Digital editing: when to burn?

[jadin]

I recently discovered the burn brush, though I don't know when a proper time to use it is. I keep buring my photos and I can't tell if I like the original(s) or the burned ones instead. It's only a 10% burn so it's minor differences.

So far I've kept the burnt look for one photo, made it look smoother, more natural. But for the others I just can't tell one way or the other.

So, when do you burn?

 

[Canon Fan]

Usually I pretty much reserve burning for my B+W stuff, or when I need a little more contrast in those puffy white clouds against a really dark blue sky. Basically I think it works best when you need certain areas of the pic to have more contrast that would cause you to blow out the highlights using levels or brightness/contrast adjustment.

 

[Big Mike]

I occasionally like to do an edge burn gradient. It's not the same as using the burn tool but I like the effect.