[simpbow]

Hi guys can anyone help with the brush settings for doding & burning in photoshop, i always seem to do to little or to much & ends up looking c--p. I,m stuck on the hardness,spacing,angle & roundness settings to set with brush.

[Charlotte]

I don't change those brush settings, I just adjust the opacity + flow (on the context toolbar). I use PhotoPlus, so may be different for your software. Be interested to see others' advice tho', so I can get to grips with more in-depth brush settings too

[Dabhand16]

Generally, it is recommeded that you should only use 3-4% exposure, and make many 'passes' to 'build up' the effect. With PS (and PSP, I think) you can also go back using the history pallette if you make a dogs breakfast of it, but I tend to use seperate layers so I can discard if necessary.

Brush size will depend on what you are doing. In PS (and PSP, I think) you can set the parameters to highlights, mid-tones and shadows, so, for instance, to dodge the clouds in the sky you can use a very large brush set to highlights, and just sweep across everything (depending on the other elements in your image).

The hardness is similar to cloning. If you want to 'bring out' a building, you would be better with a harder brush, but trees or the sky might be better done with a softer one.

I'm no way an expert in this area, as you might have noticed from my pictures, but I think this is a good starting point.

[simpbow]

Thanks charlotte i do the same myself, i have photoshop 6 but i have noticed when dodge & burning that it leaves faint round lines in the image that you have done i thought that maybe adjusting the hardness ect might help [ i dont know].

[simpbow]

Cheers Dabhand thanks for advice, dont be to sore on youself youve got a lot of good images to show.

[Dabhand16]

Thanks, Simpbow. When you say you get faint lines in the image, is this on plain areas, like the sky, or everywhere?

If it is the edge of the brush, try a larger one and/or reducing the exposure. Just softening the brush may not eliminate the problem, although in conjunction with brush size and exposure, there will be some effect. Perhaps it is where the brush strokes overlap you have the problem. I try to use the biggest brushes I can get away with.

[Boofers]

Hi simpbow,
I use soft brushes ,,"hardness all the way to soft", I also click on the airbrush button to the right so the flow works,,,,I use a pen with pen pressure and that makes it softer too, but,,,the settings I always fall back on or 3% opacity and 35% flow,,,then just build it up so it blends and looks somewhat effective. Markulous is really good with these tools,,sence I have been here, I use them more because of some of his effects,,

about your lines, your brush is to hard and the flow is to high, and or opacity, work to soften your edges...

[Markulous]

Well, I've just read the above and I'm thinking I've missed out somewhere!

The only things I alter are:
hardness (but 99% time it's at 0)
exposure (usually 5-10%)
Diameter (set to size of area, so may be huge at times!)
and, most important of all:
Shadows/Midtones/Highlights (depending on what result I'm trying to achieve)

[Dave]

Well I'll go against the grain here Why I'm against Dodge & Burning

[Boofers]

That's good Dave, do you use? the new layer 50% grey in one of the overlay, softlight hardlight modes,,,painting with black or white,,the grey layer in this mode blocks out the midtones,,,seems to work pretty good,,but you have to say, that the burn ans dodge tools are real easy right there in the tool box. I remember having to use the dodge tool once simply because I couldn't make it lighter..

[Dave]

Must admit Boofers I've seen many articles on using 50% grey in different situations & have always meant to give it a try ....but never have Must try harder

[Boofers]

Soory Mark,
Once again I was dreaming as I was writing,,I described the brush tool settings, not the burn tool settings,,,to much masking mixed me up somehow though they relate to softness