Dodge Tool

The Dodge Tool lightens areas of your image by painting over them, mimicking the traditional darkroom technique of dodging where less light reaches the print. It is essential for selectively brightening shadows, adding highlights to eyes, and creating depth in portraits.

Unlike global brightness adjustments, the Dodge Tool lets you target specific areas with precision. You can control which tonal range (shadows, midtones, or highlights) is affected and set the exposure strength for gradual, natural-looking results.

Where to Find It

The Dodge Tool is located in the toolbar, grouped with the Burn Tool and Sponge Tool. It looks like a lollipop icon (a circle on a stick). Click and hold the icon to reveal the group, or press Shift+O to cycle through them.

How to Use

• Select the Dodge Tool: Press O or select the Dodge Tool from the toolbar group.
• Choose tonal range: In the Options bar, select Shadows, Midtones, or Highlights to control which brightness range is affected.
• Set exposure: Adjust Exposure (1–100%). Lower values (5–15%) create subtle, gradual lightening.
• Paint over the area: Brush over the areas you want to lighten. Each pass increases the effect.
• Protect skin tones: Check Protect Skin Tones to prevent unnatural color shifts.

Pro Tips

• Use a low Exposure value (5–15%) and build up the effect gradually with multiple strokes for the most natural-looking results.
• Dodge the midtones of eyes in portraits to make them appear brighter and more engaging without washing out the highlights.
• Work on a duplicate layer so you can adjust the effect by reducing layer opacity or using a layer mask to fine-tune the result.