Using Dodging and Burning in Lightroom to Transform Outdoor Photographs

You’ve heard about the technique of dodging and burning, and you’d like to use it to improve your images. In the digital world, the ideal technique is dodging and burning in Lightroom. In this premium video, How to Transform your Outdoor Photographs Using Dodging and Burning in Lightroom, professional photographer Mark Denney takes you into his studio for a tutorial on dodging and burning in Lightroom.

What is dodging and burning? Dodging involves brightening selected areas of your image and draws the viewer’s attention into those areas. Burning draws attention away from certain distracting areas by darkening them. Mark shows you the benefits of dodging and burning in Lightroom. This technique can also create 3 dimensional depth and structure to your image. To achieve the best results, you will learn how to use Lightroom’s radial filter.

Through dodging and burning in Lightroom, you first choose the area of your image where you’d like to draw attention. Using the radial filter, you select the exposure slider, draw a radial filter around that area, and feather the edges. You then increase the exposure until you are satisfied. Next, you repeat this technique to the other areas. With the temperature slider, you can increase the warmth of the selected areas.

Mark now takes you through the process of burning. You will see some areas that might be distracting and you will want to darken them. Again, the best tool is the radial brush. First you select new, then draw the radial filter around that distracting area, lower the exposure, and repeat this action to the other areas you want to darken.

Join Outdoor Photography Guide’s professional photographer Mark Denney, for practical ideas on how to use dodging and burning. Through this technique, you will see significant improvement in the quality of your images.