Arngask Trees - Rediscovering the fun of dodge & burn

[Donald]

As regulars on here will be aware, I'm a champion of Nik's Silver Efex Pro 2. I think it's a brilliant tool. However, there are times when even it can't meet some demands and you have to turn to the 'traditional' skills (God, digital photography is only a few years old!!) of dodge & burn.

Now, those of you who used to spend your hours and days in darkrooms know all about the adventure and excitement of dodging and burning under the enlarger. Well, maybe it's not the same thing in the 'digital darkroom', but once you get focused in on it, the time passes just as quickly.

Silver Efex Pro 2 did 90% of this one in a few minutes. The other 10% was me D & B'ing on the sky with the GIMP for about an hour. And, y'know, it was great fun. Totally absorbing.

My method for D & B with the GIMP is to add a transparent layer. Make the mode 'Overlay' and then get to work with a white (dodge) and black (burn) brush set at 2% opacity. At that opacity, changes are pretty subtle. But paint over it a few times and you get to where you want to be (the effect is cumulative), or you can just 'undo' to reverse your actions.

Anyway, I like it and I had fun making it. What do you think?


40D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 42mm. ISO800. 1/8s@f4

[Shadowman]

I like it. If you hadn't mentioned what technique you used, I wouldn't fixate on where you actually used it or how you achieved the final results. As you said, your method was so subtle so I won't zoom in to see if I can spot it.

Nice image.

[Mike Buckley]

I also like it but I'm not enamored with it as I am with so many of your images.

Do I correctly understand from your post that you could not have used Nik Silver Efex to dodge and burn? The reason I ask is that dodging and burning is such a basic concept that I would be shocked to learn that software such as Silver Efex that is so highly regarded would not provide the capability to dodge and burn.

[pnodrog]

As usual a good tonal range. Not sure about the amount of sky - maybe a square crop?

So I assume you are an artful dodger rather than becoming a dodgy barstool (or a similar word).

[Donald]

As always, thanks for the comments.

Do I correctly understand from your post that you could not have used Nik Silver Efex to dodge and burn? The reason I ask is that dodging and burning is such a basic concept that I would be shocked to learn that software such as Silver Efex that is so highly regarded would not provide the capability to dodge and burn.

SEP2 doesn't have a facility for dodge & burn per se, i.e. as we tend to understand that term. It does, via the use of the Control Point, have the facility to make lots of subtle changes to tonal variation (Amplify Whites, Amplify Blacks, etc) and for 99%+ of what I want to do, it delivers.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Donald. I'm curious about this because one of my goals for the year is to learn whether SEP2 is a good fit for me. So, I'll reword my thinking: Is it that you could have accomplished the same results using SEP2 but not using the same process and that it is the process that is at least just as important to you as the results? If so, I completely understand because process is really important to me as part of my hobby.

[Donald]

. So, I'll reword my thinking: Is it that you could have accomplished the same results using SEP2 but not using the same process and that it is the process that is at least just as important to you as the results?

I don't think I could have achieved precisely what I did achieve. But, again, I'd emphasise that that was because, with this particular sky, I felt that what I did do would give me something better. In every other situation, SEP2 is more than capable of doing what I want.

The confirmation of that comes from the title of this thread; i.e. I haven't done any dodging and burning in this way since I first started to use SEP and its successor SEP2.

So, please do not decide against the idea of SEP2 on the basis of my having gone back to a 'more traditional' approach to dodging & burning for this image.

[mknittle]

I too am considering SEP2. I think from the information Donald provided It sounds like something I could put to good use. And I do have a birthday coming up in a couple months