Vignettes

Black and white vignettes are commonly used to reduce extraneous detail and focus the viewer's attention on the subject.

Black Vignette

Multiply is the best choice for a black vignette. Click on the New Layer icon in the Layers palette to create a new layer. Set blend mode to Multiply. Choose a White-to-Black radial gradient. Click on the center of the image and drag to the corner of the image. Choose Edit > Fade Gradient to adjust the gradient. Alternatively, click on the Gradient bar in Options and move the sliders to define a custom gradient. The same effect can be achieved using a Normal blend with a Curves adjustment layer and placing a gradient in the Curves Layer Mask.

	Original Multiply Curves

The curve for Black Vignette, illustrated below, was used to simulate the Multiply blend for the flower. In areas where the Layer Mask is white the curve takes full effect and the resulting image is black. In areas where the Layer Mask is black the curves has no effect and the original image shows through.

Black Vignette	Modified Black Vignette

Creating vignettes with blends and gradients can be tricky. If the results are not correct you must redraw the gradient from scratch. Instead, if you use curves to create the vignette, significant adjustments can be made without redrawing the gradient. A Modified Black Vignette is illustrated above.

White Vignette

Screen is the best choice for a white vignette. Click on the New Layer icon in the Layers palette to create a new layer. Set the blend mode to Screen. Choose a Black-to-White radial gradient. Click on the center of the image and drag to the corner of the image. Choose Edit > Fade Gradient to adjust the gradient. Alternatively, click on the Gradient bar in Options and move the sliders to define a custom gradient. The same effect can be achieved using a Normal blend with a Curves adjustment layer and placing a gradient in the Curves Layer Mask.

	Original Screen Curves

The curve for White Vignette, illustrated below, was used to simulate the Screen blend for the flower. In areas where the Layer Mask is white the curve takes full effect and the resulting image is white. In areas where the Layer Mask is black the curve has no effect and the original image shows through.

White Vignette	Modified White Vignette

Creating vignettes with blends and gradients can be tricky. If the results are not correct you must redraw the gradient from scratch. Instead, if you use curves to create the vignette, significant adjustments can be made without redrawing the gradient. A Modified White Vignette is illustrated above.

Irregular Vignettes

Gradients work well if the vignette is linear or radial. For irregular shapes base the vignette on a selection.

• Flatten layers.
• Make a selection using the Lasso tool.
• Choose Select > Modify > Smooth to remove the kinks.
• Choose Select > Feather to feather the selection.

For a full-sized 6mp image, try using a radius of 100 pixels for both Smooth and Feather. Then apply a smooth or ragged vignette.

Smooth Vignette
For a smooth vignette add the following steps:

• Set the background color to the vignette border color.
• Invert the selection (Ctrl-Shift-I) to select the background.
• Delete the selected area (Del).

Ragged Vignette
If the image has a flat mono-colored background, as shown in the child painter, add the following steps:

• Use the Eyedropper to set the background color to the original background color.
• Set the foreground color to the vignette border color.
• Run the Ragged Vignette action supplied in the Actions download.

The Ragged Vignette action sets up two layers. The bottom layer has the original background color and the top layer fades to transparency. The foreground color applied to the transparent top layer won't completely fill this area. This allows some of the background color in the bottom layer to peek through and creates the ragged edge effect.