Dodge Tool in Photoshop CS4
Photoshop's Dodge Tool is a variation of the paint brush and allows us to paint lightness into a region of the image and leave the unaffected areas untouched. That's great news if you have an artistic flare, or prefer to use the brush tools to modify the appearance of a photograph. Traditionally the Dodge Tool is used by many retouchers to lighten the skin tones in a portrait shot but there's many more reasons to use it. In this example, I'll take a poorly lit billboard and lighten the letters whilst leaving the rest of the image (and even parts of the sign) unmodified. New in Photoshop CS4, the dodge tool has been revamped and is now capable of protecting the tones of an image better than ever before. I'll explain the new Protect Tones option and show you why you're going to want to leave it on!