November 01, 2011

Create Natural Images With the Dodge and Burn Tools

Turning flat images into real or natural images by bringing light and shadow into it can be a tricky thing to do credibly. The Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools enable you to accomplish this task in a realistic and credible way.

The Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools are just like conventional darkroom tools. Dodge tool lightens the dark areas. The Burn tool darkens the image areas. The Sponge tool intensifies the effect. Photoshop generates the tools very accurately, although you should exercise care when using the tools, to avoid your images looking unnatural.This article will focus on the usage of the Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools.

The Dodge Tool

This tool is use to lighten dark areas, choose Shadows, Midtones or Highlights and apply an exposure value. This means the Dodge Tool bring out the details in dim parts of an image. You should choose an appropriate size brush and paint over the areas to be lightened - do not over apply the strokes or else the brushed image area will start to wash. The default setting is 50%, try a lower value with a soft edged brush for a fine effect.

The Burn Tool

The Burn tool darkens areas of the image.This means that the burn tool bring out the details in over showing image parts or highlights.Apply short strokes rather than scrubbing, this way you can apply an undo (Ctrl+Z). Here is a trick, darken the edges and corners of an image, this makes the central part stand out and it works on digital pictures too.

The Sponge Tool

The sponge tool exactly looks like a tiny sponge, and shares space with the dodge and burn tools. You can brush over an area to intensify the colours or reduce them with the Sponge tool.This tool lets you "paint" with saturation. This means that you can easily make the color of an image more or less intense by simply moving the sponge tool over the part of an image.

It does not matter whether you are trying to make a dim day more convincingly bright or adding depth to an image, you must always consider where the light is all coming from. Do follow the basic guidelines and you will be able to create images with real depth or substance. These tools are for creating authentic shadow and light.

Start using these powerful tools to make real or natural images and be a pro!


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