Understanding Burn & Dodge and 4 ways to do it

[@mak_freeman]

by the far the best video in youtube about burn and dodge

[@VisualEducationStudio]

thank you

[@MrJohnHimself]

That was enormously helpful, thank you!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

You're welcome!

[@martin-steiner-photography]

One of the best retouch vids on the internet. To truly compare both images before and after is priceless. Thank you for your time Karl. D and B can be also done in a very nice and fast way in Lightroom with luminosity mask. But you still need to come to PS for the other things...

[@xTehAeRo]

Such a great educator ! Thanks :D

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Our pleasure!

[@bigding8977]

This is the best explanation of dodge and burn that I've seen. So well organized and clearly explained. This is a highly technical concept and it's hard to find people who can explain concepts so clearly and succinctly. Thank you for this.

[@thomasagabaonyango7548]

I must agree!

[@celo2043]

this kind of video is exactly why I absolutely love KZbin! Thank you Karl!

[@hermansurkis9229]

I tend to use softlight layer. How is curves faster, since you have to set the curves, you then have to mask, and then remove the mask where need. Seems to me to be a touch slower as there is an extra step. But essentially, much of a muchness.

[@goodboyarman0]

Thank you so much for the understanding ❤

[@liquidlace9291]

I've been using the curves method for over ten years and you're right Karl ... it's the most efficient way to dodge & burn. Where on the moon did you get that T-shirt ? I must have one :)

[@tomhart7511]

In the first image the subjects index finger moves between before and after. Was there something happening there or is it an optical illusion of the lightening of shadows on the finger.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hi, yes I reshaped the finger as I didn't like the angle it was pointing.

[@MrFredypalacio]

Excelente, que buenos aportes. ;)

[@lonniepaulson7031]

Thanks. When I use layers and want to use the dodge and burn tools they don't work on layers. Am I doing something wrong or is that the way it is? Also: I like the message on your T-shirt. I am a space enthusiast.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Hi Lonnie, you need curves adjustment layers with a layer mask in black. Thanks about the T shirt, Hasselblad kindly sent it to me to celebrate last years 50th anniversary.

[@cliffordsalmon322]

This is an exceptional video of Dodge and Burn technique. I understand it the technique better. I have subxribed to your channel and will enroll in your Ps courses. I am exponetially thankful to you for illumination my PS knowledge.

[@kidheyful]

Couldn't be happier to find out about Karl's channel last week. it's must watch for me now

[@prakashkadam9712]

SIR IT IS GREATFULL KNOWLLAGE TO ALL PHOTOGRAPHER THANK U SIR

[@janplexy]

2:01 - now I know you are actually reading the script on that monitor, while we think you are looking at the photo :))

[@VisualEducationStudio]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/maGXg6WJjrZlgck

[@jordanlotus188]

very nice! I will like to do the educational course.!!

[@arielc2010]

Thank you very much. From all other photographers, you are my top one to learn from. Your tutorials are simple yet very comprehensive. Although, most of your equipment is beyond the reach of an average wanna-be professional photographer ;)

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thanks but try and see past the gear, you'll also see me shooting with 35mm gear on our education platform and using other less expensive lights. The principles are all the same regardless of gear.

[@secondaccount5550]

Thankyouu so much its video help a lot

[@paristo]

Layer mask is IMHO the most useful feature of anything. As it is core feature to allow these easy non-destructive adjustments using simple tools like brush. Since Photoshop gained support for layers, it has been the #1 feature ever to be used. And this is why Lightroom etc never offer capabilities for creativity when they do not support layers, even at basic level.

[@tiinasoderholm]

I been doing this with layers and brush tool more complicated I think. I need to try curve layers!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Definitely better with adjustment curve layers

[@lordr9485]

thanks sir

[@longliveclassicmusic]

