Opacity Verses Flow in Photoshop in Relation to Dodging & Burning
Below is a video showing my experiment in photoshop using different percentages of opacity and flow with the purpose to see what settings are better for dodging and burning my images.
The reason for this is a video I saw by…(seem to forgotten the name)… who uses a low flow and high opacity for dodging & burning (D&B) or painting in photoshop. I have always seen others adjust the opacity and use 100% flow.
So I wanted to see the differences and hence the video.
What Are My Thoughts on Opacity and Flow Settings for D&B?
Currently I’m using a percentage of opacity and 100% flow for D&B and color painting in photoshop. However, I will be experimenting with using a percentage of both opacity and flow to see if I like that better for certain aspects of using a brush in photoshop.
Below are the show notes and the transcript for the video.
Summary
In this video, Todd Marsh explores the differences between opacity and flow in Photoshop, particularly in the context of dodging and burning techniques. He demonstrates how varying these settings affects the brightness of the image and provides practical examples of how to apply these concepts effectively. Through a series of experiments, he highlights the importance of understanding these tools for better image editing results.
Takeaways
- Opacity controls the transparency of the brush strokes.
- Flow determines the rate of paint application.
- Dodging and burning techniques can be affected by opacity and flow settings.
- Multiple strokes do not simply double the brightness effect.
- Using 100% opacity with low flow can lead to overexposure in certain areas.
- Experimenting with different settings can yield better results in image editing.
- Understanding the interaction between opacity and flow is crucial for precise editing.
- Layer masks are essential for non-destructive editing in Photoshop.
- The brightness effect can vary significantly based on brush settings.
- It’s important to adjust settings based on the specific editing task.
Chapters
00:00 Understanding Opacity and Flow in Photoshop
02:52 Practical Application of Dodging and Burning Techniques
06:02 Exploring Flow and Opacity Settings
08:01 Final Thoughts on Opacity and Flow Usage
Transcript – (computer generated)
In this video, I want to show the difference between opacity up here and flow and Photoshop. And this is mainly for dodging and burning. And what is the difference if we change the opacities and flows? What does it do to our image or to our dodge and burn layers? So what I have set up here is I have a black layer converted to white, have a black mask on this. And what I want to do is test some different things out. So I want to get a brush, let’s just do a hard round so that there’s no feathering on it. And let’s change this opacity to something, even like say 20%. And we’ll leave the flow at a hundred percent. We’ll make the brush a little bit smaller. And what I want to do is make one single pass, one single brush. So I’m not going to lift the brush and go over it again. So I’m to go one streak down, and then I’m to do a dot, and we’ll see if there’s any difference. All right, so let’s pretend that we are now dodging some sort of tree right now. So I’m taking the brush with a white brush, you can use the weight brush up here and go across the layer mask at 20 % opacity, 100 % flow.
And then we’ll make a dot. We’ll put the dot up here. Save some space. All right. Now I’ll pick this color picker. And this will tell us the brightness. So we have this picker. And what we want to look for is this B right here. So if we click in the middle of this, we can see that the brightness is 20 % just like the flow. I’m sorry, just like the opacity. And the single dot, 20%.
All right, let’s go over it again and see what we get. So if we click on the layer mask, if I go over this again, you would think since it’s 20 % opacity, 100 % flow, that this is going to be 40 when I go over it again. So here we go. Again, I’m not going to lift the brush. I’m just going to take one solid stripe with the brush.
And we’ll put it right on the dot too. Now let’s see what the brightness is.
Brightness says it is 36 percent. The dot, 36 percent. So it doesn’t really matter whether we’re streaking down or just leaving a dot.
All right, let’s do it again. So that’s 36. So it’s changed by 16%. So it didn’t change 20. It didn’t double. It didn’t become 40%. It only did 16 % more. Let’s go over it again.
And here’s the mistake that I did. I went over the layer instead of the layer mask. So let’s change that. We’ll click on the layer mask. Let’s do this again.
There’s that, and there’s this. Let’s see what we have now.
So in the middle, now we have 49%. It only changed 13%. So it’s gone 20, 16, 13. And you can see here, so here is 49%. That’s three times across. Twice across is 36%. And one time across is 20%. Same up here. So I don’t think we need to do the dot anymore. Let’s see what happens if we do it one more time. So instead of 80%, again, we need to be on the layer mask. We’ll do this again.
Come down here and I’ll go over here so we can see. So let’s see what we have this time. This time we have 59%. So when I change 10, it’s gone 20, 16, 13, 10. And you can see here’s 20, 36, 49, and 59. One more time so we can get some sort of pattern here. Again, the layer mask.
Oops.
Click on the layer mask, and there’s the brush. So I’m going down, did I do it? Nope, I’m on the layer.
