Burning down the corners in Photoshop

[Ed Richards]

Kirk,

Why the history brush, rather than using a fill layer?

[Marko]

Why the history brush, rather than using a fill layer?

Ed, my guess is that Kirk is using history brush to conserve memory. Layers in general and adjustment layers in particular are great memory hogs, they can drain your resources in one big slurp and slow you down to a crawl. When you deal with large files, such as LF scans, it pays to plan your processing in advance.

Photoshop's greatest advantage is its flexibility. For any given task there are almost as many methods as there are practitioners, not to mention that they can all be easily combined.

I just gave Kirk's method a quick go and I like the way it feels. I'll keep it in my notes. Thanks, Kirk.

[robc]

Ed,

Sorry I forgot that I had edited my default vignette action. Here's the correct (and simpler version)

make a selection using the lasso tool around everything on the image that you DON'T want burned in. That may be rectangular but can be any shape or can be many different areas which require the same amount of burning. Precision drawing isn't critical because the feather to be applied will smooth out the selction.

Next invert the selection so everything you want burned in is selected.

Then feather the selction using 250 for large images(20x16).

Then create new layer from selection(layer/new/layer via copy).

Then set blending mode of new layer to multiply or overlay or soft light and adjust fill or opacity to taste.

N.B. the feather generates the gradient of the burn so if it's set to 250 it will gradient fill the innermost 250 pixels of the burn/blend.

As before you can do this on any part of the image for local burning or dodging and since it is always creating new layers all actions are reversible unless you merge them into the base layer.

[John Berry ( Roadkill )]

After going to a high resolution digital seminar put on by Jeff Schewe, history brush is my best friend.

[Kirk Gittings]

Marko, yes that is one of the advantages, keeping file size down. I try to keep the layers down to a couple. The greatest advantage though is the linear "believeable" nature of the burn/dodge, the versatility, and lack of grain clumping with burning that plagues some other techniques. I also find the gradient tool (which is invaluable sometimes) to give an obvious "look" to an image even when used sparingly.

I was initiated into the snapshot/history brush technique by my friends George DeWolf and Alan Labb. What I contributed to the technique was the use of the linear burn/dodge mode which has a look to it that is alot like traditional multiple filter b&ding in variable contrast printing. As an old analogue guy, this technique makes alot of sense to my pre-digital brain.

[robc]

yep layers take up more space but when used as intermediary layers they have certain benefits.
e.g. in the example I gave you could apply curves, contrast or levels adjustments to the vignetted layer as well as any of the blending options including linear burn.
If you merge down before saving they don't take any more disk space.
Also having merged the layer down it is quite easy to generate another one at a later date and by applying the changes in reverse you can get back(almost) to where you were before assuming you haven't done any clipping on route.

I find that whilst working on an image its nice to save it with all the work layers and come back and look at it 24 hours later to get a "fresh view" at which point I may adjust any of the working layers. Only when I'm really happy with an image will I merge down all the layers. If the image isn't too big I may retain them.

incidentally just about any PS technique you can think off has deen done before. The graphic designers community has been doing this stuff since well before "digital photography" caught on as a mass market passtime. Afterall, those smart people at adobe thought to provide all the tools necessary to allow the thechniques to be performed.

[Frank Petronio]

One really old school tip is to convert selections into paths, saving an extra layer or channel. Sure, you still have to redo a few steps to get a nice feathered selection, but paths take up very little memory.

For that matter, you can draw paths on your low res versions and paste them into your giant 500mb scans latter, saving some time and horsepower.

[paulr]

the way to conserve memory when working with a burn/dodge layer (the way Marko and i described) is to do all your work on a low-res version of the file ... like 1/4 scale. this file will be 1/16 the size of the hi res original, so you can go crazy with channels, curve layers, etc. without any slowdown. when everything looks great, you can transfer the adjustment layers and the burn/dodge layer to your hi res file. the burn/dodge layer just needs to be scaled to fit.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

Ed, I once figured out how to do numerous drags without each one replacing the previous. I think you set the mode to 'multiply', or maybe hold the shift key down. I can't remember now, but it is handy.

So many good ideas here, I want to try some of these. I do use soft brushes all the time to dodge and burn, and to mask areas to work in levels, but for the the corners, as originally asked, I use the gradient mask.

[Kirk Gittings]

I have an PS action for gradient edge burning. I have never used it. I think it came from George DeWolf. Send me an email request and I will send it back to you.