Wanting to Learn what, why and when Dodge & Burn

[OutdoorsLover]

Hi there,

I've been a photographer for many, many years, but (hopefully) like most of us, I'm still striving to learn and improve my craft. That being said, I really want to learn to Dodge & Burn my images a lot better. What I'm really wanting is knowledge on what, why and and when to dodge or burn; I have a pretty complete knowledge of how to do this in the digital darkroom. Your tips, pointers, and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[Garnick]

 "What I'm really wanting is knowledge on what, why and and when to dodge or burn".

Well, to some degree this is both a simple and difficult one to answer.  From what you have written I assume that you have never printed in a darkroom, simply because if you had done so you would already have the answers to both questions.  Of course Dodging lightens the area in question, and Burning darkens the area in question.  Probably the most obvious areas that might require Dodging would be ones such as shadows or other areas that need more detail.  Burning would be exactly the opposite, such as a light sky with some clouds that you might want to exaggerate and become more interesting.  And as you become more expert with both adjustments you would probably find smaller areas in the image that can be Burned and Dodged to create better dimension and depth that can take the viewer back into the image.  Having said that it really becomes a procedure of developing an eye for what you can do to make the image more interesting and closer to what you saw when you created the image file initially.  You will find many ways of burning and dodging, but at some point you'll find the one that fits you best.  Good Luck.         

[langier]

Both film and digital cameras can only capture what is but in front of them and then but imperfectly. Dynamic range limits what they can capture.

This is where the art of burning and dodging comes to the craft of photography.

My goal when I shoot an image is to get the most I can on film/digital capture so that I have the most information I can get in the image. Once I have the image then I can orchestrate the image to make it the best I can.

Generally, when we see an image, our brain will make the corrections as to exposure and contrast. Yet film and digital can quite get it all, let alone keep them in context.

Basically, I use a little bit of dodging to lighten things need to be brighter that I think need to stand out of my image a bit more. Skies usually need to be darkened by burning to bring them down to balance out the contract/brightness of the image. Burning also can be used to hide parts of an image that without, would simply stand out and become a distraction, such as trash or other objects that can't be moved or if cloned from the photo, would change the authenticity of the image such as for news or documentary work.

One of the best bodies of work that I can think of that used not only burning and dodging to its fullest, but bleaching and intensifying his work was W. Eugene Smith, especially his latter work at Minamata. Ansel Adams was also a master of burning/dodging. For him it was to create a print that matched his previsualization of the the image in the field to how it would eventually be crafted on the paper. His work is still printed today for the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite by Alan Ross now for nearly 40 years after Ansel's death using the original dodging-and-burning notes for each of the prints to convey what Ansel's vision of the photograph should convey.

Looking at Ansel's Moonrise photos though the years, one can see how it went from a literal black and white rendering of the fleeting moment he recorded back about 1941 to his later prints showing an intense, jet sky, glowing moon and clouds and the church and cemetery on the horizon on the bottom of the print. Burning and dodging took the print from but a simple snap-shot to a memorable work that still evokes emotion 80 years since Ansel snapped the shutter.

Today we have the technology to do what Ansel did in a darkroom and by trial, error and starting over on each print, to being able to do a master image complete with not only our burning, dodging for exposure/contrast and easily do the same with color, sharpness and so many other variables. Yet sometimes that makes an image almost too clinical in its craft; lacking in the personalization that came organically when each print was burned and dodged by hand in the darkroom.

I tried to add a couple of examples of burning and dodging compared to the original but having issues with it right now...

[langier]

Figured out a workaround with another browser...

Here's a couple of example of my work showing a before and after with b&d examples that I hope gives you some direction. The first of the forest and road is how the camera "saw" the scene and the second, crafted from the raw is how I visualized the photo. The shadows and sky needed to be opened up and the road needed dodging to imply the scene from the rain that had just fallen before the clouds started to break up.

The second image from last Sunday shows the in camera image, the middle was done on my iPhone using Snapbridge to convert to b&w, dodge the church and get it close, then into Photoshop to fine-tune some burning to clean-up what I couldn't do easily with my fingers on a 5-inch screen.

[BobShaw]

Do yourself a favour and join Karl Taylor Education.
Best value I have had in training.
Go to Post Processing and then Masking, Dodging and Burning.
What, why and when is explained and then he gives you an Action that makes it so easy.

[OutdoorsLover]

Do yourself a favour and join Karl Taylor Education.

What other classes have you found interesting or useful?

[BobShaw]

What other classes have you found interesting or useful?

I did Photigy for a while. It is only Product Photography. Good but a little expensive with lots of extras. i found the post production hard to follow.
I also did some Creative Live courses. Generally good and you buy each one.
Karl Taylor is the best I have seen where the one price gets everything.

[David Eckels]

What other classes have you found interesting or useful?

Tony Kuyper and Sean Bagshaw. More sophisticated than simple D/B, but fantastic content from beginner to pro.

[OutdoorsLover]

Karl Taylor is the best I have seen where the one price gets everything.

Bob, I'm sorry as I should have been more specific in my previous message. Which other of Karl Taylor's classes have you taken, and found useful?

