Digital dodging and burning

Alan Edward Klein

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This is a forum discussing digital dodging and burning. What editing software do you use? How do you implement it? Procedures you follow. Differences between dodging and burning between digital and scanned film files.
 

xkaes

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A lot depends on the software being used because they have different tools that are used in different ways.
 

MattKing

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Most of my editing is done with FastStone Image Viewer. For anything requiring layers - meaning dodging and burning, among other things, I use Corel Paintshop Pro.
No real difference between scanned film and digital camera files, but I don't use the digital camera often for things that might require dodging or burning.
Dodging and burning in the darkroom is very much more of a creative tool for me than the similarly named tools in the digital world.
 

Pieter12

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I usually don't dodge and burn in photoshop. What I will do is create an adjustment layer and adjust highlights, midtones and blacks to the maximum I like. Then I mask the entire adjustment layer and paint out the mask with a brush at maybe 20-40% opacity, enhancing the areas to taste. If there are shadow areas needing to be open up, I will do the same just making an adjustment layer for the shadows. The nice part of this method is the adjustments are on separate layers and can be turned on or off to see the affect, plus it is all reversible.
 
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Alan Edward Klein

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Do you have any before and after samples you can post here?
 

fgorga

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Lightroom -- masking tool brush generally with auto mask checked. Allows dodging/burning by adjusting exposure, and/or highlights and/or shadows and much, much more

Photoshop -- add new layer (make sure it is above the photo), set mode to overlay, fill layer with color 128,128,128 (R,G,B). Dodge and burn by painting black or white on this layer; use a brush set to low opacity for this and build up your desired result slowly. 'Reset' an area by painting gray (128,128,128) on it. Completely non-destructive.
 

jeffreyg

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I adjust in Photoshop. To dodge I make a soft light layer and check the fill with 50% grey box. Use a soft brush to paint with white the area then adjust with the fill slider. To burn I do the same but with black. Once I have what I want I select all layers, copy merged and make a new file. At this point I can print or save and/or go back to the original file with the separate layers. I mostly do black and white. But you could do the same with color and perhaps do it with colors although I haven’t tried that. Doing a color image Will most likely alter the color so one of the other suggestions would be better unless that wouldn’t matter.
 

chriscrawfordphoto

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MurrayMinchin

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That's what I do in Capture One as well, with some tweaking of colours, making annoyingly bright and/or distracting bits disappear, selectively sharpening one area while slightly softening others to grab/direct a viewers attention, etc.

This is one example I've posted before: going from this...



To this...



Trying to explain how would be futile...too convoluted! Best option might to search online for how-to videos with several editing programs; hopefully one will jump out of the pack and resonate with you.
 

koraks

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This is what I do, too. I used to do it in Photoshop, which has the advantage that the adjustment layers are dynamic. I.e. you can still alter them even after they have been initially made. Currently I virtually only use GIMP, which so far only has static layers - but dynamic adjustment layers are just around the corner now.

Here's a quick & dirty example. The image isn't particularly interesting; I only picked it because it lends itself well to the demonstration. It's also not intended to show how the end result may or may not be "better" or "more beautiful" than the original - again, it's just to illustrate the technique:

Source material: original scan from B&W 35mm negative, inverted with minor contrast adjustment.


End result, which is the following stack of masked layers:

I've named the layers to make them somewhat descriptive. Going through the layers from bottom to top:
  • The bottom layer has an overall contrast adjustment; that's the basis of the 'print'.
  • The next layer has a higher contrast version of the image that expands the tonal range around the midtones (i.e. shadows turn to black and highlights blow out). It's selectively masked to only show the bottom right corner and part of the hay in the center of the image.
  • Then a layer that expands the tones in the highlights, which is exclusively used for the plastic sheeting in the direct sunlight.
  • Next up is a layer that lifts the deepest shadows, in the top corners of the frame.
  • The final image adjustment layer expands the tones between the midtones and deepest shadows, which is used for the gate
  • The top of the layer stack is made in this case by a vignette, which is simply a gradient with black corners and a transparent center. This is dialed in for only ca. 15% to create a subtle vignette.
Going through the same set of layers, but now with techniques and approximate values that might have been used in the wet darkroom:
  • Base exposure at let's say grade 2.5, favoring the grassy area just in front of the gate. Let's say 15 second exposure time.
  • Burn bottom right corner at grade 5 for 3 seconds.
  • Burn plastic sheeting area with grade 5 for 7 seconds.
  • Dodge (during base exposure!) top corners for 3 seconds each
  • Dodge gate area at the top for 2 seconds or so
  • Finally burn the sides and corners of the image for 2 seconds
 

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Frank53

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All sounds a bit complicated to me.
nobody using the NIK software (plug in for Lightroom etc)?
with the U point technology, local adjustments of all kinds become very easy.
 

koraks

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Frank53 said:
nobody using the NIK software (plug in for Lightroom etc)?
Click to expand...

Nope. Don't use much Adobe, so I have no platform for it.
Also, the way I've shown above is not really complicated. It's actually pretty straightforward. The example shown above cost me about 5 mins. to make.

On my phone I have used Snapseed for a while, which had sort of easy to use local adjustments (probably still does; IDK). That worked OK for phone snaps. I think that's one of the first apps that used what's now apparently called "U point" tech. Yes, it was/is convenient, but not necessarily easier or better than the layers approach described above, IMO.
 

koraks

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Yeah that's the approach that Snapseed has been offering for years as well. It's another way of approximately achieving the same. The Upoint and layered approach each have their strengths and weaknesses.
 

RalphLambrecht

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Alan Edward Klein said:
This is a forum discussing digital dodging and burning. What editing software do you use? How do you implement it? Procedures you follow. Differences between dodging and burning between digital and scanned film files.
Click to expand...

Photoshop all the way! IMO, it has the best tools for dodging and burning.
 

MurrayMinchin

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Here's another thing you can do in the dodge & burn department within the digital realm.

In the forest photo above, there were a few yellow devils club leaves in the bottom left corner which distracted from the wedge shape created by the rest of the devils club leaves.

To bring down their tonality I created another layer, masked just those leaves, went to the colour editor, then darkened just that colour. Click, click, click, slide, done. Much faster than pin registered masking!

Being able to adjust the tonality of any colour in a scene while making B&W images is a huge advantage...you can darken blue skies, then brighten yellow flowers, then lighten green foliage, then open up shadows by masking them and using a blue slider to lift all the tones, etc...
 

Pieter12

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As much as I appreciate the precise control digital adjustments offer, there is nothing like the feeling of satisfaction of dodging and burning the enlarger in the darkroom.
 

MurrayMinchin

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Pieter12 said:
As much as I appreciate the precise control digital adjustments offer, there is nothing like the feeling of satisfaction of dodging and burning the enlarger in the darkroom.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing, but this is the Digital Workflow Forum after all
 

MurrayMinchin

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Pieter12 said:
But I do mention digital. Does a subform also entail censorship?
Click to expand...
No, but I'm pretty sure that mentioning the benefits of a digital workflow in a wet darkroom enlarging forum wouldn't be greeted with back-slaps or thumbs-up either.
 
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