James wrote and asked:

“Can you tell me how to get better at dodge and burn. I try and try, but I overdo the blacks and whites and get an image that’s too contrasty. Any tips you can give me would be great.”

This is a very common question and issue,  and one that can easily be addressed.

First a little background, for those who don’t follow my workflow, it’s a very simple one.  I primarily adjust brightness and contrast and then dodge and burn the image in a fairly detailed and intricate manner.  To successfully dodge and burn you must own a pen and tablet, a small 4X6 Bamboo tablet can be purchased for about $100 and a larger one is very nice if you can afford it.  I like Wacom tablets.

When you dodge and burn there are four basic controls you want to be aware of; Diameter, Exposure, Hardness and Range.

The “diameter” of the brush is simply how large the brush is and choosing a brush size is generally obvious; big brushes for big areas and little brushes for little areas.  The larger the brush is, the easier it is to blend in your work and make it look natural.  So for big areas such as skies, use a very large brush.  Obviously for bringing out the highlights on tree branches you want a brush about the size of what you’re dodging.

The “exposure” or strength of the brush is perhaps the most critical setting and the easiest to abuse.  I generally use an exposure of 4% and work the dodge/burn very slowly, building up the areas with many passes of the pen.  I often see people going at it with 50% and this where things get overdone and artificial looking.  Think of dodging/burning as painting the image, you must work slowly and carefully.

The hardness is how hard of a edge you want on the brush.  I generally work with a 0% brush for areas such as skies.  When you are working in very small areas with very sharp detail, you might choose a small and hard brush, so that you can confine the dodge/burn to a very tight area.

The “range” of the dodge/burn refers to the range of values you’re affecting, either the highlights, midtones or shadows.  This is the hardest technique to describe (it’s much easier seeing it being done).  If you set your dodge to highlights, then your brush is brightening the highlights and ignoring the midtones and shadows.  While this three setting separation works pretty good, you have to be careful because the highlight dodge will tend to bleed over to the lighter midtone areas as well.  So you might choose to use a smaller brush and confine your dodging to just the highlights that you want to brighten.  Likewise with the burn tool, if you set it to shadows you can generally darken just the shadows, but again be careful not to affect those darker midtones.

In general, I’ll dodge my midtones to bring out detail in shadow areas and my highlights to increase contrast and make my images pop.  I’ll generally burn my midtones and shadows to darken down my images.  I rarely will dodge shadows or burn highlights.

An example: The image above was created recently at Stonehenge; I wanted to darken the blue sky, increase the contrast in the clouds, darken the foreground and stones and bring out the highlights in the stones.

I started with the sky, if I had tried to darken the sky with a big brush, I’d have also darkened parts of the stones I didn’t want to.  If I had tried darkening the sky with a smaller brush, I’d have done a blotchy job of it and I’d have created halos where the stone and sky met.  So instead, I masked out the sky so that I could process it separately without affecting the stones, and then I reversed the mask so that I could process the stones without affecting the sky.  I’ll address my masking techniques in another article.

First I took a midsized midtone brush and burnt the blue sky and some of the darker parts of the clouds.  Then I used a medium sized midtone brush to dodge the highlights in the clouds and then did the same with a midsized highlight brush.  Going back and fort between dodging and burning, and working slowly, I created a dark sky and contrasty clouds.

All along this process I keep careful eye on my histogram.  Your eye doesn’t always accurately tell you if your blacks are dark enough or when your whites get blown out, so the histogram is my constant companion.

Then I reversed the mask so that I could work the foreground and not affect the sky.  I burned the grass almost to black with a large brush set to shadows.  Then I burn the stones down, first with the midtones and then the shadows and finally I brought up the highlights on the stones with a stronger dodge.

The result is my preferred dark image, with strong contrasts. lots of  100% blacks and 100% whites.

So summarizing; get a tablet, set your exposure to 4% and work slowly, alternating between the dodge and burn.  When necessary, mask and work each part separately.  Paint and caress your image like a painter would a canvas!

I know this is a quick overview, but a lot of what you need to learn will come from doing, not reading.  So get out and do!

Cole

At 14 years of age, I knew that I was destined to be a fine art photographer.

Even at this early age I found myself drawn to a particular style of image, one that would literally cause a physical reaction in me. They were dark images created by Adams, Weston, Bullock and others. At age 14 I knew that I was destined to create such images.

An important early influence in my life and my art was the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

for my unconquerable soul.

~

In the fell clutch of Circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of Chance,

my head is bloody, but unbowed.

~

Beyond this place of wrath and tears,

looms but the Horror of the shade,

and yet the menace of the years,

finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

~

It matters not how strait the gate,

how charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

~

For me, this poem evokes dark images which form the inspiration for my photographs. Darkness in my images represents the trials of our human existence while the light represents the strength that comes from the realization that we are the captains of our souls.

Ahhhhrrrrrrgggggg!  I’m in an artistic slump!  What do YOU do when this happens?

I get asked this question quite often, in fact weekly.  While I don’t have “the” solution, I have “my solution” and perhaps the concept will work for you too?

The first thing I do, even though it’s hard, is to not panic.  Panic and dwelling upon the problem just makes it worse.  So relax and accept these two facts; slumps are normal and they will pass.

