About the Dodge Tool
Dodging is a darkroom technique that gives some parts of a picture more light than the rest. This online dodge tool does it with a brush: drag over a face, a pair of eyes, a dark corner or a product edge and that area becomes lighter while the rest stays untouched. You choose the brush size, how soft its edge is, how strong each pass is and whether it should act on shadows, midtones or highlights. Undo any stroke, start over, and save the result as a PNG at full size. Your picture never leaves your device.
Updated October 2026
How to use the Dodge Tool
- 1Press Select image and pick a photo, or drop one on the page.
- 2Set the brush size with the slider. A large soft brush gives a natural look.
- 3Choose whether to lighten shadows, midtones or highlights, and set the exposure.
- 4Drag over the picture. Go over a spot again to lighten it more.
- 5Use Undo if you overdo it, then press Download PNG.
What dodging is good for
Dodging fixes the places where a photo is too dark but the rest is fine. Common uses are lifting the shadow under a brow, brightening the eyes, opening up a dark corner of a room photo, and giving a product edge a little shine. Used lightly it makes a picture feel dimensional instead of flat.
How to get a natural result
Work with a big soft brush and a low exposure. Painting several light passes looks far more natural than one strong pass. Zoom out every now and then to check that the lightened area still looks like part of the scene. If it starts to look grey and washed, you went too far; press Undo.
- Brush size: about the size of the area, a little bigger
- Edge hardness: 0 to 30% for skin and sky
- Exposure: 10 to 30% and several passes
- Range: midtones for most jobs
Shadows, midtones and highlights
Choosing shadows makes the brush lift mostly the dark pixels, which is helpful to reveal detail without bleaching the bright parts. Highlights puts the effect on already bright pixels, adding sparkle to eyes or metal. Midtones affects the broad middle range and is the most forgiving.
Dodge and burn together
The classic retouching approach uses both. Dodge where light would fall, burn where it would be shaded. For that, use this tool and Burn Tool one after the other on the same picture; download in between since each tool opens its own picture.
Phone and computer
On a phone, use one finger to paint. The page does not scroll while you touch the picture, so scroll with the area outside it. On a computer, a ring shows the brush size before you click. Large photos are saved at their full size, up to about 16 million pixels.
Good to know
The result is saved as PNG, which keeps all the detail but can be a bigger file than a JPG. If you need a small file, run it through Compress Image afterwards. Your original file is never changed. To darken a spot that became too bright, use the Burn Tool, and use the Sponge Tool when only the colour needs to be stronger or weaker.
Features
- Brush with adjustable size and softness
- Shadows, midtones or highlights range
- Exposure control for each pass
- Undo and Start over
- Works with mouse, finger and pen
- Private: edited in your browser
Frequently asked questions
What does the dodge tool do?
It lightens the area you paint over. The name comes from darkroom printing, where a hand or card shaded part of a print so that area received less exposure and stayed lighter in the final picture. Digital dodging does the same job with a brush.
What is the difference between dodge and burn?
Dodge lightens and burn darkens. Photographers use them together, called dodge and burn, to add depth: brighten the eyes and the cheek highlights, darken the edges and the background.
What do shadows, midtones and highlights mean here?
They tell the brush which brightness levels to affect. Shadows mainly lifts dark pixels, highlights mainly lifts already bright pixels and midtones works on the in-between tones, which is the safe default.
Why does my edit look blotchy?
Usually the brush is too small or too hard, or the exposure is too high. Use a larger, softer brush with a low exposure and build the effect up slowly with several passes.
Does it change the whole picture?
No. Only the pixels under your brush change. Everything else stays exactly as it was.
Is my photo uploaded?
No. The editing runs in your browser and the picture stays on your device.