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Inspiring
November 22, 2019
Question

How do I make food look burnt?

  • November 22, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 1676 views

The concept is that the food is severely burnt and actually on fire. I can use the Burn tool but that just darkens it.

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3 replies

Community Expert
November 22, 2019

> using a card with a hole in it

...or using your hand forming a hole with your fingers - as Photoshop burn tool icon suggests! 😉

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 22, 2019

That's right. But they couldn't make a card-with-hole icon - that would look like the mask icon... 😉

 

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 22, 2019

Just FYI, "burn" refers to an old darkroom technique where you give added exposure to a part of the print, using a card with a hole in it. It is not something a chef would use to flambé a dish of coq au vin.

 

As Mylenium correctly indicates, this would be a very complicated and time-consuming task. You'll need to completely alter all the tonal relationships in the image, effectively constructing a new image.

Mylenium
Legend
November 22, 2019

Depends on the image, but there are no shortcuts for realism. This could be extremely complicated, especialyl since different types of food naturalyl show different scorching/ burning patterns and colors. If this is for a commercial project, you might have better luck creating it physically by charring some veggies with a blow torch in a fireproof studio environment... in any case, you mustn't mistake the Burn tool (or blending mode) for actual burning. This term is merely derived from the color changes actual burning/ melting of old chemical film would do to the photos on it. That's were the relation to actual fire ends.

 

Mylenium