It's hard to believe the week is already winding down and I just couldn't leave ya'll without at least one photography post. I thought I'd share with you one quick thing I do during my post editing process which will add depth to your photos as well as really make your subject stand out. I'm talking about adding a vignette. Don't know what a vignette is? Let me show you:
Definition of vignette: A vignette is often added to an image to draw interest to the center and, in effect, frame the center portion of the photo. In this case it was done by darkening the edges of the photo.
The difference in these two photos is subtle - just a slight darkening of the edges of the second photo to draw your eye in toward the center - but I sure do love my vignettes and depending on how they're applied you can increase the effect to your liking. There are a few different ways you can get this look on your own photos.
1. You can add a vignette within Adobe Camera RAW if you are shooting your images in RAW as I do. This is commonly how I apply my vignette. When you open your RAW image simply click on the LENS CORRECTIONS TAB (seen here)
Now under POST CROP VIGNETTING pull the AMOUNT slider to the left. You can play around with the other sliders if you like but for the most part I'm happy with just pulling the slider to the left until I get the effect I want and then opening my RAW file in Adobe Photoshop.
2. Another way to create a vignette around the edges of your photos is by using the burn tool (I do believe Elements users have this tool too...stop me if I'm wrong?). This involves doing things by hand but I still love the technique. Open your photo and first create a duplicate layer (LAYER -> DUPLICATE LAYER) now select your burn tool (seen here)
I like to using a fairly large size soft brush to apply my burn and at a lower opacity because it's easy to get too much. Also play around with the RANGE (you'll see this at the top of your screen when you have selected your burn tool) and whether you prefer to adjust midtones/shadows. It's all about how you want it to look. Once you've got your settings figured out then go to your photo and start 'burning' around the edges left cliking the mouse and holding until you get the effect you want. If you've made it too dark don't worry, simply click on your layers window and adjust the opacity of the layer. When you're done flatten your image and voila:
3. The last way you can add a vignette to your photos is the simplest of all and that is to use your favorite vignette action. A lot of action sets you purchase will contain a vignette action already so have a look through your stash but here are a few of my favs:
I really like Brenda's vignette action - I applied the vignette to this photo using it along with a couple of her fabulous actions/textures.
Here's an awesome free one and it's available for Elements as well as Photoshop.
and here's another one worth checking out (it's the burnt edges action) along with a handful of other great free actions
By the way here is another great resource for photoshop tutorials/FAQs about photo editing. Definately worth bookmarking I think!
For more simple photography tips I'm excited to be telling ya'll first about a new ebook that I have put together entitled 40 Tips For Better Photos: simple suggestions for stunning photos which will be released at the beginning of September by a brand new (and super cool) company called Ella Publishing!
Here's a little peak just for you at what's in store:
Well, that's all the photo talk for today but stay tuned tommorow when I'll be sharing a quick mini album featuring some more gorgeous SEI products (did I not say it was going to be fabulous give away yesterday! Don't ya just love SEI!!) along with a few images that ya'll have been sharing in the flikr group!
:)
Rebecca
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Hi everyone—Elizabeth here, breaking into Rebecca's week (with permission!) to share a quick tip for anyone who uses iPhoto or Aperture instead of Photoshop and daydreams about vignetting. Or, at the very least, is curious about how to do it if you haven't figured it out yet!
It is possible to add a vignette to your photo using iPhoto, but as far as the effects go it's probably the most rudimentary of what you can do in that program—you don't have very much control over how much vignetting is placed on your photo. You can increase the amount, but the first degree is already awfully dark. But for certain photos, it is a nice addition (i.e. heritage photos, photos with already slightly dark edges, etc.)
To find the vignette function, first click on the edit button at the bottom of your iPhoto window:
Then look for the "effects" button:
Incidentally, you can do a whole lot with the effects and adjustments in iPhoto to make your photos brighter, sharper, and full of contrast. Just play around with those controls and see what happens!
Aside: aren't those two adorable? That's my Maddie and her good friend Molly— they only get to see each other once a year or so but they've been good friends since birth, just like their mamas!
(You can click the example to make it larger).
If you're using Aperture, you have a lot more control over how much vignetting you want applied to your photo—see the example above? The second photo definitely pops more as Rebecca explained above. There are two choices: gamma and exposure vignettes, and there are sliders for the amount and the size of each. It's a matter of playing around until you get the effect you like—easy!
To find the vignette control, click on the adjustments tab; the little plus sign just underneath it is where the vignette control exists, at the bottom of the menu. When you select it, the vignette control will be added to your adjustment screen at the bottom. Then, play around with it!
Hope this helps some Apple photo girls out there somewhere : )
Congratulations goes to Betheroo who said,
Hmmm! Boyfriends - so long ago! I love the Cosmo Cricket kit though, and am sure I could come up with some kind of page about an old boyfriend!