HOW TO CREATE A DODGE AND BURN LAYER

Dodging and burning are terms that have carried over from the chemical darkroom.
During enlargement, one could add light to a section of a print, thus making it darker
(burning) or one could withhold light (dodging).

Photoshop comes with tools for burning and dodging, but the method described below
allows you to create a burn / dodge adjustment layer that you can easily undo.

1. MAKE A NEW LAYER
From top tool bar, select Layer, then New. In the dialogue box, go to the Mode
dropdown menu and Overlay. Just below that, check the box that says Fill with
Overlay-neutral color select (50% gray). Click OK.

2. SET FOREGROUND / BACKGROUND TO BLACK / WHITE
The foreground / background chips are the overlapping squares in the lower left-hand
corner. Be sure that they are set to black and white.

3. SELECT THE CORRECT LAYER
In the Layers palette (lower right-hand corner), make sure you have your new Burn /
Dodge layer selected. If selected, it will be highlighted.

4. USE BRUSH TO PAINT
Select the Brush tool (in the long, narrow toolbar to the left). To dodge, paint with
white as your foreground color, with Opacity set to 5 -15%. To burn, paint with black as
your foreground color. Remember to keep opacity low.