Easy way to dodge and burn without destroying pixels

October 29, 2011 3 Comments

Dodging and burning is a photography darkroom technique that’s been around since film days. Dodging is a technique for making an area of a photo brighter, while burning is a term used for the opposite, the technique for darkening areas in an image. Although there are ready made dodge and burn tools in Photoshop, using them straight onto a digital photograph will invariably damage the pixels of that photograph.

Here is the way I dodge and burn my digital photos without destroying pixels. The goal for this technique is to increase drama in the light by painting the shadows and highlights in.


If you liked this video tutorial, let me know what other topics you want to see covered in the comments!

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Photography, Photoshop
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About Aloha

I am a photographer and writer currently based in Bangkok, Thailand. My work has appeared in CNNGo, Canon's PhotoYou magazine, Seventeen magazine, The Korea Times, Thailand Tatler, and a few photography books including recently Blogging for Creatives, a book published in the UK. I believe there is nothing you cannot imagine that you cannot do.
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3 Responses to “Easy way to dodge and burn without destroying pixels”

  1. Mike Victorino November 2, 2011 at 2:21 am

    Aloha. Thanks for this tutorial. Since seeing your video and trying it out for myself, the quality of my image processing has dramatically increased. You rock!

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