What is the Burn Tool?
The burn tool in Photopea is used to darken specific areas of an image by increasing the exposure of shadows, midtones, or highlights. It simulates a traditional darkroom technique where parts of a photo were exposed to more light to darken the final print. In digital editing, this tool is used to enhance depth, draw attention away from overly bright elements, and create mood by subtly adjusting light distribution in targeted regions.
When using the burn tool, the tonal range can be set to affect shadows, midtones, or highlights. This makes the tool very versatile, allowing the user to darken only the areas that need adjustment. For example, reducing brightness in a cloudy sky helps restore lost detail, or increasing shadow under cheekbones in a portrait can define structure. The brush-based nature of the burn tool means darkening effects are built up gradually using strokes across the image.
The burn tool has exposure and pressure settings located in the top toolbar. The exposure setting controls the intensity of the darkening effect per brush stroke. A lower exposure setting, typically between five and fifteen percent, is ideal for more controlled and subtle adjustments. The brush pressure setting, used with a drawing tablet, changes the intensity based on how firmly the pen is pressed. For mouse users, using a soft-edged brush at low opacity will simulate gradual pressure. These options allow for greater control and reduce the risk of over-editing.
While the burn tool may seem simple at first, it is a powerful feature that can be misused. When used moderately, it can add depth, improve lighting dynamics, and enhance visual storytelling. Overuse, however, can create harsh shadows, cause a loss of detail, and result in an unnatural appearance. Learning when and how to apply the burn tool sets the stage for more advanced lighting and tone correction across all types of images.
Here are some practice images.
Lessen the shadow on the left side of her face.
Reduce the overused burn to be less dramatic.
Increase the darkness around the cheekbones, eyes and lips for the image on the left side.
Can I use different brushes with the Burn Tool?
Yes, the burn tool in Photopea supports different brush shapes and hardness settings, just like the standard brush tool. This flexibility allows for more precise and artistic control when darkening parts of an image. The brush can be adjusted to apply soft, feathered darkening for gentle shadows or sharper strokes for more defined areas. Choosing the right brush is important depending on the effect you want to achieve.
The brush options appear in the top options bar after selecting the burn tool. To access the brushes:
- Click the arrow to the left of the “Range” dropdown to open the brush settings panel.
- Then click the arrow to the right of the brush preview list.
- A menu will appear with options like Define New and Load .ABR.
Photopea supports custom brush files saved in the .ABR format, which is the standard format for Photoshop brushes. These brushes often contain stylized shapes, patterns, or textures. Free .ABR files can be found on resource websites such as PSFiles.net. After downloading, select Load .ABR from the menu to import the file from your computer. The imported brushes will appear in your brush library and can be used with the burn tool or any other brush-based tool.
To create your own custom brush, start with a black-and-white design on a transparent background, then choose Define New from the brush menu. This saves the shape as a new brush preset, allowing you to reuse your design. This is helpful for consistent darkening or detailing, especially in creative projects.
When using the burn tool, the brush size and hardness should be adjusted based on the area you're working with. A large, soft brush works well for broad areas like skin or sky, while smaller, harder brushes can help with detail work along edges or in shadows. Keep in mind that Exposure and Pressure settings also impact how much effect the brush has. Pairing the right brush with the right settings gives you full control over how shadows are introduced into the image.
What are Shadows?
Shadows are the naturally darker regions within an image where light is either blocked or greatly reduced. These areas often appear beneath the eyes, under cheekbones, behind objects, or in folds of clothing. While they contain less visible brightness, true shadows are not fully black; they still retain subtle texture and detail that gives an image depth and realism. Recognizing where shadows begin and end is essential when using editing tools that target specific tonal ranges.
When working with the burn, dodge, or sponge tools in Photopea, choosing Shadows from the Range dropdown ensures adjustments are applied only to these darker parts of the image. This makes it easier to sculpt facial structure, deepen mood, or create dramatic contrast without unintentionally altering midtones or highlights. For example, darkening a jawline or beneath the chin enhances dimensionality without flattening skin tones or over-darkening the entire portrait.
