Slow Connection or JavaScript Disabled? Go to the Site Maps.
. . . if you need to burn and dodge a large expanse, such as a sky.
Let's say you have a photograph of a landscape.
The sky looks fine, but the foreground is too dark.
If you lighten the photograph, so you can see the house, the clouds no longer look as good.
You can combine a lighter version of the photograph with a darker version of the same photograph.
Be sure to check off as you go along.
1) Preserve your original file.
If you haven't already done so, go to Preserve Your Original File.
If you haven't already done so, go to Make a Background Copy.
We'll make a lighter version of the photograph.
Then, parts of the two versions will be combined.
1) Open, let's say, Miller_house.jpg.
2) Make another copy of the photograph.
Make sure the Background copy is active (highlighted), and press Ctrl + j.
Double click the name of the new layer, and rename it Lighter House.
3) Create a Levels adjustment layer.
Click the Create adjustment layer icon, the half-dark, half-bright, circle at the top of the Layers palette, and select Levels.
The Levels window will open.
4) Slide the white triangle to the left to lighten a photograph as necessary.
Be sure to use the white triangle that's below the histogram.
Don't use the white triangle that's near the bottom.
If you need to make further adjustments, double click the Levels window thumbnail in the Levels adjustment layer to reopen the Levels window.
Here, the foreground was lightened by moving the white triangle from 255 to 220.
If you have an area in a photograph that needs to be darkened, move the black triangle to the right.
The middle slider changes the contrast of the photograph.
5) Group the Levels adjustment layer and the Lighter House layer.
If you haven't already done so, go to Grouping.
Make sure the Lighter House layer is selected.
Brush on the image where you want the scene darker.
Here, a brush without a feathered edge, with the opacity set to 100%, was used across the top half of the photograph.
When brushing close to the trees and the house, a feather brush was used to blend the erased area with the non-erased area.
If you haven't already done so, go to Brushes - Basics.
You can see the erasure below in the Lighter House layer.
Here's the original photograph and the erased version in which the foreground is lighter.
Original
Erased
You can also use a mask instead of the Eraser tool.
Go to Combine Two Exposures - Using Levels & a Mask.
You can also change the opacity of a selection.
Go to Multiple Opacities.
If your photograph has overexposed areas, such as an area in the cloud above, they need to be painted.
You can't darken them by burning.
Go to Painting Overexposed Areas.
If you haven't already done so, go to Saving Files.