I always struggled with standard dodging techniques not getting the saturation right to my eye, particularly when making drastic changes like removing a heavy wrinkle or brightening up a particularly dark shadow. But it occurred to me that when you brighten a tone, its saturation increases as well, almost linearly. So I had the idea to brighten and then bring saturation up in a second step. The way I dodge is I actually paint white (at a super low flow of course) on a blank layer with NO BLENDING MODE SET, Normal blend mode. Obviously I do so with a 50% gray Color blend mode layer on top to do it all in black and white… What I am left with is lightened areas where they're lightened but the saturation is not altered. Then (using an action I created)-with the goal of increasing saturation of each pixel by the exact amount I've dodged it-I duplicate the layer, put a black layer underneath, merge the two, create an HSL adjustment layer, go to the mask, and use Apply Image to apply the merged layer I created to the mask, then deleting the merged layer. Then I bring the saturation to 100%. It goes a little too far though, but instead of going back and decreasing the saturation each time to what looks good, I set a blend mode of Soft Light I think (can't recall, but I'm pretty sure it's Soft Light) on the HSL layer. It gets near perfect saturation for my dodging, every single time. Then when I want to add more to it, I just delete the HSL layer, do more dodging, and when I'm done run the action again. To date I haven't tried a single technique that comes close to the color preservation of this method I came up with from understanding how color works. For burn, I just paint black on a blank layer set to soft light. You can use whatever method you want of course, but for me that gets the most predictable results… And you can always turn on a 50% gray layer below them if you want to check where the changes are being made. I used to have to fix color issues from industry dodging and burning methods in frequency separation but found that it's completely impractical when I've spent sometimes hours meticulously detailing a portrait with localized dodging and burning. When I'm just making large, broad changes, I just use curves. But for localized dodging and burning with thousands of brush strokes, this custom method gets me results that look clean as a whistle… Sometimes when you bring shadows up a ton, due to the lack of light in the original exposure, the color isn't quite as accurate as the correctly exposed areas of the image. So this sometimes requires me to make color corrections later in frequency separation. But those are always larger area corrections, not color inconsistencies created from tiny brush strokes that compound the more you do.

[@mrz1342]

Perfect! Thank you.

[@JeffStudley]

Inverted curves layer was genius. Much more subtle and control this way.

[@noyb154]

TLDR: Use curves adjustment layers if you want to do it right.

[@photographypowerforyou]

thanks karl!!!!!

[@phaeb]

My favorite method is using a 50% grey layer with linear light blending mode at around 15% layer fill. Brush flow to 2% and you have a lot of room to go as intense or subtile as you want.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

But that means you paint both your burning and dodging on the same layer.

[@phaeb]

@@VisualEducationStudio exactly, in order to lower the strength you paint over with 50% grey to return to normal. Or you dodge an area you have burned before, it transitions smoothly via the neutral gray. Oh, and I'm in no way trying to say this is better than any other technique, I just thought I'd mention it because no one else has and because I found it very intuitive to use :)

[@phaeb]

And on another note, your tutorials are awesome! I consider myself an advanced Photoshop user and photographer, yet you always teach me something new.

[@ThePanacon]

Every photographer and retoucher in the World: Dodge & Burn Karl Taylor: Burn & Dodge :-)

[@VisualEducationStudio]

I prefer things to already be burning before I have to dodge them 😊 . In fact come to think of it we were using the phrase Burn and Dodge back in the darkrooms 30 years ago before photoshop was even a thing, I can't ever remember anyone saying it dodge and burn, must be a digital generation thing based on the order PS put them in the tools palette.

[@bencorwin]

Invaluable information! Thank you!

[@maxwood2996]

In the soft light method Karl selected 50% grey for his base. I’m pretty sure you don’t need to do this. If you leave it transparent you can switch back and forth between normal and soft light to see exactly where you’ve painted. Having said that, I use curves... it’s way better!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Yes I'm not a fan of the soft light method as both your burn and dodge are on the same layer so prefer curves adjustments and for broader areas you just select with a very large feather and pull the curve which is much quicker.

[@haqvor]

An alternative to using curves is to create two adjustment layers with black masks and set the blending modes to screen for dodging and multiply for burning. It is common that to much dodging and burning creates difference in hues and saturations to fix that clip a hue and saturation layer to the dodge and burn layers.

[@hermansurkis9229]

Or set the layer to 'luminosity'.

[@juanlujano4895]

Thanks for the tips!

[@Ib3119cz]

You are the boss👍

[@manolorivasfoto]

Genial

[@gonetoearth2588]

Many thanks for the education! So well presented!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Glad it was helpful!

[@josediazh3890]

Muchas gracias!

[@Kuwaitpool]

Great video, very useful 👍🏼

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Boxer1250RT]

If you did not have the before and after side by side, no Client would ever know that the image needs a "burn and dodge". It is more to please yourself than the Client. Great explanation. Thanks,

[@GajoRomario]

what a class. thanks, man.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Very welcome!

[@sudipto30]

Very nicely explained

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Thank you

[@williamjonesiiimd907]

Excellent! Thank you!

[@VisualEducationStudio]

You are welcome!

[@rodzimmerman8436]

Excellent tutorial.

[@VisualEducationStudio]

Glad you liked it!