How to Dodge and Burn in Artrage

[Juz]

This tutorial is by NO MEANS intended as a comparison or suggested as a substitute for a virtual darkroom application such as Photoshop. Rather, the intention of this tutorial is simply to demonstrate how dodge and burn techniques can be accessed and utilised within ARTRAGE for the following reasons:-

• Not everyone using Artrage has a copy of Photoshop
• For a quick dodge or burn it can be handy not to have to open up another application
• Having to constantly flip work between two applications can be disruptive
• The undo system of Artrage can be preferable to the history palette within Photoshop, when screen real estate is an issue (laptop's, tabletPC's)
• Artrage will dodge and burn in certain situations that Photoshop will not e.g. Artrage will dodge a black background area (0,0,0) if white (255,255,255) is set as the brush colour, Photoshop will not

Background
The terms Dodge and Burn stem from darkroom techniques used in Photography to manipulate the exposure of certain areas of a negative to improve contrast. Dodging would decrease exposure to result in a lighter area and Burning would increase exposure to result in a darker area.

Many digital programs have tools that can mimic this process.

In a program such as Photoshop or Gimp one would choose the dedicated Dodge/Burn tool and then choose a brush head type (usually an airbrush).

In Artrage we do this in reverse by choosing the tool (brush head) first and then choosing the colour dodge/colour burn blend mode for that tool.

Artrage Dodge and Burn Tools
There are 3 tools in Artrage that support the colour dodge/colour burn blend modes:-

[Juz]

Because dodge and burn come from photography, let's look at them in effect on a photo first.

Here is an example of a photo that is really lacking in contrast. Every part of this image effectively needs to be dodged and burned.




Note: in the 'After' image there's still not much differentiation in the foreground walls (circled).

Dodge and burn can be used on an airbrush to improve the contrast on specific areas.


Before doing this it's important to note a few things

• Dodge/burn are effects that apply very quickly so its best to turn down the opacity of your tool in the settings dialog, with the airbrush it also helps to turn down the pressure. This will help you to build up the dodge/burn gradually
• Each time you lift the stylus you are applying a new dodge/burn to whatever is on the canvas. Therefore a large flat area needs to be done in a single pass (without lifting the stylus).
• Use multiple strokes where you want to increase lightness/darkness with each successive stroke.
• Small dodge/burn touch ups can be applied directly to the image.
• Images that require a lot of dodge/burn application to different areas can benefit from a non destructive dodge/burn layer.

[Juz]

How to set up a non-destructive layer for Dodge/Burn.

Create a new empty layer above the layer that needs dodge/burn.
Select the 'Precise Colour Picker' set the Luminance Value = 50%, Saturation=0%. This will give you an exact 50% grey (it does not matter what value the Hue is set at).
Alternatively you can just plug in R=128, G=128, B=128 for a 50% grey.





As you work your Grey layer will become a dodge/burn map. Switch the layer blend mode back to 'Normal' on this layer to correct errors, perfect edges etc.



NOTE: You can use the eyedropper to select the dodge/burn greyscale values on this layer and then work with tools that don't support dodge and burn such as paint and blend tools.

Any value lighter than the 50% grey is a dodge, and values darker than the 50% grey are burn. Use the mid grey of 50% to correct edges or return to the default (i.e. no dodge/burn). Return the blend mode to 'Soft Light' when you are happy with your changes.

I'm not going to take this through to finished but will compare the changes applied thus far by the above 'Soft Light' Dodge/Burn non-destructive layer to the original version so that you can see the difference.



Obviously a lot more work would have to be done to rescue an image that was this bad to begin with, but you can really notice how the dodge/burn has brought out the three dimensionality of the foreground walls toward the center of the image. The highlights and shadows on the entrance side of the building also pop a lot more.

NOTE:
If you would like to explore the above method you can download the sample image used here:
http://www.silicongraffiti.com/DodgeBurn_Sample.zip

[Juz]

Beyond Photos

Because a digital photo is simply pixels, dodge and burn can be used in the same way to enhance contrast (highlights and shadows) in any digital imagery.

Here's a few ideas done directly on the image pixels without the use of a non-destructive layer :

In this example dodge/burn with a soft edged airbrush, low pressure, low opacity was used to transform

Shadow was done using Colour Burn on a separate layer underneath

[Juz]

METALS

Dodge/burn metals with Ink Pen and Airbrush.


CRAZY

(For my Rabbit Hole Design and Abstract Loving Friends)



Forms dodged out of black background with white paint on low opacity Ink Pen set to colour dodge blend mode. Colour was then burnt in using either airbrush or Ink pen set to Colour Burn blend mode.

Glooping and dodging and burning

[Saphire]

Brilliant tutorial.Thank you, I will have to see whether this can be done on the iPad.

[sueellen]

Thank you!

The more I learn about ArtRage, the more I find I can adjust my photos in ArtRage alone. And you write splendid tutorials.

[mannafig]

OOH I like this I will have to try it out soon

[hanzz]

That is so great and so well explained!
I hope the Ragers put this one on their front page !

Insanely cool !!

[Saphire]

It does work on the IPad, Brilliant.
I have been playing with the dodge and burn tools on a portrait, it's much easier that trying to pick various shades of the same color.