Tuesday Tip ‘O the Day: Burning & Dodging on a Gray Layer

Hello again. It’s time for tip of the day Tuesday. Today we are going to be working with using a 50% gray layer to fine tune specific areas of your image(s).  I like this technique because you are not using the dodging and burning tool directly on the image layer. The burning and dodging tool really are not my favorite tools anyway. If there are specific areas in your image that need a little lighting or a little darkening this is a tip for you. It works for all types of pictures from portraits to collage to landscape. It just takes a little pre-visualization to think about how you want your final image to appear. So, the first thing you need to do (with your image already open) is click on your topmost layer and create a new layer by clicking on the new layer icon (looks like a piece of paper) at the bottom of your layers palette. Go to Edit>Fill>and choose 50% Gray from the contents menu, then click okay. Now your image box should be filled with gray. Change the blend mode of your gray layer to Soft Light (blend modes are near the top left of the layers palette). Now it should appear as if you have done nothing to your image. With the gray layer selected you will be “burning” with the black paint brush and “dodging” with the white paint brush. Burning and dodging are traditional “wet” darkroom techniques – where burning is done by adding more time to the print thus giving it more exposure and dodging is done by blocking the light to take exposure away. When painting on the layer I usually start my brush at about 15% then adjust from there. For example, if you want to dodge someone’s face a bit, get your white paint brush, set the opacity to 15% then start brushing on the face (with the gray layer selected). If you want to burn a certain area that perhaps is a bit too bright, get you black paint brush, set the opacity to 15% then start brushing the area you want to darken. You can adjust the opacity to make it less or more intense. Below is a before and after with this technique. I really wanted the pipes to stand out a bit more and wanted the brick to fall back, so I used a gray layer to bring areas in or out depending on their importance in the composition. The before image is on the left. The change is subtle, but just enough to give the pipes a bit of a boost.