Home Wikituition Browse all terms Categories
Random term
Film, Darkroom & Historic Processes

Dodging

Holding back light from part of a print during exposure so that area comes out lighter.

Measured in seconds

In depth

Dodging is done with a hand or a small shaped card on a wire, kept moving so its edge does not register as a hard line. Because it reduces exposure, it lightens the print — the opposite of what the negative's density would otherwise give — and is the standard remedy for a shadow area that would otherwise print featureless black.

Examples in practice

Dodging a face for three seconds of a fifteen-second exposure opens the shadow under a hat brim.