How to Retouch a Photo Using Dodging and Burning

There is a multitude of advanced retouching tools and techniques out there for working on portraits, but believe it or not, many of the world's top retouchers prefer a much simpler technique: dodging and burning. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to use dodging and burning for retouching skin in Photoshop.

Coming to you from Elena Jasic, this great video will show you how to use dodging and burning for retouching a photo in Photoshop. Dodging and burning is a very simple idea at its core: it is simply selective lightening and darkening of areas of an image. You might normally think of dodging and burning at a more global level, where it is used to shape the overall light in a scene to accentuate or de-emphasize certain features, but on a more micro level, it can used to retouch blemishes in a manner that creates a very natural result, which is why it is preferred by many top-end photographers. The downside is that it is a rather tedious process that requires a fair amount of practice and patience, so you might not want to use it for every portrait, but it is an important technique to know nonetheless. Check out the video above for the full rundown.