Photoshop Elements /

Burning & Dodging /

Method for Many Small Areas -

Automatic with a B&W Negative Mask

Use This Method . . .

. . . if you need to burn and dodge many small areas, such as a scene with dappled sunlight.

Overview

Let's say you have a photograph of a cemetery.

The cemetery is in dappled sunlight, so there are many bright and dark areas.

Burning and dodging these areas would take a long time.

By making a mask, you can burn and dodge the areas at the same time.

The original photograph is sandwiched with a B&W negative of the scene, the mask.

Tonally, these two "slices of bread" in the sandwich are opposites:

• What was dark in the original color photograph, is lighter in the B&W negative.

• What was light in the original color photograph, is darker in the B&W negative.

You can see in the photographs below how the sunny portions of the scene are darker in the B&W negative.

Original

B&W Negative - Mask

Because the original photograph and the B&W negative are tonally opposite:

• The bright areas of the original photograph are toned down by the dark areas of the B&W negative.

• The dark areas of the original photograph are lightened by the clear areas of the B&W negative.

Be sure to check off as you go along.

Preparation

1) Preserve your original file.

If you haven't already done so, go to Preserve Your Original File.

2) Make a Background copy.

If you haven't already done so, go to Make a Background Copy.

Make a B&W Negative Mask

Make sure the Background copy layer is active (highlighted) for all of the steps below.

1) Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, to blur the Background copy layer.

Try setting the radius to 3.5.

Original

Blurred

2) Desaturate the color of the Background copy layer by pressing Ctrl + u to open the Hue/Saturation window.

Slide Saturation to -100.

Or, press Shift + Ctrl + u.

Original

Blurred & Desaturated

3) Go to Filter > Adjustments > Invert, or press Ctrl + i, to invert the Background copy layer.

Blurred & Desaturated

Blurred, Desaturated, & Inverted

4) Change the Background copy layer's blend mode to Overlay.

The image will switch from B&W to color.

However, the color will be odd looking.

5) Lower the opacity of the layer to around 30%.

The color is normal looking now.

Increase and decrease the opacity to adjust the amount of burning and dodging.

Original

Odd Color Before Reducing the Opacity

Compare

Compare the two versions by deselecting the Eye icon of the Background copy layer.

Here's the original and the burned and dodged version.

Original

Burned & Dodged the Overexposed Areas

Overexposed Areas

If your photograph has overexposed areas, they need to be painted.

You can't darken them by burning.

Go to Painting Overexposed Areas.

Saving the Photograph

If you haven't already done so, go to Saving Files.