Dodging and burning have their roots in the film days, and involve the selective lightening and darkening of parts of a photo. Because of that, there happen to be Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop, but their effect is very much a permanent and destructive one. That said, I love using the concept of dodging and burning to really lead a person through the photo by lightening the areas I want them to focus on and darkening the parts of the photo that I don’t. That’s where this technique comes in, because it gives you all the flexibility of working with dodge and burn layers without any of the permanent effects.

Step 1: Open a Photo That Needs Some Dodging and Burning

Open a photo that looks kind of blah. I know, what kind of photo is blah, anyway? You’ll know it when you see it. It’s a photo that is worth keeping, but it just lacks that punch to take it to the next level. In the photo I’m using here, everything seems to blend together. Nothing really stands out. It’s kind of, well, blah.

Step 2: Add a New Layer and Fill it With 50% Gray

Click on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a new, blank layer on top of the Background layer. Then, click the Edit menu and choose Fill. For the Use setting, select 50% Gray from the pop-up menu, and click OK.

Step 3: Change the Blend Mode to Overlay. Notice How this Makes the Gray Transparent

Change the blend mode of the gray layer you just made to Overlay. The Overlay blend mode hides everything that is 50% gray. This makes it appear that the gray layer is actually transparent. Go ahead, try clicking on the Eye icon next to the layer thumbnail to hide and show the layer. The image looks the same whether it’s hidden or not.

TIP: You can also press Command-Shift-N (PC: Ctrl-Shift-N) to create the new layer and open the New Layer dialog. There you can change the blend mode to Overlay and fill with 50% gray, all in one shot.

Step 4: Select the Brush Tool and Set the Opacity of the Brush to 20%

Click on the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a new, blank layer on top of the Background layer. Then, click the Edit menu and choose Fill. For the Use setting, select 50% Gray from the pop-up menu, and click OK.

Step 5: Paint With White to Simulate Dodging

Click once on the gray layer to select it. Set your Foreground color to white by pressing D (for Default), then X (to swap). Now, start painting on areas in the photo that you want to dodge, or lighten. Since you’re painting with a low-opacity brush, you can release the mouse button and click again to simulate multiple strokes of a brush. That’ll intensify the effect and lighten the area even more. Look for key areas in the photo that you want to stand out. In this example, I’m painting over the canoe, the trees in the middle part of the photo, and even a little on the storage container and life preserver on its side.

Step 6: Paint With Black to Simulate Burning

Now press X (to swap your Foreground and Background colors) to set black as the Foreground color. Paint in the areas that you want to burn, or darken. This is good around areas that you don’t really want to draw people’s attention to. In this case, I burned in some of the area on the mountains, and even the deck that the canoe is on. Don’t forget to make your brush smaller so you can paint those smaller, more detailed areas.

TIP: Use the Left Bracket ([) key to quickly make your brush smaller.

Step 7: Paint With 50% Gray to Get Back to Your Original

Continue painting with black or white to simulate dodging and burning. Since you’re doing it all on the gray layer, nothing is destructive. Setting the brush to a low opacity gives you a nice way to creatively build the effect in areas that really need it, too. Oh yeah, if you happen to dodge or burn an area that you didn’t want to, just click on your Foreground color swatch in the Toolbox, set its color to 50% gray (the color of the layer) and paint over the area. The color values are R: 128, G: 128, B: 128. That’ll neutralize the effect and hide all changes, since gray appears transparent anyway. Reset your brush opacity when you’re done here.