Gray Layer for Dodge & Burn is STUPID!

just a couple days ago I created a video on dodging and burning on a 50% gray layer now this my friend is not a new technique this technique has been used for years and decades if not more but after creating the video by the way the video is titled high end skin retouching just by using two layers and the second layers for dodging and burning I came across this comment from Andrew McCarty thank you so much entry if you're watching this thank you so much for waking me up alright so andrew says and this is very interesting guys andrew says so I have always wondered why it's recommended to fill the dodging burn layer with 50% gray interesting isn't it why not just keep the layer transparent so you can use the eraser tool seems way more convenient and I don't see the upside of filling it with gray any thoughts well this is one of the most brilliant questions have come across and it made me think has the Photoshop industry been stupid for so long maybe have they all been stupid why have we been using gray layer and I invite you to answer this question why has this been for ever as long as I've known dodging and burning we have used a 50% gray layer if not curves alright so first of all let's understand what this question from Andrew means and then I'm gonna try to attempt to answer this alright let's get started back in the brilliant Phil the Photoshop and as you can see we have already done some dodging and burning on this using a gray layer so this is the dodging and burning layer we have changed the blend mode to soft light and thing with soft light and overlay blend mode is tan they make whatever is 50% gray transparent absolutely transparent anything which is brighter than 50% gray they brighten that area anything which is darker than 50% gray they darken that area and if I change the blend mode to normal you will be able to see what happened so this is a gray layer right some areas are brightened some areas are darkened in other words some areas are painted with white and some with black with a very low flow when he changed the blend mode to softlight the gray areas go away bright areas are brightened and black areas are darkened and therefore we did some dodging and burning let's take a look at it before and after here's the before here's the after looks wonderful now what andrew says is what is the need of painting everything with gray changing the blend mode to soft light and then on top of that painting with white or black why not directly create a blank layer take a brush black or white as the foreground color and then start dodging and burning so let's turn off this dodging and burning layer and then let's change the flow to 2 percent for now let's try to brighten this area right on a blank layer and change the blend mode to soft light as before so let's start painting with white over here and as you can clearly see it works the same why the hell are we using a gray layer simple isn't it it works the same so let me share with you here's the before here's the after it works the same have a look at this one dodging and burning the one we did previously so here's the before and here is the after of course if you take some more time it's gonna give you a better result but it's the same thing and we can actually prove it so let's increase the flow to about 50% alright and now we are in the dodging and burning gray layer let's turn it on and if in this gray layer let's pick a part of the skin let's take this part here we are in the gray layer we take the brush black as the foreground color and we paint in the gray layer right there it's creating this kind of result now let's try the same in the blank layer it's the same let's try with white on the blank layer let's try with white in the gray layer it's the same when you try even with a hundred percent flow it would be the same so this is white on a dodging and burning gray layer and on the blank layer this is white same results so then again the heck are we using a gray layer because using a gray layer is cumbersome anytime you want to erase something you would have to go to the gray layer choose gray as the color 50% gray all right zero zero fifty hit OK and then you have to increase the flow if it's one you have to increase it two hundred and then you have to like paint with gray over that area if you are doing it on a blank layer you could simply use the eraser tool to erase it even while you're using the brush tool you can hold the a key it's gonna take you to the eraser to erase it and then release the e key it's gonna take you back to the brush tool right so while researching for a reason for why we use a gray layer instead of an empty layer I came across a lot of arguments the first argument was there might be a change in color while you work with gray layer versus empty layer have a look I already showed you with different flow values that there is very negligible if not no difference between painting on an empty layer versus on a gray layer second argument was that you come across banding if you do it on an empty layer versus on a gray layer well let's bust that myth as well so let's create a gray layer right there by pressing ctrl shift n change the blend mode to overlay or soft light let's choose overlay check filled with overlay neutral color alright so this is a very dark color on top of that we have created a layer for dodging and burning a gray layer now let's take the brush soft round brush and flow pasady at hundred let's dab once see if we can get any banding so let's choose white as the foreground color and dab see I don't know YouTube compresses everything but I can see there's a ton of banding try it in there and to see the banding properly we can create a curves adjustment layer just to show you the banding properly alright right now I'm sure you can see the banding right here right this is with the gray layer let's do it with the empty layer so on top of that we're gonna do it with the empty layer by changing the blend mode of the empty layer to overlay again and dab again right here and have a look it's the same on an empty layer on a gray layer no matter where you Deb it's gonna be the Deb the same Deb so look at the banding it's again the banding is the same in both cases so coming back to the question why do we use a great layer so I open up this question for you I open this up for a debate I want you to answer this in the comments below as per my research and as per my assumptions I think that there might be one reason and this is a very strong reason and the reason is this let's say you're doing some minor dodging and burning okay so this is the dodging and burning layer right if I do it on an empty layer let's turn this off for a moment very minor dodging let's say this area is a little dark I want to brighten it okay so if I take the brush white as the foreground color flow at 1% and then change the blend mode to soft light right if I do it on an empty layer let's quickly do that so have a look it's done here's the before here's the after just a little bit of dodging here still before here's the after right now if you just look at the layer if I turn off everything you cannot tell where I had done some dodging or burning cannot at all even with this level of dodging and burning if you had not done it on a gray layer it would be impossible for you to see where you had done dodging or burning if you do the same in a gray layer all right let's create a brand new gray layer at the top by pressing ctrl shift N and changing the blend mode to overlay or soft light check fill with soft light neutral color hit OK alright let's turn layer one off this was not on an empty layer if I do it on a gray layer you would be able to see so let's do the same thing so here's the before here's the after when you change the blend mode to normal momentarily you can clearly see where you had done dodging or burning so that might be one reason then I came across but again the advantages of doing it on an empty layer and the freedom of having the eraser tool to erase it instead of just opening the color picker choosing the gray color or even choosing gray color from swatches painting over it setting the foreground and background to black and white again well that can be more cumbersome than just taking the eraser tool or holding the e key and erasing it right so the debate and the answering is up to you this was my reason I'm not saying which technique is better I'm not saying using a gray layer is better or using a transparent layer is better I'm not saying what's better I showed you the advantages and disadvantages of both and I'm opening this question again for you to answer I hope this video gave you some insights about questioning everything you learn whatever I teach please do not follow it blindly watch everybody listen to everybody and question everything be scientifically critical I hope this video helped you and if it did make sure to give us a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not just subscribe ring the bell so that you my friend don't miss any other future tips tricks or tutorials I would like to take this moment thank all these nice and amazing people for supporting this channel on patreon and helping keep pixel-perfect free for everybody forever thank you so much for watching I'll see you guys again in my next one till then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating [Music] [Music]

Channel: PiXimperfect

Views: 364,086

Keywords: dodging and burning photoshop, dodge and burn, portrait retouching, skin retouching, photoshop q&a, troubleshoot photoshop, blending modes, tutorial, photoshop, piximperfect, unmesh dinda

Id: ks_75Wzc5E8

Length: 10min 53sec (653 seconds)

Published: Sat May 09 2020