The Dodge Burn and Sponge Tools
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The Dodge and Burn Tools (shortcut
O) perform a similar function to their darkroom namesake and are
ideal for localized tonal control. Also under this menu you will find the
Sponge Tool which can be used to alter the saturation of local
areas in your image. |
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Photoshop 6 will display the Options for the Dodge and Burn Tools under the menu bar when the tool is selected - if you are using Photoshop 5 double click on the the icon in the tool box to call up the options palette. Photoshop sets the Exposure default for these tool at 50% . You will need to reduce this figure to around 10% or less because much like the darkroom technique you need to be very subtle with these tools and build up the effects. You can also choose which tonal areas you want to work on by selecting Shadows Midtones or Highlights from the drop down menu together with the Brush size. |
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The Dodge Tool lets you lighten an area of your
image by dragging across it. Select the brush size and the Range
you wish Photoshop to apply to from the drop down menus.
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The Burn Tool lets you darken an area of an
image, and works in the same ways as the dodge tool as shown
above. |
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The Sponge Tool can either be used to
Desaturate, which remove saturation and contrast from an
image(see above), or you can choose to boost the saturation
Saturate and add contrasts (see below). These options can be found
in the Mode drop down menu. Start with the Pressure set at
around 10% and slowly build up the effect. |
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With all these tools a subtle approach will give the best results and as with many of the tools of Photoshop 6 you may find you get better results with the image greatly enlarged.
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