Dodge and Burn USA - Photography Terms & Glossary

Glossary Of Photography Terms [1]

Dodge and Burn Dodge and burn is a traditional photographic technique used in darkroom printing and digital image editing to selectively lighten (dodge) or darken (burn) specific areas of an image to enhance contrast, adjust tonal values, and improve overall visual impact. In darkroom printing, dodge and burn techniques involve selectively exposing areas of a photographic print to light during the printing process using hand-held masks or tools to control the amount of light reaching the paper.
In digital image editing, dodge and burn techniques are applied using software tools such as Adobe Photoshop, where photographers use brushes or adjustment layers to selectively lighten or darken areas of an image to achieve desired tonal and contrast adjustments. Dodge and burn techniques are widely used in portrait retouching, landscape photography, and artistic image manipulation to enhance texture, detail, and dimensionality in photographs.