Photoshop Elements /

Burning & Dodging /

1) Enlarge your photograph, if needed, with the Zoom tool.

2) Select the Brush tool.

If you haven't already done so, go to Brushes - Basics.

In the lower-left corner of your screen, check to make sure the foreground and background colors are black and white.

If you click the tiny overlapping boxes symbol, or press d, the colors will switch to the default setting, which is black and white.

You burn or dodge depending on the color of the brush.

Your brush will darken—burn.

Your brush will lighten—dodge.

You can switch the colors by clicking the curved double arrow symbol, or by pressing x.

3) Click, hold, and drag to "paint" the area in your photograph where you want to burn or dodge.

When you release the mouse button, the burning appears as dark marks, and dodging as white marks, on the Overlay layer in the Layers palette.

4) If needed, change the opacity of the layer to reduce the amount of your burning and dodging.

The second photograph below was corrected using the Smart Fix mode in the Quick Fix section.

Compare it with the third photograph, where burning and dodging was used.

Burning and dodging is far better, and not too much more work.

The photographs are fuzzy because the original was enlarged to facilitate easier burning and dodging.

Original

After Smart Fix

One Pass on Face & Neck

Second Pass on Face, Neck, & Bottom of the Hat

Note the Tiny Spot of Sunlight on the Nose

To burn it in, do the following.

1) Enlarged Photograph to 300%

2) Reduced the Brush Size to 3px

3) Changed the Foreground Color to Black

4) Centered the Brush on the Spot

Spot After Three Clicks of the Brush—Burning In

After Dodging & Burning In

Here are the before and after photographs.

Again, the photograph is fuzzy because it was enlarged greatly.

Original

After Dodging & Burning In

You can fine tune your burning and dodging.