origin of burn and dodge

On 27-Jan-2004, Steven Post wrote:

Anyone here know exactly what the original photographic process is that gave birth to the burn and dodge tools? Just curious. I’d also be interested to know what the icons represent. If I were making tools to go with those icons, they’d be pinch and pin. What the hell are those things?

Dodge and burn refer to putting objects between the enlarger head and the paper when printing negatives in a darkroom. Dodging holds back some of the light so that the dodged area of the print is lighter. Burning lets more light through so the burned area of the print is darker. Dodging tools are usually a small flat shape on the end of a wire (hence the wand icon). Burning is sometimes done by using the hands to block the light from most of the image but letting some through the fingers– I guess that’s what the hand icon is suggesting.

—
Tom Thackrey
www.creative-light.com
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do NOT send email to (it’s reserved for spammers)

Hi

In the darkroom one gives more or less light on the print by using one’s hands or whatever can be thought of.

Ukko Heikkinen

Steven Post kirjoitti
viestiss

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 22:10:39 GMT, Steven Post found
these unused words floating about:

Anyone here know exactly what the original photographic process is that gave birth to the burn and dodge tools? Just curious. I’d also be interested to know what the icons represent. If I were making tools to go with those icons, they’d be pinch and pin. What the hell are those things?

sp

In the darkroom, you’d use your hand to shield much of the image from light, with the opening between the thumb and first finger forming an exposure ‘spotlight’ – Burn.

A thin wire wand with various sized end disks would be used to hold back or Dodge the exposure of too light areas.

See your library for a book on Darkroom Techniques.

"J. A. Mc." wrote:

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 22:10:39 GMT, Steven Post found
these unused words floating about:

Anyone here know exactly what the original photographic process is that gave birth to the burn and dodge tools? Just curious. I’d also be interested to know what the icons represent. If I were making tools to go with those icons, they’d be pinch and pin. What the hell are those things?

sp

In the darkroom, you’d use your hand to shield much of the image from light, with the opening between the thumb and first finger forming an exposure ‘spotlight’ – Burn.

A thin wire wand with various sized end disks would be used to hold back or Dodge the exposure of too light areas.

See your library for a book on Darkroom Techniques.

On a similar vein, did anyone see the PBS special a few years back with old footage of Ansel Adams as he ‘dodged and burned’ his shots to get those fantastically dark skys and crisp landscapes? I wish I could see that again! He was leaning over the paper with a piece of cardboard, angling it to the coutours
of the mountains… really interesting.

—

Chris Mork
Owner CCG Sales / Small Business Links

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Chris Mork wrote:

On a similar vein, did anyone see the PBS special a few years back with old footage of Ansel Adams as he ‘dodged and burned’ his shots to get those fantastically dark skys and crisp landscapes? I wish I could see that again! He was leaning over the paper with a piece of cardboard, angling it to the coutours
of the mountains… really interesting.

—

Chris Mork
Owner CCG Sales / Small Business Links

you can use a piece of cardboard cut to what ever shape you need to do the same. it’s a little easier to use than hands/fingers and you can mask parts off to give a "selective" burn.

for those who haven’t done it – keep it moving in small circles to blend it.

In article ,
J. A. Mc. wrote:

On Tue, 27 Jan 2004 22:10:39 GMT, Steven Post found
these unused words floating about:

Anyone here know exactly what the original photographic process is that gave birth to the burn and dodge tools? Just curious. I’d also be interested to know what the icons represent. If I were making tools to go with those icons, they’d be pinch and pin. What the hell are those things?

sp

In the darkroom, you’d use your hand to shield much of the image from light, with the opening between the thumb and first finger forming an exposure ‘spotlight’ – Burn.

A thin wire wand with various sized end disks would be used to hold back or Dodge the exposure of too light areas.

Aha

See your library for a book on Darkroom Techniques.

