Sep
02

Add vignettes using Photoshop in 6 simple steps

Post Processing, Tutorials

In photography vignetting, or light fall-off, is the loss of brightness at the borders of an image and it is a lens characteristic or weakness.

Usually vignettes are not desired however it is not uncommon to add them during post-processing for example to draw the attention of the user to a particular portion of the image or to give it an aged look.

I am going to show you how to add vignetting to your image using Adobe photoshop in just a few simple steps.

  1. Open the image you want to add vignettes to in Adobe Photoshop
    Vignettes00-Original
  2. Select the Lasso Tool (L) or the Elliptical Marquee tool (M)
    Vignettes01-Lasso-Tool
    Vignettes02-Marquee-Tool
    I usually prefer the Lasso Tool since it is more flexible and allow to draw irregular shapes.
  3. Select loosely the portion of the image you want to draw attention to
    Vignettes03-LooseSelect
  4. Feather generously the selection
    Right click inside the selection you’ve just made and click on Feather
    In the Feather Radius box input a big number and press enter.
    Vignettes04-feather
    N.B.:Basically here you will have to experiment a bit to see which number fits your picture but the general rule is that the higher the resolution the bigger the number.
    For a high-resolution picture start with 100 pixels
  5. Inverse selection by right clicking inside the selection and click on “Select Inverse”
    Vignettes05-InvertSelection
  6. Add a Levels layer (Click on image for higher resolution)
    Vignettes06-LevelsLayer
  7. Darken by pulling the central point to right till you are satisfied with the results (Click on image for higher resolution)
    Vignettes07-Darken
    If the transition is not smooth enough to your liking go back to step 4 and pickup a higher number as Feather Radius

 

Final image

 2009-08-10_Canon EOS 5D Mark II_100-1293


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  • http://www.photonewstoday.com/?p=29061 Add vignettes using Photoshop in 6 simple steps – All day I Dream About Photography @ Photo News Today

    [...] Source and Read More: adidap.com [...]

  • http://blog.epicedits.com/2009/09/05/link-roundup-09-05-2009/ Link Roundup 09-05-2009

    [...] Add vignettes using Photoshop in 6 simple steps ADIDAP Want to add a vignette to your photo in post processing? Also want to make that vignette something other than round? How about with adjustable intensity and completely non-destructive? Here’s how. [...]

  • http://www.syed-photoxploration.com/blog/?p=604 Link Roundup 09-05-2009 » Syed's Photo Exploration

    [...] Add vignettes using Photoshop in 6 simple steps ADIDAP Want to add a vignette to your photo in post processing? Also want to make that vignette something other than round? How about with adjustable intensity and completely non-destructive? Here’s how. [...]

  • http://lovegraphics.org/ Love Graphics

    This is a great tutorial, thank you. And the end result looks wonderful.

  • http://yoxx.blogspot.com yoxx

    thanks for your info…

  • http://www.hephoto.ca wedding photography toronto

    yeah, this is a simple and good technique gives you great control as well! thanks for the tip

  • Gavin F

    I've been looking for an easy vignetting tutorial, and this is it! Thanks a ton :) Great effect.