So the simple process, Todd, you just need to do it. OK, let’s try this again. I go down through all of them and over a little bit further. And let’s see what the brightness is. Now it’s 67, 59, 49, 36, 20.
So you can see it changes, but it doesn’t double each time. It’ll take several strokes. It should only take us five different patterns, five different strokes to get to 100%, but we’re only at 67%. Now let’s see what happens if we switch this around and go with the flow. So we’re gonna change the opacity to 100%. We’re gonna change the flow to 20%. I guess it’s just easier to type this in. All right, and we’ll do the same thing over here.
So we’re going to do a stroke down, make sure we’re on the layer mask. We’re to do a stroke down and then a dot. So here we go with the stroke down. We’re not going to lift the brush. Look at that, a single dot.
So with a flow of 20% and opacity 100%, we are 99% basically full. If we just do a single dot, we’re at 20, right where we should be. Let’s see if the dot, let’s, okay, I understand this. Let’s see if the dot goes up to 36%. So again, 20% flow, 100% opacity.
We are on the layer mask and we’ll click it.
And we will pick it 20 did I not do it layer mask white brush 20 flow, here we go. There we go. I don’t know I did the first time. So again, we’re at 36%. So it does the same.
So if we were trying to dodge and burn down the length of a tree, in this case, it would be solid. We’d get a hundred percent white, whatever color we have, whatever whiteness, whatever brightness we have, it’d be a hundred percent, which is not good. If we’re going through clouds and just dotting, right? So if we’re on the layer mask and we’re just going over clouds and we’re just dotting here and there, it’s great unless we overlap. It does the 20 % or the 20 % flow.
So the way I do a lot of my dodging and burning is along tree trunks, around down waterfalls, and across fractures in the rocks. So this would not work. This would put a hundred percent of the paint on the image instead of the percentage I want. Let’s go to, let’s say, if we change this to 20%, oops, 20, and the flow at 20. Let’s see what we get.
We have a white brush, we’re on the layer mask, and we’ll put a dot.
It’s pretty low. I might not even be able to find it. I did it twice. It’s 8%. Let me go back and do that again. Let’s go down here in the corner where I can actually see it. So 20 and 20%, one dot. Look at the picker. You can hardly see it.
Maybe I can’t even register.
Okay, let’s change this to 20, 20 % opacity, 20% flow, and see what we get. Let’s go to this corner so that we can figure out where it is. We’re on the mask, white. I’m go in this corner and click. That’s one click. You can barely see it. Let’s see what it comes out. 4%.
Let’s click on it again and see what we get around the layer mask. In this corner, click on it. Now you can see it a little bit more.
Click on it now, and we’re at 8%. It did double. So that’s interesting. So if we were doing 100 % flow or 100 % opacity, it would do a percentage of the percentage. If we’re both in percentages, let me close this. For example, 20 and 20 was only four. I did it again. It doubled it to eight. So will this be 12 when I do it again? We’ll click on it.
Make sure we are on the layer mask. Click in this corner. Click on it.
We are at 11, so basically 12.
So it seems to take the percentage, multiply it, so 20 times 20, 20 % times 20 % is 4%. And it keeps doubling it up. Let’s try it one more time, just for giggles. 20 and 20, in this corner, click. So it should be 12, should be 16, around 16. It’s 15. So it pretty much doubles. So that’s very interesting. That’s something I’ll have to think about.
Right now I know the way I dodge and burn. I’m definitely not going to go with 100 % opacity and a percentage of flow because if I’m streaking down a tree and I’m on the layer mask, I’m streaking down a tree, it puts 100 % of the paint on. I don’t want 100%. I only want 20%. So it’s just easy to put the flow to 100, the opacity to 20.
on the layer mask, white paint, and we get a solid streak of 20%. Then I can use the opacity of the layer to lower it or raise it.
So if I go 50%, so let’s change this opacity to 50%, this should now be 10%.
Yep, 10%. So the opacity on the layers does work in the multiplication factors. So that’s interesting. I’ll have to think more about mixing this opacity and flow at different percentages to see if that works out any better or whether I’ll just stay 100 % flow and just use a different opacity for how I want to dodge or burn or add color dodge with color or burn with color.
I hope you found this useful. It’s asked, it’s actually brought up another question that I didn’t think I’d have to answer. But at least for one thing, I know when I’m dodging or burning, I’m definitely using opacity, a low opacity, and a high flow. As far as other things I use, like painting or painting colors, I’ll have to think about that because maybe the percentages.
Right, when you change this to less than 100, and this less than 100 might work out if you need a precise number. But anyway, that’s the end of this video. Stay tuned for more. And you can read a little bit more. do have, I will put a transcript in the blog post so you can read it. And if I do any other videos, I’ll make sure I link to the newer videos so that you can watch those too.