But I do find that there are certain things that can help the slump pass faster:

First, find something that inspires you artistically; for me it’s reading the Edward Weston Day Books and listening to the Beatles.  Reading about Weston’s creative journey really excites me, almost immediately, and makes me want to get out and start shooting again.  This man has always been my photographic idol and a true bohemian artist.

Listening to the Beatles inspires me in different way.  Some musical groups have success with a certain sound and then they stick with that sound forever and ever, either because they are not creative enough to evolve or because they are afraid to change the sound that made them famous.  Not so with the Beatles, they thrived when exploring new sounds and changing their style.  That inspires me to do the same.

The next thing I do, and it’s a hard one, is to keep shooting with no expectation of doing good work.  Just go out like you used to when you first discovered photography, shoot to have fun.  Accept that you’ll bring home absolutely nothing of value and just enjoy the journey.

Now this last point I raise at the risk of fanning the flames of protest that I kindled a few weeks ago.  During this time of wandering in a barren desert of creativity, I find that I can get a bit down on myself and question whether or not I’m any good, if I’ve ever done anything good, and if I ever will do anything good in the future.  At these low points I find that looking at other photographer’s work is very depressing!  I see how many great photographers there are out there and I just want to give up.  So for me (please note this qualifier) I do not look at other photographers’ work when I’m down

Really, everyone goes through these periods and I promise they will pass.  Just relax and enjoy the journey.

Cole

Are you a photographic grazer?  You know, someone who shoots here a little and there a little, and has an album of “greatest hit” images but doesn’t have a cohesive group of images?

I understand, I used to be a “grazer” too.  I hated focusing on one subject and enjoyed looking around for something that would catch my attention. The image above, “Skeleton,” was created during my grazing period.  It’s a nice image (one of my favorites) but it has no companion pieces and it’s not a part of a collection.  It’s a stand alone image.

I grazed for several years until something happened.

I proudly assembled my “greatest hits” and sent them off to Lenswork.  While polite, Brooks Jensen’s response was basically: “Hey!  Didn’t you read the submissions guidelines?  Pick ONE image and send me 15-25 on that subject.”

Ouch.

That kick in the butt was what I needed, and I think I was ready.  I then picked “Grain Silos” to focus on, and worked on that project for several months.  Instead of getting bored like I thought I would, I became obsessed and really enjoyed myself.  This resulted in my first “portfolio” that I purposely set out to create.

I enjoyed that process so much that I went on to create other portfolios:

• Ceiling Lamps
• The Ghosts of Auschwitz and Birkenau
• Ukrainians, With Eyes Shut
• Linnie: A Portrait of Breast Cancer
• The Oregon Coast
• The Lone Man (in progress)
• Harbinger (in progress)

I’m currently starting a new project that I’m very excited about entitled “Surprise!” (don’t ask me what it’s about, I won’t tell!)

Now for those of you who also resist picking a subject and focusing on it, again I do understand.  It may be that you’re not ready yet, I think you have to satisfy that “grazing” desire by indulging in it for a while.

But it might be that you are ready, but haven’t found the right subject that really excites you.  I believe you must be completely passionate about a subject before you can have have fun with it and do a great job.  If you don’t feel that way, I’d suggest you choose another subject.

It’s very satisfying to create a “cohesive body of work,” it’s also addicting!

Cole

Dear Abby;

I’d like to get into digital photography, but I’m afraid.

Afraid because there seems to be so much to learn about Photoshop!  Profiles, curves, masks, adjustment layers, RIP’s, and etc.  I’ve been reading the manual for 4 hours a day for a month now and I still feel like I know very little.

Please help!  Signed “Reluctant in Rochester.”

~

Dear Reluctant;

I feel your pain!  Technology can be overwhelming and the size of the manuals today, Oy Vay!

But there’s good news, you don’t have to read the manual before you start using Photoshop and you certainly do not need to use all of it’s features to produce wonderful images.

My close friend and FANTASTIC photographer Cole Thompson (smile) says that he generally only uses the contrast tool, and dodging and burning.  He uses the same techniques in Photoshop that he used in the darkroom, it’s a very simple and effective approach.

In fact, a few years back Popular Photography did an article on him entitled The Photoshop Heretic.  They said of him:  “Cole Thompson breaks every rule in the book, but he makes digital black-and-white prints that will take your breath away.  Just don’t try this a at home.”  (I think they were just kidding about not trying this at home though)

An approach Cole favors is to just jump in and try something, and once you get stuck, then look up the answer.  He says that he only uses about 2% of Photoshop’s features anyway, so don’t be intimidated by all of them!

Go ahead, give it a try, it’s not as complicated as you think!

Signed, Abby Thompson

~

Click Here to Read the Photoshop Heretic

A friend recently wrote me and said that I had come a long way, and asked “What in retrospect could you share with me about your journey?”

My answer was:

1.  I stopped thinking like a photographer and started thinking like an artist.

2.  I quit looking at other photographer’s work; it lead to imitation and limited my imagination.

3.  I stopped listening to other’s advice on my work; it was sincere advice but it came from the perspective of their vision, not mine.

4.  I strove and am striving, to find my own style.

I am certain there will be those who disagree with these points,  but remember I do not offer them as advice, but only share what worked for me.

Cole

Well folks, it looks like this blog has evaporated into cyberspace.  Sorry about that!