When you are familiar with the printing process there will come a time when you will want to have more control over the result. This is where burning-in and dodging comes to assist you. This method can be used with both the wet printing process as well as dry i.e. your photo editing program. However, this article focuses on the wet process.
Parts of your print can be made darker by burning-in or kept from darkening by dodging. This method is as old as photography itself and every photographer should be using it regardless of the printing system used.
1. Burning-in
Burning-in refers to giving a selected area of a print more exposure than the overall exposure. This is generally performed after the overall exposure is made. This method requires an opaque mask with a hole through which the enlarger light may pass. The opaque material is up to you, but cardboard is mainly used as it is easy to cut to the required shape and size. Commonly a disc shape is used but it really doesn't matter, choose what is ideal for you. Another method used for burning-in is to simply cup your hands, shaped to cast a protective shadow over the rest of the print while image light passes through your cupped hands. An advantage to using your hands is that the burn hole is infinitely flexible in size. You burn in selected areas for a pre-determined amount of time.
2. Dodging
Dodging the print describes holding back light from selections in the image for a portion of the overall print exposure. Your own hand is an extremely flexible tool, capable of assuming very intricate shapes. A dodging tool may also be cut from cardboard and can vary in shape and size; be as small as a 5c coin or as large as the print itself. Dodging tools are often made of circular or oval pieces of material taped or glued to handles of stiff wire. The handles should be long enough to easily reach the middle of the image; otherwise the shadow of your hand will appear at the edge of your print.
With both dodging and burning-in, a constant motion is applied so as to bleed the differing exposures so the method is not obvious in the final result. If this is not done, hard edges will become obvious between the differently exposed areas. This is an instant give away to sloppy dodging or burning.
Dodging and burning can achieve delicate control of exposure values and avoid obvious changes in the print. Too much burning-in may produce too many dark tones that are obviously not natural and burned edges become evident. Awkward or extreme dodging will also be quite apparent. Dodging and burning can make the difference between an average photograph and a dynamic photograph. It is an essential skill to acquire, as most photographs (especially outdoor) need some manipulation to provide a satisfactory tonal range.
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