June 23 Technique: Burn Tool

Hi everyone! I'm here to bring you another challenge for our Technique Week. There are so many tools, short cuts, and different ways to do thing in Photoshop, but today I'm going to focus on the Burn Tool. (This tool is housed with the Dodge Tool, as well as the Sponge Tool. Right here).



The Burn Tool is used to darken areas, while the Dodge Tool is used to lighten areas. These tools might be used over the Curves and Levels options, since you can be specific and choose what you want to lighten or darken. The more you brush over and paint on an area will reflect with a lighter or darker color.

This is the Burn Tool Options bar, below. You can see the hand with a hole, which indicates the Burn Tool. The black dot and the 171 are the brush sizing. You can change this like other brushes - sizing, hardness, kind, etc. Next you will find the Range - Midtones, Highlights or Shadows. Most of the time I use Midtones when using this tool. Then you will see Exposure. This number represents how much ink might be on the brush when you are painting. The number can be 3-5% and all the way to 10-15%. More than that, and it will look a bit odd. The lower number allows you to slowly add the burn to the layer. Too high and the burn will not look natural. The next little icon looks like a pen, and is actually supposed to be an airbrush. This option is up to you - I always go back and forth, so give it a play. Sometimes, this allows for a more natural flow of "ink" in your burn.



Here is my original layout. I will be showing off How to use the Burn Tool for Additional Realism on the washi tape as well as the top layered leaves.


Products:
Scrap The Lot No. 1 - by Lynn Grieveson Designs https://the-lilypad.com/store/Scrap-the-Lot-1-album.html
Sea Change by Allison Pennington
Papers: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Sea-Change-Patterns-and-Backgrounds.html
Elements: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Sea-Change-Elements.html
Alpha: https://the-lilypad.com/store/Sea-Change-Glitterbets.html
Font is Special Elite.

Ok, here are my leaves before hand. I copied one leaf (the bottom one pointing down), and created 2 more layers. But... when this occurrs, many times the leave look like duplicates. So, by using the Burn Tool, I can create a little darker color on the edges so that they will not look identical. I also changed the sizing of the leaf to help the differentiation.


Here are my leaves after a couple swipes with the Burn Tool. They look a little browner on the opposite outer edges. You can see a change, but it is subtle enough on the whole layout that you wouldn't think the leaves were all duplicates.



Here is my washi tape... before.


Here is my washi tape after. Washi tape is so subtle, but I think adding a little burn to the area that touches the paper gives it a little more realism.

Tip: When I use the Burn Tool, I click on the thumbnail of the layer that I'm going to burn. This way, when I switch to the Burn Tool, my burning will only be confined that that area within the marching ants.

For this example, I would click on the white paper matting layer thumbnail, and get the marching ants, then I chose Select > Inverse, so the marching ants would be marching around the area of the tape that is over the kraft paper. I didn't burn the area that you see on the paper matting or the image.


Here is my final layout... burned and all!


Adding a little burn, in my eyes, isn't a necessity, but it brings me closer to the traditional paper scrapping that I started out with way back when. I hope you enjoyed learning a little more about this Tool, and I hope you give this technique a try!

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Thank you guys... I love seeing that you are trying it out and seeing the results!