‘Dodging’ in Photoshop

JM
Posted By
James McNangle
Apr 5, 2007
Views
413
Replies
7
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Closed
I was recently adjusting an image in Photoshop. The exposure was somewhat uneven, and if I had been doing it in a darkroom 50 years ago I could have darkened some areas by holding a bit of card over them for part of the exposure, and moving it to around so that the darkened area did not have sharp edges. Similarly I could have lightened other areas by holding a card with a hole in it over the printing paper so that only those areas got some additional exposure.

I know how to mask areas, and modify the brightness in those areas, but how do I give the masks a graded edge, so that I don’t get sharp discontinuities?

James McNangle

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R
ronviers
Apr 5, 2007
On Apr 4, 8:47 pm, James McNangle wrote:
I was recently adjusting an image in Photoshop. The exposure was somewhat uneven, and if I had been doing it in a darkroom 50 years ago I could have darkened some areas by holding a bit of card over them for part of the exposure, and moving it to around so that the darkened area did not have sharp edges. Similarly I could have lightened other areas by holding a card with a hole in it over the printing paper so that only those areas got some additional exposure.
I know how to mask areas, and modify the brightness in those areas, but how do I give the masks a graded edge, so that I don’t get sharp discontinuities?
James McNangle

Hi James,
All the selection tools work with dodge. For example you could laso and area then feather the dodge.

HTH,
Ron
R
ronviers
Apr 5, 2007
On Apr 4, 9:01 pm, "" wrote:
On Apr 4, 8:47 pm, James McNangle wrote:

I was recently adjusting an image in Photoshop. The exposure was somewhat uneven, and if I had been doing it in a darkroom 50 years ago I could have darkened some areas by holding a bit of card over them for part of the exposure, and moving it to around so that the darkened area did not have sharp edges. Similarly I could have lightened other areas by holding a card with a hole in it over the printing paper so that only those areas got some additional exposure.

I know how to mask areas, and modify the brightness in those areas, but how do I give the masks a graded edge, so that I don’t get sharp discontinuities?

James McNangle

Hi James,
All the selection tools work with dodge. For example you could laso and area then feather the dodge.

HTH,
Ron

My spelling sucks. SB laso an area then feather the selection then dodge.
K
KatWoman
Apr 5, 2007
"James McNangle" wrote in message
I was recently adjusting an image in Photoshop. The exposure was somewhat uneven, and if I had been doing it in a darkroom 50 years ago I could have darkened some areas by holding a bit of card over them for part of the exposure,
and moving it to around so that the darkened area did not have sharp edges.
Similarly I could have lightened other areas by holding a card with a hole in it
over the printing paper so that only those areas got some additional exposure.

I know how to mask areas, and modify the brightness in those areas, but how do I
give the masks a graded edge, so that I don’t get sharp discontinuities?

James McNangle

try select>feather
or if you are using the lasso tool set the edge to be soft like 25-35 in the feather box
check the select using the mask/unmask box at bottom of toolbar, you can paint on the mask with a soft brush too.

OR you could use the dodge/ burn tools with a very soft edge brush choose tool and set options in brush dropdown
use VERY small number like 6% the default is 50%>> way too high for most areas!
it has wonderful options like only affecting the highlights or shadows (dropdown)
much easier and more precise than the little wands because you don’t have to rush, it’s more intuitive and similar to old darkroom technique

Some here will tell you it’s destructive to your original, lose pixel data etc.
whatever
I say sometimes you don’t want every pixel in your original to show or you wouldn’t retouch it at all.
R
ronviers
Apr 5, 2007
On Apr 4, 9:06 pm, "KatWoman"
Some here will tell you it’s destructive to your original, lose pixel data etc.
whatever
I say sometimes you don’t want every pixel in your original to show or you wouldn’t retouch it at all.

I find destructive edits baffling, especially in a case like this when there are simple alternatives, but I admit the results are the same and I admire the damn the torpedoes attitude.
JM
James McNangle
Apr 5, 2007
"" wrote:

On Apr 4, 9:06 pm, "KatWoman"
Some here will tell you it’s destructive to your original, lose pixel data etc.
whatever
I say sometimes you don’t want every pixel in your original to show or you wouldn’t retouch it at all.

I find destructive edits baffling, especially in a case like this when there are simple alternatives, but I admit the results are the same and I admire the damn the torpedoes attitude.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will have to do some playing.

And as to the destructive edits, the formula I try to use is to make copies from the originals before I do anything to them, and leave the originals severely alone.

James McNangle
K
KatWoman
Apr 5, 2007
wrote in message
On Apr 4, 9:06 pm, "KatWoman"
Some here will tell you it’s destructive to your original, lose pixel data
etc.
whatever
I say sometimes you don’t want every pixel in your original to show or you
wouldn’t retouch it at all.

I find destructive edits baffling, especially in a case like this when there are simple alternatives, but I admit the results are the same and I admire the damn the torpedoes attitude

I find saving every pixel of date to be overly fussy and has nothing to do with the actual end results in a print
and I am also never working on an original so data can be recaptured if necessary

let’s say you make a print in the darkroom, the negative is showing something you wish to lighten and you dodge it. So on the negative is the info but the print? no it’s not there and for a reason.

I find some repro companies ask you not to CLIP the histograms, they feel they can get the most from images not clipped, do want them to decide for you what and how to print your work? I don’t.

and what is the difference is making changes on an adjustment layer or a duplicate layer?? none.
both can be undone easily if necessary.
N
noone
Apr 6, 2007
In article ,
says…
"" wrote:

On Apr 4, 9:06 pm, "KatWoman"
Some here will tell you it’s destructive to your original, lose pixel data etc.
whatever
I say sometimes you don’t want every pixel in your original to show or you wouldn’t retouch it at all.

I find destructive edits baffling, especially in a case like this when there are simple alternatives, but I admit the results are the same and I admire the damn the torpedoes attitude.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will have to do some playing.
And as to the destructive edits, the formula I try to use is to make copies
from
the originals before I do anything to them, and leave the originals severely alone.

James McNangle

James,
One little trick is to do a Ctrl-J (PC), which will Duplicate your Layer. Do your work on the Dupe Layer. Two nice bits to that is that 1.) you can then Blend your 2 Layers, or change the Opacity of the one that you worked on to modulate the effect, should you choose, and 2.) you still have your original sitting right below, untouched.

For what I assume your project to be – uneven illumination, you might want to approach the work in a slightly different fashion. I’d build a Selection that covers the correctly exposed area to create a Mask. If the falloff is fairly linear, then it’s very simple. Hit Q for Quick Mask Mode and then drag a Gradient across the image area. You will then see red, fading to transparent (depending on how you have your Gradient Options setup, and there are a ton, plus they are almost infinitely variable). Hit Q again and you’ll be out of Quick Mask and see a "marching ants" line at about the 1/2 way point in your image. With this Selection active (ants are visible and "marching"), Use an Adjustment Layer, say Levels to adjust the darker portions of the image. The Selection will become a Layer Mask for that Adjustment Layer.

Hunt

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Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

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