Shadows are key to shaping visual form. They give flat images a sense of volume and directionality. In portrait editing, shadows can contour features like the nose or cheekbones in a subtle and natural way. In environmental shots, shadows define time of day, setting, and mood. But pushing these areas too far, especially by overusing the burn tool, can lead to crushed blacks, abrupt contrast, and the loss of important detail.
To identify shadows effectively, look for regions with the least brightness but still some visible tonal variation. These areas usually border midtones and create gradual transitions. When adjusting them, it is often best to work with soft brushes, lower exposure settings, and short brush strokes. This preserves texture and allows for greater control, especially when retouching sensitive areas like skin, fabric, or natural surfaces.
Here are some practice images.
Lessen the shadow on the left side of her face and her lips.
Remove of lessen the darkness in the clouds to make it a cloudy, but not overcast day.
Make the left side over-dramatic like the right side.
Increase the darkness around the cheekbones, inside the eyes, lips, forehead and hair for the image on the left side.
What are Midtones?
Midtones are the range of tones that fall between the darkest shadows and the brightest highlights in an image. These tones represent the majority of the visible detail and are responsible for the overall balance and natural appearance of a photo. In portraits, midtones make up the core of skin tone and facial features. In landscapes, they appear in areas like grassy fields, tree trunks, and skies that are neither too dark nor too bright.
Choosing Midtones from the Range dropdown in tools like burn or dodge allows changes to target this specific tonal band without affecting shadows or highlights. This can help fine-tune skin texture, reduce flatness, or bring subtle depth to parts of the image without overpowering it. It is especially helpful in evenly lit scenes where dimension needs to be gently added.
Midtones are also where the majority of color and tone harmony resides. Over-adjusting them can lead to unnatural or overly contrasted results, while under-adjusting can leave the image looking washed out or lifeless. Midtones serve as the transition zone that binds the highlights and shadows together into a cohesive whole. When enhanced carefully, they allow for more realistic, lifelike images.
A common way to edit midtones involves the use of soft brushes with low exposure settings to gradually build up effect without creating abrupt shifts. Whether adjusting for creative intent or correcting an exposure imbalance, working with midtones gives the editor greater control over the image's subtle dynamics. Mastering how to read and edit midtones is one of the key differences between basic and more advanced image editing skills.
What are Highlights?
Highlights are the brightest areas in an image where light hits most directly. These regions can include reflections on water, sunlight on skin, or the brightest parts of clouds and objects with shiny surfaces. Highlights are essential for showing direction and intensity of light, and they often help establish the overall mood of a photo. When managed properly, highlights bring clarity, energy, and focus to an image. When pushed too far, they can appear blown out, losing important detail and creating hard or unnatural transitions.
In Photopea, selecting Highlights from the Range dropdown in tools like the burn or dodge tool allows targeted adjustments to the lightest parts of the image without affecting the midtones or shadows. For example, lightening the highlights on a subject's hair or the edge of a fabric can enhance the impression of light hitting a surface. Darkening highlights using the burn tool can tone down bright areas and restore subtle texture in scenes where lighting is too intense.
Understanding the difference between natural highlights and overexposed areas is key. A good highlight still retains detail, even if it is very bright. An overexposed area, however, often appears flat white and provides no visual texture. Overuse of the dodge tool on highlights can make skin look plastic or wipe out depth in clothing and objects. Likewise, burning highlights too much can dull the energy of a scene and make it feel muted or muddy.
Visually, highlights are most often found along edges where the light source directly hits the subject. These areas create contrast and dimension when balanced properly with shadows and midtones. Enhancing highlights requires a careful approach, usually with soft brushes and low exposure settings. Rather than brightening all high-toned areas, the goal is to guide the viewer's eye and accent the flow of natural light. This gives a finished image vibrancy without overpowering the subtle tone work elsewhere in the composition.
Here are some practice images:
Lessen the light on so it it not shining as much through the trees.
Fix the over-brightness in this image so we are not blinded by the sun.
Reduce the sun rays so they are not prominent and sharp.
