Lighten or darken an area in a photo (dodge or burn)

How To Tip:

Lighten or darken an area in a photo using the Dodge or the Burn tool.

1. In the Layers palette, select the layer containing the image you want to change.

To protect other areas of the image from change, you can create a selection marquee around the area you want to lighten or darken. The Dodge and Burn tools will affect only the area within the selection marquee. To soften the edge of the selection so the changes you apply blend in more naturally with the unselected areas, use the Feather command (Select > Feather).

2. To lighten an area and bring out the highlights, select the Dodge tool in the toolbox. To darken an area, select the Burn tool in the toolbox.
3. In the options bar at the top of the work area, open the Brush pop-up palette by clicking the arrow next to the current brush. Choose a soft-edged brush preset from the palette. Make sure the brush diameter is smaller than the area you want to change.
4. Set Range in the options bar to control the focus of the tool: Midtones to change the middle range of grays (the standard choice), Shadows to change the dark areas, and Highlights to change the light areas.
5. Set Exposure to around 50%.
6. Drag over the area you want to change.

Related topics in Photoshop Help:

• Using the Dodge tool and the Burn tool (Photoshop)
• Softening the edges of a selection