Dodge & burn

Learning goal

By lightly lightening and darkening particular areas of a photo with a brush, you will be able to guide the viewer's gaze where you want and bring out the shape of a face while staying faithful to the light's direction. You will explain that dodging and burning comes from work done in the darkroom with hands and card, and that digitally it is done in two separate ways, with curve adjustment layers, one lightening and one darkening, or with a neutral gray layer in a suitable blend mode. You will tell apart large-scale work on light and shape from micro dodge and burn, which evens out individual spots and irregularities at a small scale, check your work with a helper layer, and work with patient, low-flow brushstrokes. You will know the boundary between lightening and darkening the skin's light and shape and changing the skin's color, and not cross this boundary on any skin.

The question

The family portrait on the invitation cover is now clean: the pimple, the dust, the cable are gone, and the mother's mole stays in place. Still, something is missing. In the portraits they saw in a photography magazine, the gaze goes straight to the faces, the eyes are lively, and the shape of the cheeks and forehead stands out faintly. In their own frame, on the other hand, the brightness is spread to every corner in the same measure; the eye slides first to the bright white wall, then to the vase on the table, and reaches the faces last.

The article in the magazine says this comes not from a tool, but from retouchers' patient work lasting hours: lightening the face and the photo a little and darkening them a little, one area at a time, with small brushstrokes. What is the professional retoucher's secret weapon? Why does lightening and darkening a photo change the light so much?

Context

In the masks and layers lessons you learned to apply a correction only to the area you want. Dodging and burning is the oldest and most delicate use of these two tools. In the darkroom, while holding printing paper under light, photographers shaded some areas with their hands or a piece of card so they would receive less light and stay light, and gave other areas extra light so they would darken. The English name given to this work is used as it is in digital programs too.

This technique does two jobs: it guides the gaze by arranging the photo's light, and it brings out the shape of faces and objects in keeping with the light's direction. Both need patience, and both are easily noticed when overdone. This lesson tells how to dodge and burn in a measured, undoable way that is faithful to the light.

Simple explanation

How is dodging and burning done?

Dodge and burn is rearranging the light and shape by lightly brightening and darkening particular areas of a photo with a brush. When the eye looks at a photo, it goes first to the brightest and most contrasty areas. Keeping a face a little lighter than its surroundings, and its surroundings a little darker than the face, draws the gaze to the face; slightly darkening a distracting bright wall or object pushes it into the background.

Digitally, the most understandable way to do this is two curve adjustment layers. You pull the middle of one up to brighten the photo, and the middle of the other down to darken it. You fill both their masks with black; this way neither has any visible effect at first. Then, with a low-flow, soft-edged white brush, you paint the places you want to lighten onto the lightening layer's mask, and the places you want to darken onto the darkening layer's mask. Each brushstroke raises the effect very slightly; by passing over the same place a few times, you reach the density you want.

You can also do the same job with a neutral gray layer. A neutral gray layer is a layer filled completely with middle gray and set to a blend mode in which middle gray is invisible. A blend mode is the rule that decides how a layer combines with the layers below it; in modes like soft light or overlay, middle gray changes nothing, places painted lighter than gray brighten what is below, and places painted darker than gray darken it. By painting on top of this layer with a low-flow white and black brush, you do dodging and burning on a single layer. The result of both ways is similar; curve layers preserve colors better, while the gray layer makes working on a single layer easier.

What is done at large and small scale?

At large scale, dodging and burning arranges the photo's light and shape. On a face, the forehead, bridge of the nose, cheekbone and tip of the chin on the side the light comes from are lightened slightly; the cheek, the area under the chin and the edge of the eye socket on the shadow side are darkened slightly. This way the face deepens in keeping with the light direction that already exists. In the eyes, lightening the edge of the iris that catches light and the catchlight a little brings the gaze to life. In the rest of the photo, on the other hand, distracting bright areas are darkened and the edges slightly darkened.

Micro dodge and burn, on the other hand, is evening out individual irregularities with a very small brush: slightly lightening a small darkness under the eye, softening the shadow a pimple left, balancing tonal differences without erasing the skin's texture. Unlike cleanup tools, this doesn't touch the texture; it only arranges the light. That is why it is one of the methods retouchers who want to keep texture trust most, but also the one that takes the most patience.

A helper layer is a layer added temporarily to see tones more easily while dodging and burning, and turned off when the work is done. The most common is an adjustment layer that shows the photo in black and white and a little more contrasty. Colors deceive the eye; in a black-and-white view, where the light is uneven and where a face shines too much show up much more clearly. While working you keep this layer on, turn it off often to look at the color photo, and delete it when the work is done.

Where do you stop?

The biggest danger of dodging and burning is reinventing the light without noticing. In a photo where the light comes from the left, brightly lightening the right side of the face creates an inconsistency as if there were two separate light sources; the eye finds this strange at once. That is why you need to stay faithful to the direction of the existing light and keep the effect measured by lowering the layer's opacity a little after finishing the work. Taking a break for a while and then looking with fresh eyes is the best way to see excess.