What is the Dodge Tool?
The dodge tool is used to lighten specific areas of an image by reducing the density of tones within a targeted range. It mimics a traditional darkroom technique where light was used to brighten selected parts of a print. In digital photo editing, the dodge tool allows for selective brightening of shadows, midtones, or highlights, depending on which tonal range is selected. This makes it ideal for emphasizing details, adding depth, or enhancing the visibility of certain features without affecting the entire image.
Unlike global brightness or exposure adjustments, the dodge tool works like a brush, making the area lightened only where the strokes are made. In Photopea, you can select the dodge tool from the toolbar, then choose the tonal range (shadows, midtones, or highlights) and adjust the exposure setting for finer control. A soft brush with a low exposure setting is typically best for portraits and natural textures, where subtlety is more important than dramatic changes.
The dodge tool is especially effective when used to draw attention to focal points or highlight areas that appear flat or underexposed. In a portrait, it can be used to brighten the forehead, cheekbones, or the whites of the eyes. In product or environmental photography, the dodge tool might be used to enhance reflections, highlight key contours, or bring out surface texture. These adjustments help guide the viewer's eye through the composition and give the image a more polished look.
However, overuse of the dodge tool can lead to unnatural effects, such as washed-out skin tones or a glowing, artificial appearance. It is best used sparingly and with a light hand, allowing changes to build gradually. For greater precision and non-destructive editing, it is recommended to duplicate the image layer or apply the dodge tool through a separate masked layer so that adjustments can be fine-tuned or reversed if needed.
Here are some practice images:
Lessen the over-darkening to her face and reduce the light shining on her face.
Lessen the dark areas on the bottle on the left.
Brighten up the background on this image.
Give the effect of more fog and brightening to the left side in the areas shown on the right side.
Lessen the darkness on the left side of her face to help match the right side of her face.
When Would I Use the Dodge Tool?
The dodge tool is most useful when specific areas of an image need to be brightened without affecting the rest of the photo. It is often used to enhance lighting on faces, draw attention to focal points, or reveal texture in areas that appear too flat. Since the dodge tool targets tonal ranges like shadows, midtones, or highlights, it allows for highly controlled lightening that blends naturally with the rest of the image.
In portrait editing, the dodge tool is commonly used to brighten the whites of the eyes, enhance the catchlight in the pupils, or add soft highlights to the forehead, bridge of the nose, or cheekbones. These adjustments help define structure and guide the viewer's attention to the subject's expression. In environmental images, the dodge tool can lift tones on rocks, leaves, or reflections in water where detail is hidden in dim lighting. These edits enhance texture without globally adjusting brightness.
Product photos also benefit from targeted dodging. Brightening highlights on metallic edges, glass surfaces, or product labels can create a more polished, professional finish. Dodging can simulate better lighting direction or even out inconsistencies without needing to relight or re-shoot the subject.
A soft-edged brush with low exposure settings, targeting only the most appropriate tonal range, allows for natural-looking results that fit seamlessly into the rest of the image's lighting and tone. While every image may require slightly different settings, a reliable starting point is to use an exposure level between 5% and 12%, combined with a soft round brush. For portraits, selecting midtones or highlights as the targeted range helps maintain skin texture while enhancing depth. For textured surfaces or objects, switching to a smaller brush size with tighter spacing improves control. Gradual application is always better than a single high-intensity pass.
What is the Sponge Tool?
The sponge tool is used to selectively increase or decrease the saturation of colors in an image. Unlike the burn and dodge tools, which adjust brightness or exposure in specific tonal ranges, the sponge tool focuses on color intensity. It can be set to either Saturate or Desaturate mode, depending on whether the goal is to enhance vibrancy or tone down distracting or unnatural colors. This tool is especially useful for subtle adjustments in color balance or for drawing attention to specific elements within a composition.
The sponge tool functions like a brush. As it is applied over parts of an image, it intensifies or mutes the color in that region based on the selected mode. Saturating a sunset or flower bed, for example, can help revive faded colors, while desaturating areas like skin or background objects can reduce visual distractions or color inconsistencies. This makes it a practical tool for both creative expression and corrective editing.
