I’m not aware of all the tutorials that are available online, so I can’t give you any references. But what problems are you having with the tools? If you understand the concept, the process should be fairly straightforward. However, there are a number of things to consider such as whether you are doing shadows, midtones, or highlights; the opacity of your tool, just to mention a couple.
When I said that I understand the concepts, I mean that I understand what dodging and burning does and what effect it has they have on photo composition. What I don’t understand is how to correctly set all the different settings and use the brushes effectively. I am still am amateur user of PSE, but dodging and burning is a technique I really want to perfect.
Brett
I suspect there many be a tutorial but I don’t know of any so I will try to take a stab at the topic. First the reason there are setting is that everyone seems to work differently and every project is individual so the settings are for choice. I suspect there are no hard and fast rules but merely guide line.
The setting are much hard to describe than to demonstrate so here is but easy to see in an exercise.
1) Open a new document and put a black and white gradient onto it.
2) Try a dodge at 100% from light to dark using Shadows, then another at
Midtones and finally at Highlights.
3) Repeat these swipe at varied speed
4) Repeat using a variety of exposure values
5) Next choose various brush sizes and shapes
6) Once your understanding of dodge controls has improved repeat the same process with the Burn tool.
This should teach you more that any tutorial.
Grant
Grant-
That’s a good idea. Thanks for the tip!
Brett, another approach to dodging and burning without using the Dodge and Burn tools:
1. Create a new layer; Layer>New Layer>Mode=Overlay, check box that says Fill with Overlay-Neutral Color (50% gray)
2. Make the new layer active in the layers palette, then select the Brush tool with a soft brush at very low opacity
3. Set Color Picker to default (black foreground, white background)
4. Paint on the new layer with black to darken, white to lighten; gives
similar effect to Dodge and Burn, but can be done over and over without permanently affecting the underlying layer
(Tip from Scott Kelby’s book)
Chuck
chuck,
I use that technique all the time, but without the fill layer.
Nancy, I don’t use a Fill layer per se, just a new layer filled with 50% gray and set to overlay. On the other hand, I guess if you take a new layer and fill it with 50% gray, it acts a lot like a Fill layer – except you’re painting directly on the layer with a New Layer and painting on the mask if it’s a Fill layer….?
I’ve tried painting on the New Layer without first filling with 50% gray, and it works, but in a decidedly different fashion. I experimented with both ways (fill and no fill) and of course can’t remember exactly what was different; you might want to try the two side-by-side to see if you can discern the change.
Chuck
Chuck,
I’ll try that. I have just used a new blank layer set to overlay to paint white or black on.
