I talk about dodging and burning a lot on EverydayHDR, as a matter of fact, I have done 3 separate video tutorials, one written tutorial, and I even threw in a segment about it in my eBook. It is an extremely important step in the HDR process as you tend to lose a lot of important shadow information during tone mapping if you are not careful.
Unfortunately, it is very easy to forget to do in the heat of post processing. I wrote DODGE…&…BURN on 3 separate sticky notes above my monitor to constantly remind myself to do it at the end of every photo.
This weeks tutorial focuses around Dodging and Burning on a grayscale copy of your color image. Hear me out!
I had a professor in college who told me to photograph my prints (woodcut, etching, silkscreen prints) and make them grayscale in Photoshop. She then proceeded to tell me something along the lines of, “If your print does not have a strong ratio of black and white with a smooth gradation of gray in between, you need to do some more work.”
I still remember that advice and have incorporated it into my Dodging and Burning workflow.
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
Hi Blake. I am new here, I have been watching at your work and of course to your tutorials and I want to thank you for sharing your knowledge and congratulations for your excellent work and the explanations in your tutorials very clear and helpful. Your friend José.
Very informative. Thank you.
Not a problem! I am glad you liked it and I appreciate the feedback!
Thank you for this tutorial. You have opened my eyes to something I have never understood before. Working in Elements 10 I understand the my editing will be somewhat limited, but there is always a ‘workaround’ somewhere.