Unlike the burn and dodge tools, the sponge tool does not include a tonal range setting. Instead, control is achieved through adjustments to the brush size, softness, and flow, as well as by choosing between saturation and desaturation. A low flow setting paired with a soft brush often yields the most natural results, especially when blending across skin or other detailed textures.
Because the sponge tool directly alters pixel color data, subtlety is important. Over-saturating can introduce noise, color banding, or an unnatural glow. Excessive desaturation, on the other hand, can leave a scene flat or lifeless. To preserve flexibility, the sponge tool is often applied to a duplicate layer or used in conjunction with a layer mask, allowing edits to be refined or reversed during the editing process.
We believe there has been enough instruction provided with the previous images in this tutorial, that figuring out what to do with these images is self-explanatory. Light or darken areas, match up the before and after images or even change features to best suit your liking.
Here are some practice images:
Why Would I Use the Sponge Tool?
The sponge tool is most useful when selective control over color is needed without altering brightness or tone. It becomes a valuable option when global saturation adjustments would affect the entire image, even though only certain areas need refinement. The sponge tool provides a way to correct color balance, reinforce focal points, or soften distracting elements through subtle, localized adjustments.
It is especially helpful when saturation issues appear uneven across an image. For example, parts of a scene might appear dull or faded while others remain vivid. In this case, applying the sponge tool with Saturate mode can help bring color consistency without impacting areas that already appear well-balanced. Similarly, the Desaturate mode allows the user to pull attention away from overbearing background colors or fix unnatural tones introduced by lighting or camera settings.
Beyond correction, the sponge tool can also be used creatively. Enhancing the warmth in a sunset or deepening the colors of autumn leaves can add emotional tone to an image. Soft desaturation, on the other hand, can help build a mood of calm or allow important details to stand out more clearly. Because the tool is brush-driven, the effect can be shaped to match the contours and textures within a scene, producing more natural results than broad filters or sliders.
To apply what has been covered, this tutorial includes a faded landscape image ideal for practicing saturation. This image includes muted colors in flowers and foliage that respond well to careful enhancement using the sponge tool in Saturate mode. Use this image to practice saturation, focusing on reviving color without compromising tonal detail.
Another example included is a portrait with strong, highly saturated background colors. This scene allows for practice in Desaturate mode, where reducing color distractions can help draw attention to the subject. Use this image to practice desaturation, applying soft adjustments to balance the overall color and guide the viewer's focus.
How to Properly Use the Burn, Dodge and Sponge Tools Together
The dodge, sponge, and burn tools are most effective when used in combination, each contributing to the shape, tone, and color of an image. While each tool can make a noticeable difference on its own, using them together in a thoughtful sequence allows for subtle, professional-quality editing without heavy global adjustments.
Begin by using the burn tool to gently define shadows around the subject. Lower jawlines, cheek contours, and side lighting can benefit from deeper tone. With the shadows shaped, move on to the dodge tool to lift areas that should appear more prominent. Key highlights along the nose, upper cheeks, and eyes often benefit from lightening. Once the lighting balance is improved, use the sponge tool to adjust saturation. This may include muting bright background colors or enhancing areas of color that appear flat, like clothing, lips, or hair.
Suggested starting settings for each tool:
- Burn Tool: Exposure between 5–12%, soft round brush, Range: Shadows
- Dodge Tool: Exposure between 5–10%, soft brush, Range: Midtones or Highlights
- Sponge Tool: Flow between 15–30%, soft brush, Mode: Saturate or Desaturate
The included before-and-after example shows how these tools, when used with subtlety, can reshape the tone and color flow of an image without drawing attention to the edits themselves. Look closely at the changes in facial structure, light transitions, and overall visual balance.
A second image is also provided with no enhancements applied. Use this to practice applying all three tools in the same sequence. Begin with shaping shadow and depth using the burn tool. Then, enhance key highlights to bring forward the features. Finally, adjust saturation in selective areas to correct imbalance and guide attention.
