How do I take portraits with dark edges?

[hosh]

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do this. Is it with a lens hood? Is it done in photoshop (I'll be so disappointed if it is!)?? Help me please!

Here's an example of what I would like the portrait edges to look like:

 

[GeorgeUK]

Yes it can be done in Photoshop (at least that's how I do mine).

Filter>Distort>Lens Correction

Apply the vignette through that.

HTH

 

[hosh]

Looks like I need a new version of Photoshop- I don't have a Lens Correct option. Any other suggestions?

 

[GeorgeUK]

I am using CS2.

 

[hosh]

Well, your first suggestion got me digging in my Photoshop (I have Photoshop Elements-completely lame, I know), and I found a filter under "render" called "lighting effect" that does the trick very nicely. So thanks for your help pointing me in the right direction!

 

[GeorgeUK]

No probs. Hope to see some examples in the gallery section soon. :thumbup:

 

[Arch]

Here is how to do it in a way which gives you complete control.

- Create a new layer

- Select the Elliptical Marquee tool

- in the Feather option box at the top put in around 120 - 130 px

- with the page zoomed out a little, click outside the top left corner of the photo and drag it across the image to outside the bottom right of the photo

- you now have an elliptical shape but first we need to invert the selection, so go to select and inverse.

- now fill the selection with black and deselect

- Adjust the opacity of the layer to suit your image, done.

The advantage of learning this way is that you can create any kind of vignette to suit any image, you can make the feathering harder or softer, change the darkness and shape of the vignette.... if you like you can also play with the layer styles and give it a more burnt in look.

enjoy.

 

[Socrates]

Well, your first suggestion got me digging in my Photoshop (I have Photoshop Elements-completely lame, I know), and I found a filter under "render" called "lighting effect" that does the trick very nicely. So thanks for your help pointing me in the right direction!

Completely lame? Followed by an admission that you don't know how to use it!

 

[Lakewood Photography]

Thanks Arch!

 

[notelliot]

if you didn't want to use photoshop, and do this while shooting, get a couple strobes.
point one at your background with a grid to narrow the beam, and set up side or top lighting for your subject with one more strobe. i'd try a 2 or 3:1 ratio between the lights, the higher power going to the bg light.

just a thought.

 

[brileyphotog]

You can do it "manually" by stacking a bunch of filters on top of each other. Or by putting dSLR format (like the Nikon DX) lenses on a full frame camera.

 

[Meysha]

Your example above was definitely done in photoshop.

Notice how the vignetting (what the dark edges are called) is in even straight bars down the side of the image. You can end up with that look if you're not careful. Follow the procedure above, but then play around with a layer mask making it darker and lighter in areas to make it look less uniform.

Also, I like to set the layer style to Multiply when doing vignetting.

 

[hosh]

Completely lame? Followed by an admission that you don't know how to use it!

Socrates- To be quite honest, I don't know a ton about Photoshop- mostly because I think that good photography shouldn't need Photoshop and I use it as little as possible. Thus the reason I said in my original post that I would be disappointed if the technique is done in Photoshop.

 

[brileyphotog]

Socrates- To be quite honest, I don't know a ton about Photoshop- mostly because I think that good photography shouldn't need Photoshop and I use it as little as possible. Thus the reason I said in my original post that I would be disappointed if the technique is done in Photoshop.

As previously stated, your example is clearly photoshopped. If you want to do it without resorting to digital techniques, you need to follow the suggestions of either notelliot or myself.

 

[JerryPH]

Well, as mentioned, vignetting is difficult to do outside photoshop, and the technique mentioned above is not vignetting, but reverse vignetting. It is a highlight around a person, not a darkening of the edges around the frame of the picture.

Yes, good photography should start in the camera, but don't limit your self into thinking that it ends there... becuase it doesn't.