I'm very familiar with CreativeLive, and bought many of there courses over the years. Unfortunately, I think they're now in a death spiral now, as they haven't had any new or relevant courses in a very long time.

Cheers!

[Les Sparks]

Blake Rudis, https://f64academy.com/ has some good material on dodge and burn on his free site
Les

[OutdoorsLover]

Blake Rudis, https://f64academy.com/ has some good material on dodge and burn on his free site
Les

Thanks Les! I'll definitely check it out! Much appreciated.

[john beardsworth]

What I'm really wanting is knowledge on what, why and and when to dodge or burn; I have a pretty complete knowledge of how to do this in the digital darkroom.

Why not see if you can pick up a copy of Ansel Adams' The Print or his Making of 40 Photos? Sure, it's obviously silver-era darkroom but his explanations are in terms of the what, why and when. Edges are often burnt, for example, to force the viewer into the image and suppress bright areas that may lead the eye out of the frame. Why is often based on lighter areas attracting attention, so you'd be burning to suppress an area and make it less important in the composition, and dodging to make detail in an area more important. I'm not so sure I can translate the when, as he applies these concepts in the camera and the darkroom stages, but if you're trying to improve your B&W thought process I'd recommend reading or re-reading these books.

[OutdoorsLover]

Why not see if you can pick up a copy of Ansel Adams' The Print or his Making of 40 Photos? Sure, it's obviously silver-era darkroom but his explanations is in terms of the what, why and when. Edges are often burnt, for example, to force the viewer into the image and suppress bright areas that may lead the eye out of the frame. Why is often based on lighter areas attracting attention, so you'd be burning to suppress an area and make it less important in the composition, and dodging to make detail in an area more important. I'm not so sure I can translate the when, as he applies these concepts in the camera and the darkroom stages, but if you're trying to improve your B&W thought process I'd recommend reading or re-reading these books.

I have both books, and will have to unearth them, and re-read them as it's been many, many years since my last reading of them. However, I'm a visual learner, so as I recall these books, only the "after" images are shown and not the "before". I feel that I get more out of seeing the "before" image, and then the processed "after".

[BobShaw]

Bob, I'm sorry as I should have been more specific in my previous message. Which other of Karl Taylor's classes have you taken, and found useful?

Mate, you get the lot in the one price! I have only been a member for a few months so I am working my way through them.
I suggest all of the Post Production, The Business of Photography and whatever genre interests you.
He also does weekly challenges and a Brief challenge to photograph based on a client brief every so often.

[PeterAit]

Hi there,

I've been a photographer for many, many years, but (hopefully) like most of us, I'm still striving to learn and improve my craft. That being said, I really want to learn to Dodge & Burn my images a lot better. What I'm really wanting is knowledge on what, why and and when to dodge or burn; I have a pretty complete knowledge of how to do this in the digital darkroom. Your tips, pointers, and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Dodge an area when you want it lighter. Burn when you want it darker.

[Garnick]

Hello Peter,

"Dodge an area when you want it lighter. Burn when you want it darkerr" 100%  You've nailed it!  From 1972 until 2005 my business was built around darkroom custom printing for other photographers as well as my own work, Colour and B&W.  Anyone with years spent in a darkroom can attest to the ups and downs of dodging and burning to enhance the final print.  However, at some point we all had to make decisions about the areas that could perhaps be enhanced in one way or another.  Often a customer would point out the areas to be dodged or burned, which to some extent took that decision out of my hands.  They knew what they wanted and I knew how to accomplish it. Of course the same is true when I was printing my own work, I had to make the decisions about how to produce a print that I envisioned when I opened the shutter.  Of course the digital version of dodging and burning is for the most part much easier than it could ever be in a darkroom situation.  The precision alone and the fact that one can see the results before producing the first test print allows the printer to produce a final print easier and faster than the darkroom approach.  In 2005 I started mixing digital and darkroom printing which continued until 2017.  I still print my own images as well as some from my long time customers until this day, but now it's all inkjet printing of course.  The Darkroom has become the Lightroom, (not the app).

Now having said all of that I will again refer to the OP's question - the what, why and and when to dodge or burn.  In my opinion those questions can only be answered by the printer alone, which will eventually morph into a better photographer and printer as well.  Of course there are books and videos that will help, but in the end it's a journey that culminates in an EYE for a good image and a print that can make that image stand out.         

[BobShaw]

Hello Peter,

"Dodge an area when you want it lighter. Burn when you want it darkerr" 100%  You've nailed it! 

Now having said all of that I will again refer to the OP's question - the what, why and and when to dodge or burn.  In my opinion those questions can only be answered by the printer alone ...       

Ok, but you can not teach yourself something if you don't know it exists.
Sure you can "teach" yourself Photoshop. You will learn how all of the tools work, but not what they can do. You may stumble onto it by accident years later but you have wasted years to learn something that someone could have told you years ago and actually been making money out of it.

So what does saying "dodge an area when you want it lighter. Burn when you want it darker" mean?
Does it tell you that you can use dodge and burn to remove crinkles in a shirt?
Does it tell you that you lighten things to bring them forward in an image and darken them to make them recede for example.
Good training is an investment.