From Craft & Vision: Dodge & Burn

In Dodge and Burn: Leading the Eye with Lightroom and Photoshop, the new book from Craft & Vision, Piet Van Den Eynde will tell you at the start that you need Lightroom and/or Photoshop to use the book. I’d reverse that: If you use Lightroom or Photoshop (or Camera Raw or Nik) then you need this book. It’s an exceptional book, almost a full-blown course in post-processing. (Click here to visit Craft And Vision.)

“Dodging” and “burning” are terms that come from film processing. With film, most post-processing was done at the printing stage. Dodging was the process (an art and craft,really) of waving hands, a tool, or a template between the enlarger lamp and the photosensitive print paper in order to render a part of the emerging print lighter than the rest. Burning was the converse: Shield all but a certain area from the enlarger beam so that the exposed area would be darker than the rest. We can dodge and burn today, but with digital precision using tools such as Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop, and Nik.

Van Den Eynde’s e-book is fabulous. Beginners and veterans will learn a lot from this book. In a new approach for Craft & Vision, the book is actually offered as part of a package. And it comes in two versions. The “Lite” (for $5.00) includes the book and a free panel that can be installed in Photoshop. (Click here to view more details) The “Full” version ($10.00, BUT use the code DODGE8 and get 20% off until 11:59pm (PST) JULY 22, 2012) includes the book, a more complete Photoshop panel, a collection of photoshop actions, and ten practice photographs correlated with the lessons in the book. (Click here to view more details.)

Lest you think this book is only for photoshop afficianados, let me assure you that’s not the case! I feared it might be. But I found that Photoshop isn’t mentioned until page 76 of the 90-page PDF e-book. Up until that point, it’s all done with Lightroom (or Adobe Camera Raw). Beginning on page 65, Van Den Eynde introduces us to using plugins from Nik: Viveza, Color Efex Pro, and Silver Efex Pro. (I use the Nik tools extensively. They can be used as stand-alones, but do work better as plugins into Lightroom or Photoshop. Van Den Eynde provides you with discount codes to download the Nik tools. The Nik technology is also in Nikon Capture, Nikon’s raw processing program.) Van Den Eynde even goes into the use of Snapseed, which is a Nik program for iOS – iPad or iPhone – as well as desktop. As I said, I use the Nik tools extensively, and I learned a lot from this book.

Throughout the book, there are suggestions and tips for the post-processing workflow. Every page is jampacked; I’m actually amazed at the book design in terms of how much useful information they can get onto each page. This book well help you produce much better images (and have fun doing it).

I think your images will improve even aside from what you do in post. This book will also improve your composition, help you think in terms of images that “draw the eye” to focus on the things you want the viewer to focus on.

A few considerations: The book is most useful to you if you shoot raw. You probably do need Lightroom and/or Photoshop. You need Lightroom 4 and Photoshop either CS5 or CS6.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Dodge and Burn: Leading the Eye with Lightroom and Photoshop. PDF e-book. 90 pages. Remember that there are two versions: Lite, with the book and the free photoshop panel. And Full, with the book, enhanced photoshop panel, photoshop actions, and the practice images. At the prices offered, it’s a steal; I’ve seen comparable packages selling for 29.95 and more. It’s $5 for the Lite version (Click here to view more details), $10 for the Full version (Click here to view more details). But use the code DODGE8 with the Full version, by 11:59pm (PST) JULY 22, 2012, and get %20 off.

Everybody will learn from this book. And the book exhibits the usual polish and professionalism of all the Craft & Vision titles. Highly recommended! Click here to visit Craft And Vision.