Dodge and burn to perfection

Give your landscapes the edge in Affinity Photo as James Paterson explains how to enhance the most important details in a scene

-  James Paterson

THE MISSION Use the Dodge and Burn tools along with colour adjustments to boost your landscape images

Time needed 30 minutes

Skill level Intermediate

Kit needed Affinity Photo

Our eyes are naturally drawn to the lighter parts of a photo and away from darker areas, so we can manipulate the viewer’s perception of an image with subtle lightening and darkening in different parts of the frame. This ability to guide the viewer’s journey through the frame can be hugely effective when it comes to editing landscapes. Even a simple vignette can work wonders, as it darkens the corners of a frame and draws the eye into the middle towards more important details.

However, with a soft, serene image like this, we don’t want to push things too far. While there are several excellent tonal tools for boosting contrast in Affinity Photo, this sort of work is often best done by hand rather than with a change in contrast. This is where the Dodge and Burn tools come in. By selectively lightening and darkening the buildings, reflections and fine details, we can draw attention to the most interesting parts and add to the sense of depth, while retaining the overall misty morning feel.