Dodge & Burn Tutorial: How To Make Clouds More Dramatic

Here is a quick technique on how you can add drama on clouds on your photos! It is a widely step to increase contrast to improve the look on your clouds. If you’ve got a lovely set of clouds on your photos then increasing contrast would be the best way of enhancing it further. However, this tutorial I have for you here would allow you to help improve flat-looking and uninteresting sky.

 

Video: Add drama on those clouds!

Here’s a summary of the steps:

(View the video for full details and explanations)

  1. Load you image in Photoshop.
  2. Click on the Layer menu-New-Layer.
  3. Change the Mode to Overlay.
  4. Tick the Fill with Overlay-neutral colour.
  5. Click Ok. You will not see any changes on the image yet.
  6. Change the blend mode of the gray layer to Normal.
  7. Put back the blend mode to Overlay.
  8. Select the brush tool, select a black or white foreground.
  9. Set the opacity level to a really low level, 5% on this sample.
  10. Look for a section on the sky where there is a dark and light side to it.
  11. With the black foreground brush to the dark sections of the sky.
  12. Switch to a white foreground and lighten the lighter side of the image. These steps will allow us to create a definition that you want to see on the clouds.
  13. Using on the keyboard shortcut [X] will allow you to switch between the foreground colours.
  14. Toggling the layer on and off will see the difference you have made with the image.
  15. You can also add another adjustment layer and use an S-layer to increase the contrast in the sky.

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Comments on Dodge & Burn Tutorial: How To Make Clouds More Dramatic

  1. Bob Grinslade says:

    So far easy to understand about PS techniques..Been using Paint Shop Pro for a long time….Thanks for the help..

  2. NatsagdorjSanj says:

    Very clear to understand , Thanks

  3. Chantelle says:

    Thank you, i stopped shooting and using photoshop for a few years and forgot most of my techniques, this helped me to remember again!

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