layer by selecting ‘New’ and then select ‘Layer…’ this then opens up a small window. You have the option of entering a name that would label the layer, which comes in handy when working with multiple layers in Photoshop.

I’m only working with one layer for this adjustment,

so I leave the layer as ‘Layer 1.’

The next thing I alter in the settings is the ‘Mode,’ I changed the mode from ’Normal’ to ‘Overlay’ which then gives me the option the tick the box below (Fill with overlay). And by clicking ‘OK’ creates a new layer, the overlay blending mode gives the image a slight boost of contrast and by selecting the ticked box in the layer options, makes all pixels containing 50% grey transparent.

The next part is to burn and dodge the sections that need adjustments, this is done using the brush tool.

I select the ‘Brush tool’ found along the toolbar (or press ‘B’) and Make sure the foreground colour is set to white, the white acts as a dodge tool in this case.

-Before beginning to dodge sections, I make sure I also have the ‘Opacity’ percentage found in the toolbar options above set to a small number, 10% is my setting. This creates a gradual dodge effect and allows me to build up the dodge effect instead of simply making estimations.

Once I’ve dodged all the sections, I then change the foreground colour of the brush to black by selecting the double arrow icon, this then switches the brush effect to a burn tool.

I then apply the brush to the sections that need to be burned and if there are sections that I want to erase the adjustment. I select the foreground colour and type 128 in the Red, Green and Blue dial boxes that then make the colour a grey of 50% value. When applying this to the image, it acts as an eraser tool, returning that section of the image back to the original layer.

Once I am happy with both the burned and dodged sections, all that is left is to merge the layer to the backdrop to create a single image by selecting ‘Flatten image’ under Layers on the top menu bar (or hold ‘command’ ‘E’).

And the final result:

(Before)

(After)