Adobe Photoshop CS6 Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks by Lynette Kent

Improve exposure with a DODGE AND BURN LAYER
Dodging and burning are photographic techniques
describing the traditional darkroom methods for
brightening and darkening tones in an image. You can
effectively dodge and burn a digital image in Photoshop.
Although Photoshop includes digital dodge and burn
tools, these tools directly affect the pixels on the
layer, making your edits permanent and destructive.
Using a separate layer and the Brush tool to dodge
and burn not only adjusts the image nondestructively,
it also gives you greater control over the adjustment.
You can digitally dodge and burn on a separate layer
with two different methods. One uses a separate
empty layer in the Soft Light blend mode. The other
uses a separate layer filled with neutral gray in the
Overlay blend mode. You can use the method that
you prefer or that works best on your particular
image. With either type of layer, you dodge by
painting with white and burn by painting with black
on the layer. By setting the brush opacity to about
30% to start, you can increase the effect as you work
by brushing over an area multiple times.
Both methods give you complete control over dodging
and burning digitally.
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Use a Layer in the Soft Light
Blend Mode
1 Click the Default Colors icon
to reset the foreground and
background colors to black
and white.
2 Click the New Layer button to
create a new empty layer.
3 Click the blend mode drop-down
menu and select Soft Light.
4 Click the Brush tool ( ).
5 Click the Brush Preset drop-down
menu to open the Brush picker.
6 Select the soft-edged brush.
7 Double-click the Opacity field in
the Options bar and type 30 to
set the brush opacity to 30%.
8 Click and drag to paint with black
in the light areas of the image to
darken, or digitally burn them.
9 Click the Switch Colors icon to
reverse the foreground and
background colors, making the
foreground color white.
Note: You can also press X to
reverse the foreground and
background colors.
0 Click and drag to paint with
white in the dark areas of the
image to lighten, or digitally
dodge them.
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