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Does your digital image have an unwanted shadow in the corner? Is there light shining off of someone's forehead? Most, if not all, image-editing packages offer brush-based corrective tools (namely, the Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools ) for adding and removing light and dark. Some image editors use the regular brush to perform these tasks. For example, Paint Shop Pro has Dodge and Burn modes for its brush, turning the Brush temporarily into Dodge and Burn tools. Corel Photo-Paint tucks its Dodge and Burn tools into the Effect tool. All work in a similar manner.
Dodging to add light
Photoshop and Photoshop Elements offer a Dodge tool that lets you add more light to any image simply by clicking and dragging the tool over the area needing more light, as shown in Figure 1. Many other image editing applications have the same tool. In the case of Paint Shop Pro, for example, applications offer a retouching tool that has dodging capability.
 | The term dodge isn't specific to any software product; it's a photographic term for holding back the light that forms part of an image as an enlarger exposes a print onto photographic paper. |
Figure 1: You use the Dodge tool to lighten areas, such as the shadows of the upside-down amusement park ride (left) that have been lightened (right).
To use the Photoshop Elements Dodge tool, follow these steps:
1. Click the tool to activate it.
2. Check the tool's Options bar and make any adjustments that you want.
You can change the
• Size: The size of the brush that you use to dodge the image. Use a size that doesn't show the individual strokes, but that's not so large it dodges an area larger than you want.
• Range: Choose which tones the dodge affects in the image — the Highlights, Midtones, or Shadows.
• Exposure: This percentage is set to 50% by default and lets you control the intensity of the dodge effect. Lower numbers give you a more subtle effect than higher numbers.
3. Click and drag over the area that you want to dodge.
If you feel that you need to confine the Dodge effect to a very specific area, you can select that area first, using a freeform selection tool, such as the Brush selector or the Lasso. That way, you don't end up with obvious blocks or circles of lightened image content.
4. You can go over areas more than once.
Each pass heightens the Dodge effect, so don't go overboard!
Burning to add depth and shadow
| Burning is a photographic term, and its definition is the opposite of dodging. It involves adding extra exposure to part of an image while an enlarger exposes a print. |
That sounds contradictory, doesn't it? Adding more exposure time darkens the image? But image-forming light is held back — that's the key. The Burn tool reduces the amount of light, which deepens shadows and reduces the detail-killing light that can wash out parts of your image. Figure 2 shows an image in dire need of the Burn tool — if only to even out the very stark effects of the sun on specific parts of the road image.
Figure 2: The Burn tool darkens the road in this country scene.
You use the Burn tool in most image editors very much like you use the Dodge tool. Even though they have opposite effects, they function nearly identically:
1. Click the tool to activate it.
2. Adjust any desired settings on the tool's Options bar, including Size, Range, and Exposure.
These options have the same meanings as they do for the Dodge tool except that increasing exposure here increases the darkening effect. Your software may have different terms for these settings, but they do the same things. (This article uses Photoshop Elements.)
3. Click or drag over the area of the image that you want to darken, being careful not to lose more detail by creating shadows that are too dark or too obvious.
Living up to its name, overuse of the Burn tool can make your image look singed. If your image is a color photo or a black-and-white photo in RGB mode (where it has color information beyond simple shades of gray), the Burn tool can add a brownish tone, making the photo look as though it were exposed to high heat or flame. Unless you want your photo to look toasted, take it easy with the Burn tool.
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