While going through old pictures from Maine, I fell upon this image of a church and cemetery that I do not remember taking, let alone remember where it was taken. I know it was in Maine in the neighborhood of the Acadia National Park, so it could have been in Bar Harbor and surroundings. Anyway, I thought it might make an interesting exercise in digital dodging and burning. I do not tend to use the Photoshop dodge & burn tools anymore but rather, I copy a layer, blend it with the multiply mode (for burning) or screen (for dodging). This is non-destructive and by adjusting the opacity, one can get the desired effect. I find it is much easier and accurate to work with than using the dodge & burn tools themselves.
Using dodge, I lightened considerably the tombstones, the church circular window and the stone columns and by burning, I darkened part of the roofs and walls to accentuate tonal differences. Otherwise, a straight conversion to B&W yields an image where the tonal range is quite narrow. I find that dodging & burning is one of the easiest post-processing steps to add visual interest. Also, it really helps to add a personal touch to the interpretation of the image.
