Photo Trick 1 : Vignetting

hi, fellow wannabes. sorry for procrastinating. i have a lot of tips and tricks (not that much lah, actually, but adalah sikit-sikit tu) to lay down but too little time to fit everything in. and juggling 2 blogs is quite a challenge i might add. i don't know how some people do it.

anyway, back to business.

i guess i've showed you some of the basic ways to get better compositions in your photos in my last couple of posts. i think you guys will do fine with that 2 basic techniques for now. i see that a reader has already tried adopting the tips on her photo. (good job! dila!). i'll give you more the moment i learn the tricks myself. i won't keep it to myself, i promise. it's always good to share.

today though, i'll share a photoshop tip that i always apply on most of my photos. it's called Vignetting (vig-nyet - sounds like monyet). vignette has a few diverse meanings depending on where you want to put it, but in photography, it's the term we call for the faded edges at the corner of the photos. sometimes it's dark, sometimes it's white. i prefer dark edges. i don't remember the traditional technique i had to do it using the conventional exposure thingamajig in the dark room. but thank god for photoshop we can now re-create the technique!

here's how i do it. (using photoshop CS2 and beyond)

1. first, open file in photoshop. (i'm opening a picture of the diva kecik acting like the royal divaness she is)

2. click auto-levels or auto-contrast or both depending how you like your levels or contrast (go to image > adjustments > auto level / auto contrast).

i do this with all my pictures before i start on anything else. sometimes, i'll just leave the photo at this stage and terus save. coz sometimes, even when you take photos using a DSLR, the picture comes out bland (for me because i dont adjust my settings. i malas, so i just use the auto or programmed mode) so this auto-levels / auto-contrast helps me to correct it and give a bit more boost to my photos.



3. once that's done, you go to Filter > Distort > Lens Correction



4. and you'll get this lens correction window to edit whatever you want to out of your photo. i'm less adventurous so i just use the vignette tool. first, uncheck the grid at the bottom part of your window because it's bloody distracting. and then move on to the tool side on the right. see the vignette tool? ok. move the 'amount' curser to the left (if you want darker edges, or right if you want lighter edges) and adjust to the darkness (or lightness) you desire. and move the midpoint curser the opposite way. and once you're done, click ok.

and if you want the darken edges to go darker, do it again.



5. Flatten your image (go to the layer tool, click the small arrow on top, and scroll down to 'flatten' / or, go to Layer > Flatten)

6. And save. (remember to save as a different file in case you still want to keep the original)



8. and viola!



see the difference?

the 'after' picture lagi dramatic kan? that's what vignetting does, and that's why i like applying the effect on almost every photo i have. it gives more focus to the subject, bagi more 'feelings' to the composition.

try it out. hope it works for you.

if you want something simpler, try the vignetting effect by Photoscape (i've never used it myself, so i don't know if it'll look as good or natural as the effect i've been doing for years now. but you can try it)