On skin, the most important boundary is between arranging the skin's light and shape and changing the skin's color. Lightening the lit sides of a face a little and darkening the shadow sides a little brings out the shape; but lightening the whole face or skin to show a person as lighter-skinned than they are, or darkening it to show them darker-skinned than they are, is changing that person's identity. This is an intervention that shouldn't be made on any skin. Dodging and burning can also lead to color shifts in skin: on dark skin, areas lightened with a curve can slip toward gray and an ashy tone, which is why adding a very slight warmth or saturation to the lightening layer keeps the skin close to its own color. On light skin, areas that are darkened can take on a dirty, grayish look. After every step, you need to enlarge the face and compare the skin's color with the person's real color.

Visual evidence

The drummer adds two curve adjustment layers to the family portrait, names one "dodge" and the other "burn", and fills their masks with black. On top of them they put a black-and-white helper layer. In the black-and-white view the problem is clear at once: the white wall behind is brighter than the faces and draws the gaze first. With a large low-flow brush they darken the wall over a few passes; they also turn down the vase's brightness a little.

Then they move to the faces. Following the light coming from the window on the left, they slightly lighten the left side of their mother's forehead and bridge of the nose, and their father's cheekbone and tip of the chin; they darken the shadow side of both faces on the right very slightly. On their father's dark skin, when they turn off the helper layer, the lightened areas look slightly grayish; they add a small warmth to the dodge layer and the skin returns to its own warm brown. With a small brush they lighten the catchlights and the lit edges of the irises a little. When the work is done they lower the opacity of the two layers to seventy percent. When you look at the photo, the gaze is drawn first to the two faces, then to the eyes; but no one can say the photo has been retouched.

Common mistakes

Summary

Dodging and burning rearranges the light and shape by lightly brightening and darkening particular areas of a photo with a brush; it is the digital counterpart of the work done with hands and card in the darkroom, and is done with two curve adjustment layers, one lightening and one darkening, or with a neutral gray layer in a suitable blend mode, using a low-flow brush. At large scale it guides the gaze and deepens the face in keeping with the existing light direction, in micro dodge and burn it evens out individual irregularities without touching texture; a black-and-white helper layer makes it easier to see tones. You stay faithful to the light's direction, keep the effect measured with opacity, and don't cross the boundary between arranging the skin's light and changing the skin's color on any skin.

Mini assignment

Choose a portrait whose cleanup is already finished; this time your only tool will be lightening and darkening with a brush.

1. Add two curve adjustment layers, set one as lightening and the other as darkening, and fill their masks with black; put a black-and-white helper layer on top.
2. In the helper layer, find the brightest areas that pull the gaze away from the face, and darken them with a large low-flow brush.
3. Determine the direction the light comes from on the face; slightly lighten the lit side, slightly darken the shadow side, and strengthen the catchlights a little.
4. Turn off the helper layer and look at whether the skin stays the color the person has when you see them in daylight; if needed add a slight warmth to the lightening layer, then lower the opacity of the two layers and put the before and after states side by side.

Check yourself

• Looking at a photo, can you say where the gaze goes first and how you would change this by lightening and darkening?
• Were you able to dodge and burn while staying faithful to the existing light's direction?
• While arranging the skin's light, did you check by enlarging the face that you didn't change its color?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. How does dodging and burning draw the gaze to the face?

• A) By saturating the face's color
• B) By cropping the photo
• C) By keeping the face a little lighter than its surroundings, and its surroundings a little darker than the face
• D) By raising sharpness

2. If middle gray changes nothing on a neutral gray layer in a suitable blend mode, what does painting the layer with white do?

• A) It brightens the area below
• B) It darkens the area below
• C) It changes the color
• D) It has no effect

3. Why does brightly lightening the right side of a face lit by light from the left cause a problem?

• A) Because it makes the file larger
• B) Because it fades the colors
• C) Because it breaks the blend mode
• D) Because it creates an inconsistency as if there were two separate light sources

4. On a dark-skinned person's face, the areas lightened with a curve look grayish. Which is the most fitting correction?

• A) Lighten the whole face even more
• B) Add a very slight warmth or saturation to the lightening layer and compare the skin with its real color
• C) Leave the helper layer on permanently
• D) Delete the darkening layer

Answers

1. C — The eye goes first to the brightest and most contrasty area; arranging the face in its favor draws the gaze there.
2. A — Places painted lighter than gray brighten what is below, places painted darker darken it.
3. D — Dodging and burning should follow the existing light; a contrary brightness gives the impression of a second source.
4. B — The curve can fade the color while raising brightness; a slight warmth brings the skin back to its own tone.

Summary card

• Dodging and burning rearranges light and shape with a brush.
• Two curve layers or a neutral gray layer; low flow, very light passes.
• At large scale gaze and shape, in micro dodge and burn tonal irregularities.
• Look with a black-and-white helper layer; stay faithful to the light's direction, keep it measured with opacity.
• Arrange the skin's light, don't change its color; check by enlarging the face on every skin.

Bridge to the next lesson

When the dodging and burning of the family portrait was done, the drummer opened a close-up portrait of themselves. This time the problem wasn't the light, but small tonal differences in the skin: a slight redness around their nose, a few dark spots on their chin. When they tried to erase these with the healing brush, the skin's pored texture was also erased in places, and the face went as smooth as wax. There had to be a way to correct the color and leave the texture as it is. How do you correct skin while keeping its texture? The next lesson tells about frequency separation, which splits color and texture into two separate layers and corrects them separately.