Well, I just wanted to know what the icons meant… 😉

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 00:20:07 +0200, "Ukko Heikkinen" wrote:

Hi

In the darkroom one gives more or less light on the print by using one’s hands or whatever can be thought of.

In the darkroom most people would have thin sticks (I use cut sections of coat hangers) with various shapes cut from cardboard) taped to the ends and by placing those between the enlarger lens and the paper they cast a shadow that holds back light and thus "dodges" the area so that it receives less exposure. The method involved moving the stick so the shadow would have in indistinct edges and the effect would fall off at the edges.

To burn a cards with a holes in them are used. The card placed between lens and paper would allow more light through the hole and thus burn that section of the print. Aside from holes in cards a lot of other large shapes are used, like even whole cards when the effect needed is to hold back light from one part of the image while burning in another large area, like for example the sky in an landscape.

"-xiray-" wrote in message

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 00:20:07 +0200, "Ukko Heikkinen" wrote:

Hi

In the darkroom one gives more or less light on the print by using one’s hands or whatever can be thought of.

In the darkroom most people would have thin sticks (I use cut sections of coat hangers) with various shapes cut from cardboard) taped to the ends and by placing those between the enlarger lens and the paper they cast a shadow that holds back light and thus "dodges" the area so that it receives less exposure. The method involved moving the stick so the shadow would have in indistinct edges and the effect would fall off at the edges.

To burn a cards with a holes in them are used. The card placed between lens and paper would allow more light through the hole and thus burn that section of the print. Aside from holes in cards a lot of other large shapes are used, like even whole cards when the effect needed is to hold back light from one part of the image while burning in another large area, like for example the sky in an landscape.

I was a "hands on" printer. I used my hands 99.9% of the time for both burning (make a hole in a clenched fist) and dodging (whole hand or fist). If I needed a specially shaped vignette, then I would use a cut out piece of cardboard, plastic or other opaque material. Just my personal choice and style.

Chris Mork wrote:
[re dodging and burning]

On a similar vein, did anyone see the PBS special a few years back with old footage of Ansel Adams as he ‘dodged and burned’ his shots to get those fantastically dark skys and crisp landscapes? I wish I could see that again! He was leaning over the paper with a piece of cardboard, angling it to the coutours
of the mountains… really interesting.

I agree. This, or at least a similar documentary, is available as a video for 10 bucks.
http://www.eltunel.net/product/B00007G24G/AsinSearch/5/

I would have loved to see more of his reaction to electronic based photography, and what he would have thought of the pure digital age we’re at the brink of now.
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:58:31 -0500, "Tin Ear" wrote:

I was a "hands on" printer. I used my hands 99.9% of the time for both burning (make a hole in a clenched fist) and dodging (whole hand or fist). If I needed a specially shaped vignette, then I would use a cut out piece of cardboard, plastic or other opaque material. Just my personal choice and style.

Yeah, I’ve done it that way too. But I figured that explaining the tools used in the darkroom had a better one-to-one correspondence with the icons in Photoshop, so the connection would be stronger for the OP to grasp the concept (not that the concept is that staggeringly complex).

In message , -xiray-
writes

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 14:58:31 -0500, "Tin Ear" wrote:

I was a "hands on" printer. I used my hands 99.9% of the time for both burning (make a hole in a clenched fist) and dodging (whole hand or fist). If I needed a specially shaped vignette, then I would use a cut out piece of cardboard, plastic or other opaque material. Just my personal choice and style.

Yeah, I’ve done it that way too. But I figured that explaining the tools used in the darkroom had a better one-to-one correspondence with the icons in Photoshop, so the connection would be stronger for the OP to grasp the concept (not that the concept is that staggeringly complex).

The real trouble with the PS dodger is that it doesn’t leave that reduced area where one’s wrist goes. 😉

Mike
[The reply-to address is valid for 30 days from this posting] —
Michael J Davis
http://www.trustsof.demon.co.uk
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