Creating Vignettes

Creating a nice, even vignette in Photoshop is easy as pie - once you've been through the procedure one time. It's just a matter of creating a selection then adding feathering for the blend effect. To create the rectangular vignette edge on the old Navajo woman sepia-toned photo, the Rectangle selection marquee was used. Select an area about 3/8 of an inch within the frame, evenly on all four sides (have your ruler out for aid). Feather the selection about 20 to 40 pixels - the amount is dependent on the effect you want and the resolution of your scan. Invert your selection - under the Selection menu choose Inverse. Make your background color white, then hit the Delete key.

The classic oval vignette of the photo of the old man from Merida (below left) is done in a similar manner. Use the Elliptical marquee this time and start out in the very center of the image, holding the Option key down. Drag out the selection until you encompass the area you want to start the blend* - don't get too close to the edge of the frame or your vignette will not have a chance to go to white. Feather the selection with the desired amount, Invert and Delete. Check your density around the edges (using the Get Info window) to make sure your blend goes to pure white before the frame ends.

This process is also how the black and white photo of the Navajo woman has been composited with the sepia-toned one. An oval selection was made on the close-up portrait and feathered about 36 pixels. It was then copied and pasted onto the sepia-toned photo, sized and placed. The fade-out around the edges "vignettes" into the background photo, creating an interesting effect.

Another example of using this vignette technique is demonstrated in the photo of the bronze monolithic sculpture (right). A copy of the original photo was created and saved as a separate file. It was then abstracted using a combination of filter applications. The original photo was then "vignetted" using the method used for the close-up portrait of the Navajo woman, copied and pasted over the abstracted photo, creating the transition from reality to abstraction pictured.

Experiment with different amounts of feathering at various resolutions and find what vignette effects you like the most. Try vignetting with a customized selection made by using the Lasso marquee. See the Photoshop Tip linked to the right titled Seamless Selection and Transitional Masks for more information on selection techniques. For another sample of a classic vignette, see the photo sample on the Tip page on Digitally Hand Coloring Black and White photos.

*With a feathered selection, the marquee indicates the 50% point of the feathering - as many pixels are affected on one side of the marquee as the other.

See last week's Photoshop Tips

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IN MEMORY OF CARL VOLK
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>>>>Carl N. Volk<<<< April 8, 1953 - September 5, 2000 

Carl's art, talents and teachings will live on for all of us to enjoy.
Visit: http://www.carlvolk.com