99
Create dark vignettes

One of the most popular techniques utilized by darkroom users to control the exposure on different parts of the print was that of dodging and burning. This technique has been incorporated into Photoshop, which features a Dodge tool for lightening areas of the frame and a Burn tool for darkening areas. This combination allows for subtle control of where the viewer looks, with the eye being led away from dark areas and towards light areas. Darkening the edges – in particular the corners – to draw the eye to the centre of the frame is known as vignetting, which can also occur by accident if too many filters are fitted to a lens or if the lens hood is incorrectly attached. As well as simply using the Burn tool to gradually darken areas, it is possible to create the effect by using the Lasso tool to define a selection and then adjusting the brightness to darken the corners. This technique has the advantage of retaining the tones of the selected area, whereas the Burn tool adds a grey tone.

KEVIN WITH SAMURAI SWORD

A wide-angle shot of this swordsman was required to include the samurai sword in the frame. This led to a large expanse of the background being visible, which, because of its light tone, draws the eye away from the figure. To get around this, a dark vignette was added to the corners of the frame so as to lead the eye back into the frame. The vignette was achieved using a Lasso tool to surround the fighter. Once the area was selected, choosing Select > Inverse ensured the corners were darkened rather than the area within the selection. A 200-pixel feather was selected to graduate the effect, and choosing Image > Adjust > Brightness brought up a sliding scale for control of the vignetting.

Canon EOS-1DS, 28–70mm f/2.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/9, ISO 100.