Painting with Light

Learn how to create this effect

Painting with light (PWL) also referred to as Dodge and Burn (D&B) is a technique that can be used to add that extra punch and impact to a flat looking image.

PWL allows us to deepen shadows and brighten highlights, achieving that "pop" all without changing the original image. As with most photoshop techniques there are many ways to achieve the same results however for this tutorial we will be using two curves adjustment layers.

Original flat looking image

Step 1 - Open your image and create your first curves adjustment layer similar to the one below. This will brighten your image. Rename this layer to "highlights". Now click on the adjustment layer mask and invert the mask so it turns black. You can do this by pressing shift+i.

Note: By filling a layer/adjustment mask with black the effects of the adjustment are no longer visible, this will allow us to selectively paint in the changes later.

Step 2 - Create a second curves adjustment layer but this time drag the curve line down increasing the shadows and midtones. Rename this layer to "shadows". Once again invert the adjustment layer mask.

You should now have two adjustment layers above your original image (shadows & highlights) which we will work on using the Brush tool (b).

Step 3 - Select the brush tool with a hardness of 0% and white as the foreground colour. Now select your "highlight" curves adjustment layer mask and begin painting in areas of highlights.

Note: You will probably find the results are too strong so adjust the opacity of the brush to around 5-10% and gradually build up the highlights. Use the original highlights in the image as a guide where to paint however you may wish to add your own artificial areas of light but don't overdo it. The size of your brush will vary according to your image.

Step 4 - Select your "shadows" curves adjustment layer mask and begin painting in areas of shadow. Once again vary the opacity and brush size to suit.

Slowly build up highlights and shadows switching between the two adjustment layers as required. As we are working on layer masks we can remove any unwanted areas by simply switching back to black. Using the shortcut "x" allows you to do this quickly, whilst the your keyboard numbers 1-0 allow you to change the opacity of a brush in increments of ten and the [ ] keys allow you to change the brush size.

Once you are happy with your results you can flatten your image.

Additional steps performed

• "S" shape curve to boost contrast even more
• Hue/sat layer with colorize ticked to add some colour to the mono image
• Sharpening
• Add noise

Another example of PWL using curves adjustment layers. Here I also created some selective colour and colour balance layers and painted on the masks as in step 3 & 4.

Before

After

(Original photograph taken by U.S. Army Cpl. Bertha Flores) (Released)

Enjoy!!