Vignetting – a creative tool
September 14, 2011 5 Comments
The Vignetting tool in Capture One 6 can not only be used to compensate for Light Falloff caused by the lens, but also as a creative tool that allows you to change the whole expression of the image.
You can create both negative and positive Vignettings. By applying Vignetting, you help the spectator to focus more on the central part of the scene.
In the image on the left, a negative Vignetting has been applied to frame the windsurfer and darken the sky, which creates drama in the image. The image on the right is without Vignetting.
The Vignetting values are expressed in terms of EV. If you apply Vignetting of +2EV, it means that the image has been brightened the equivalent of 2 f-stops at the edges.
Creative use of Vignetting for portrait images can also be very powerful:
The same image with different amounts of Vignetting applied. The image to the left has a positive Vignetting. The center image is without Vignetting and the right image has negative Vignetting. For both positive and negative Vignetting, I have used a local adjustments layer to ensure that the model’s face maintains the right exposure.
Good morning Professor,
I use the vignetting tool in Capture One on regular basis and I like it. But I also sometimes use the raw processor in Photoshop and now I discovered the ‘graduated filter’ in which I can make vignettes with handles, just the way I like it. I think it works better than the vignetting tool in Cpature One, because I have more freedom of choose (and more possibilities for picture corrections.
Maybe something to think about in C1 7?
with regards Nico Hermans
A little vignette can help almost any photo. Even just a very subtle darkening of the corners helps keep the focus on your subject.
You are writing in your vignette blog “For both positive and negative Vignetting, I have used a local adjustments layer to ensure that the model’s face maintains the right exposure.”
The Vignette Tool feature within the Local Adjustment Layer is NOT available in the regular users version of Capture One Pro (6.3.2 for windows) as far I have noticed. Otherwise I missed something and thus please clarify. You must have a beta version of C1 7 or so….
Juerg
Dear Juerg,
I did all the adjustments in Capture One 6.3. It is true that you cannot create Vignettings in an adjustments layer, so I added the Vignetting in the base layer and added an adjustments layer with a soft mask covering the face of the Model. In this mask, I adjusted the exposure a little bit to ensure that I got approximately the same skin tone lightness in all 3 examples.
Best Regards
Niels
aha, thats a workaround….hoping that in future releases of C1 additional features like this are coming…..
thanks for clarification