Do you have any dodging recommendations, techniques, tricks, ect.. that might help me? Let me explain what I am trying to do:

I am trying to improve a photograph of my 3 yr old daughter by dodging her eyes. My goal is to lighten the eyes by ~ 1/2 to 1 full stop without significantly impacting the skin tones surrounding the eyes. In this photograph, her eye's encompass a small portion of the print; the width of each eye is on the order of 1/8 of an inch.

Unfortunately, I have only had poor results so far because I am having a hard time dodging such a small area (her 2 eyes). My crude dodger, which is shaped like a tiny lollipop fashioned from a paper clip & tape, seems inadequate for this task. When I hold the dodger close enough to the paper to only dodge the area I want, the "lollipop stem" creates a line on the print. When I hold if far enough away & move it about to prevent this line, I end up dodging more area than I want.

Any worthwhile advise would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Walt Bowen

I have been unsuccessful the eyes, which have appearance of portrexperimenting with

-- Walt Bowen (Walt.Bowen@jhuapl.edu), December 06, 1999

Answers

Are you wiggling the dodger around during the exposure?

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), December 06, 1999.

Tim,

Thanks for your reply. I am wiggling the dodger around a little, but only very small amount. I know that this lack of motion is responsible for light line on the print from the dodger stem. But, remember that I am constrained by my desire to dodge a very small area (two eyes, each is ~ 1/8 in wide by slightly less than 1/8 in.) without significantly lightening the tones on the skin surrounding the eyes.

Walt

-- Walt Bowen (Walt.Bowen@jhuapl.edu), December 06, 1999.

You're not really enlarging your daugher's face enough to easily and accurately dodge her eyes, but it's still possible. What you need is a very thin piece of wire with two tiny, caper sized globs of an oil-based modeling clay (oil=non hardening) that are spaced just far enough apart to cover both eyes at the same time about an inch or so above the surface of the print. Don't wiggle too much -- just a tad bit. You will end up with a lightening between her eyes and off to one side where the wire was, but you can later burn that area slightly. This will be tricky because her face is so small.

I've found it much easier to terms of percentages instead of "stops" when burning and dodging. It's much easier to dodge by 50% by dividing your 12 second exposure, for example, into two 6 second exposures and dodging the eyes during only one of them.

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), December 06, 1999.

oops. Above should read: "I've found it easier to think in terms of percentages..."

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), December 06, 1999.

This is why they invented potassium ferricyanide and Q-tips. You use a very dilute pale yellow solution on a small Q-tip right in the fixer tray. Subtle, controlable and easy. The trade secret of W. Eugene Smith and many others. Nobody dodges eyes- it's too darned difficult! This also works for whitening teeth and putting the sparkle back in highlights, but you have to be very careful not to overdo it, lest the effect look a tad unnatural.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), December 06, 1999.

I dodge eyes, but only when they are 1/2 inch or larger. I use two wands (wire and blu-tack).

For such small eyes, I would use Conrad's suggestion. Very dilute ferri. Put the print on an inverted tray, and use a small brush or similar. Have a hose on, and use it on the print well before you think it is sufficiently bleached. Fix. Repeat as necessary, then fix thoroughly and wash.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), December 07, 1999.

Well Walt, I would not want to be the one doing the dodging you are looking to do. Whenever i have to dodge small areas, i use a paperclip and black tape. However i shape the paperclip so it is not next to the paper. Instead of having the wire come out of the side like a lolipop, i start the wire going straight towards the lens (perpendicular to dodging part of the tool). Then bend it to the side a few inches above the paper. This, and moving the wire around, will eliminate the line. It may be necessary to make two tools to do the job too. ( I laughed at my last sentence ) there might not be enough time in the exposure to do a nicely feathered dodge on each seperately. If this technique fails you, i suggest retouching by bleaching --- UNLESS --- you are more concerned with the content of the photo and not making a conventional print. Digital is safe and easy, tho IMHO does pale in comparison to the real print. Good luck, i believe almost anyone out ther can dodge these types of areas with a little practice. Sean.

-- Sean (ZBeeblebrox42@yahoo.com), December 08, 1999.

Why don't you try dye dodging the eyes with spot-tone or selenium toner? Works everytime. You'll need a magnifier to get really precise results but it is a much surere bet than ferricyanide. Just get a small brush and dab on the spotone or selenium toner to whatever density you require. It's an amazing technique that works. Spotone is reversable but selenium toner is not. Be careful. James

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), December 09, 1999.

project your image through a clean, clear piece of glass with 2 dark areas (size and shape to be determined prior to printing) the glass can be introduced briefly during actual exposure to dodge the eyes. note: the higher the glass the larger the dodged area so distance between paper and glass should be noted.

-- (sunya4@aol.com), December 14, 1999.

Easy dodging in split grade

Hoi,

A simple, fast methode is to use a splitgrade print with dodging in by the exposure of the soft filter. Advance, it is not only lighter but also higher contrast in they eyes. This higher contrast more orless automatically make's the attention on the picture going to the eyes. Have some fun,

Doej

Pascal

-- Pascal van Heesch (pheesch@europe.cirquedusoleil.com), January 05, 2000.

AFIC, the bleaching method is a hell of a lot easier and less troublesome than actual dodging, in spite of the fact that it involves re-wetting, fixing, and washing.

i do it over the sink on a sheet of plexiglass--you could certainly use a tray, too. just put on some VERY WEAK bleach, watch, and rinse of with running water, repeat as necessary. i use sepia bleach, which some people don't recommend. but i've had no problems if i re-fix before doing an overall bleach-and-tone.

--brad daly

-- brad daly (bwdaly@scott.net), January 09, 2000.

I have to agree with Brad. To dodge such a small area is next to impossible. If you were to get a copy of The Photographer's Master Printing Course by Tim Rudman isbn 1-85732-407-2 you would be able to learn the technique to bleaching, the formulas,etc. This is also a great book on toning,split toning, printing,Lith printing and bleaching. It certainly makes things easier.

-- Rick Obermeyer (obermeyer_rick@si.com), February 10, 2000.

Hi Walt,

You could try to apply small amount of fine powder (e.g. icing sugar) directly to the paper, using small brush to cover the area you want to dodge. After the first exposure (in your case 1/3 - 1/2 of total exposure time) just blow powder away from the paper and do the second exposure (another 2/3 - 1/2 of total time)

Eugene.

-- Eugene Safian (safian3@rogers.com), April 22, 2002.