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Photo by Kishore Sawh.

Learn how to selectively brighten or darken parts of your photo, using two easy to create Layers. Be a part of Capture One. Be the first to know. In this comprehensive Capture One 21 review, I’m going to take you through everything you need to know about Capture One’s latest editing software. In fact, as a beta tester for the newest release, I’ve spent plenty of time working with Capture One 21 behind the scenes (and I have used Capture One as my main editing software going all the way back to version 12!).

In this post, photographer Kishore Sawh shows you how dodging and burning can improve your images, as well as how simple it is to accomplish in Capture One 20. He takes you through the process step by step in this helpful guide.

Kishore Sawh:

“A major benefit of using Capture One 20 [for dodging and burning] is that unlike Photoshop, it’s a raw processor, so with it, you’re working on a raw file. This means you’re working with the most information possible, whereas with Photoshop, you are working on a lossy file that degrades as you work it. In addition, Photoshop manipulation of those files tends to introduce strange Gamma adjustments…

“Capture One’s layer functionality is high, especially with 20, and the confluence of the layers, luminosity masking on those layers, and the flexibility of brushes makes Capture One a truly powerful platform for dodging and burning. It’s also nice that you have to do less round-tripping from raw processor to Photoshop, as you can do much more in Capture One.”

You can check out the complete article over at the Fstoppers.com website. Also be sure to view Phase One’s Dodge and Burn tutorial.

More Info

WHAT IS IT
A targeted adjustment to lighten (Dodge) or darken (Burn) parts of an image. The term Dodge and Burn comes from a darkroom technique used with film.
You can dodge both lights and darks, and burn both lights and darks in an image. Dodging and burning is about adding depth to your image by making targeted contrast and colour adjustments.
DODGE (LIGHTEN)
C1 tools that can lighten parts of an image include the:

1. Exposure slider (heavy handed, but not so if constrained by a Luma range or mask), The Brightness slider helps little, because it squashes the histogram and has less impact on highlights and shadows;
2. Highlights slider which impacts the top 25% of the highlight tones in the image and tapers off into the upper midtones;
3. White point slider which impacts the top 5% of highlight tones and does not taper into the upper midtones (percentages are rough estimates);
4. Lightness slider in HSL (C1’s Colour Balance tool);
5. Levels Tool; and
6. Curves Tool.

BURN (DARKEN)
C1 tools that can lighten parts of an image include:

1. Exposure slider (heavy handed, but not so if constrained by a Luma range or mask). The Brightness slider helps little, because it squashes the histogram and has less impact on highlights and shadows;
2. Shadows slider which impacts the bottom 25% of the shadow tones in the image and tapers off into the lower midtones;
3. Black point slider which impacts the bottom 5% of shadow tones and does not taper into the lower midtones (percentages are rough estimates);
4. Lightness slider in HSL (C1’s Colour Balance tool);
5. Levels Tool; and
6. Curves Tool.

WHAT NOT TO USE
I would not use the Brightness slider, the Highlights or Shadows sliders or the White Point of Black Point sliders to Dodge and Burn. These tools are better suited for global adjustments rather than targeted adjustments like Dodge and Burn. Plus, I would not run the risk of hurting my global adjustments to achieve a targeted adjustment. There are better tools to use. I would not use Levels either, as Curves are more powerful. The jury is out on the Lightness slider.
That leaves Exposure and Curves. Three suggested methods are set below.

METHOD 1 (BEGINNER)
Burn layer
New Empty Adjustment Layer called Burn
Move the Exposure slider down a third or half a stop (I have seen minus one stop used). No changes occur on the image as the mask is empty.
Set your brush Opacity at 100%, Flow at 5% or 10%. Draw in the mask in the areas you want to darken (Burn). Using such a low Flow allows you to subtly apply the adjustments. Use the Opacity slider on the layer to make further refinements.
Dodge layer
New Empty Adjustment Layer called Dodge
Move the Exposure slider to the right a third or half a stop (I have seen plus one stop used). No changes occur on the image as the mask is empty.
Set your brush Opacity at 100%, Flow at 5% or 10%. Draw in the mask in the areas you want to lighten (Dodge). Using such a low Flow allows you to subtly apply the adjustments. Use the Opacity slider on the layer to make further refinements.
Note: this method allows you to dodge lights and darks, and burn lights and darks.

METHOD 2 (ADVANCED)
Burn Layer
New Fill Adjustment Layer called Burn
Apply a Luma range to the fill layer to select the lighter areas you want to adjust. You cannot apply a Luma range to an empty layer, nothing happens. Use the Curves tool to make your changes. The power of Curves and Luminosity masks allows targeted adjustments. The Curves tool is only used to Burn on this layer.

Dodge Burn Capture One

Dodge layer
New Fill Adjustment Layer called Dodge

Dodge And Burn Capture One

Apply a Luma range to the fill layer to select the darker areas you want to adjust. You cannot apply a Luma range to an empty layer, nothing happens. Use the Curves tool to make your changes. The power of Curves and Luminosity masks allows targeted adjustments to the light areas. The Curves tool is only used to Dodge on this layer.
You could Dodge and Burn on single layer, but separating the layers allows more precision and makes the adjustments easier.
When making the Curves adjustment use the RGB channel to alter both colour and luminosity. Any changes in the Curves luminosity channel will only impact the luminosity values.
Note:

Dodge And Burn Capture One

this method only allows to dodge lights and burn darks.
METHOD 3 (INTERMEDIATE)
This method allows you to dodge or burn shadows, midtones and highlights (both colour and luminosity). It is based on a technique used by Kasia Zmokla. Shadows, midtones and highlights can all be affected because of the curve adjustment made.
Burn layer

Dodge And Burn Capture One 12

New Empty Adjustment Layer called Burn
Go to the Curves RGB tab, click on the mid-point and move the curve downwards. No changes occur on the image as the mask is empty.
Set your brush Opacity at 100%, Flow at 5% or 10%. Draw in the mask in the areas you want to darken (Burn) including shadows, midtones and highlights. Using such a low Flow allows you to subtly apply the adjustments. Use the Opacity slider on the layer to make further refinements.
Dodge layer

Dodge And Burn Capture One 21

Dodge And Burn In Capture One Pro 12

New Empty Adjustment Layer called Dodge
Go to the Curves RGB tab, click on the mid-point and move the curve upwards. No changes occur on the image as the mask is empty.
Set your brush Opacity at 100%, Flow at 5% or 10%. Draw in the mask in the areas you want to lighten (Dodge). Using such a low Flow allows you to subtly apply the adjustments. Use the Opacity slider on the layer to make further refinements.