Lightroom - Dodge & Burn

Dodging & Burning is a technique used to respectively Lighten or Darken areas of an image. It is an effect that has been used all the way back to the days of conventional film processing. Typically, you just set the exposure up by a quarter of a stop to lighten, or down by a quarter of a stop to darken.  Lightroom Classic also contains a dedicated custom setting to set these effects for you.

Step 1 - From the Adjustment Brush Menu select the 'Custom' pull-down menu near the top of the panel.

Step 2 - Select either Dodge to lighten your image or Burn to darken your image.

Step 3 - Select either the A or B Brush and set the brush size and flow rate you want to paint with.

Step 4 - Paint the areas of your image that you want to lighten or darken then select Done.

TOP TIPS:  If you want to dodge and burn, you need to apply the effects separately. In which case, after you have selected Done for one effect, go back to Step 1, but make sure the Mask mode is set to 'New' at the top of the Adjustment Brush panel.

If you want to see where you have painted select the 'Show Selected Mask Overlay' option near the bottom-left of the Loupe View window.