Burning and Dodging

PHOTO [light] GRAPHY [to write]

Burn

• increase the exposure in a particular area of the print by blocking everything else in the print from image light and giving additional printing time to that area. Burning will darken the area when printing from a negative. Also called burn in or print in.

Dodge

• to reduce exposure in a particular area of a print by blocking image light from that area during part of the exposure. When printing from a negative, dodging will lighten the area. It is also called hold back.

Why Burn and Dodge?

1. Range - often one overall exposure cannot reconcile in both shadow and highlight areas. Burning and dodging are employed to create a larger ranger of tones in the print.
2. Mood - use to create drama
3. Balance

Vignetting

• making more exposure on the edges of a print to make the edges darker and to make focus of the image inwards

TIPS

1. To avoid obvious wire marks leading up to the precisely dodges areas, bend wire away from the paper.
2. To make a softer edged or sharped hand held mask, raise the image with books.
3. Print with conviction.