Peripheral dimming or "vignette" used by masters to concentrate the viewer’s attention on the central part of the image. It is worth noting that vignettes can be not only dark, but also light and blurry.

In this lesson we will talk specifically about dark vignettes and learn how to create them in different ways.

For the lesson, a photo of a birch grove was selected and a copy of the original layer was made ( CTRL+J).

Method 1: Manual creation

As the name suggests, this method involves manually creating a vignette using a fill and a mask.

Opacity is selected individually for each work.

Method 2: Feathering the Selection

This is a method using shading of an oval area followed by filling. Don't forget that we are drawing the vignette on a new empty layer.

1. Select a tool "Oval area".

2. Create a selection in the center of the image.

3. This selection needs to be inverted, since we will have to fill the edges, not the center of the picture, with black. This is done with a keyboard shortcut CTRL+SHIFT+I.

4. Now press the keyboard shortcut SHIFT+F6, calling up the shading settings window. The radius value is selected individually; we can only say that it should be large.

5. Fill the selection with black ( SHIFT+F5, black color).

6. Deselect ( CTRL+D) and reduce the opacity of the vignette layer.

Method 3: Gaussian Blur

First, let's repeat the starting points (new layer, oval selection, invert). Fill the selection with black without shading and deselect it ( CTRL+D).

1. Go to the menu “Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur”.

2. Use the slider to adjust the blur of the vignette. Note that too large a radius may darken the center of the image. Don't forget that after blurring we will lower the opacity of the layer, so don't go too hard.

3. Reduce the opacity of the layer.

Method 4: Distortion Correction filter

This method can be called the simplest of all the above. However, it is not always applicable.

There is no need to create a new layer, since the actions are performed on a copy of the background.

1. Go to the menu “Filter – Distortion Correction”.

2. Go to the tab "Custom" and set up a vignette in the corresponding block.

This filter will only apply to the active layer.

Today you learned four ways to create dark edges (vignettes) in Photoshop. Choose the most convenient and suitable for a specific situation.

4 ways

darkening in photoshop

When shooting, quite often a situation occurs when some objects turn out to be too light, while others, on the contrary, are too dark.

This is especially true for shooting on a sunny day.

It’s not for nothing that professionals try to shoot either early in the morning or in the evening, when the sun is not so strong.

It’s quite easy to solve the problem of such pictures in Photoshop; there are many methods.

Photos taken in different conditions, so one method may work for one photo and another for a completely different one.

In the lesson "4 ways darkening in photoshop" describes several methods for darkening the main subject, from the simplest to the more complex.

Accordingly, after watching the lesson, you will understand how, on the contrary, not to darken, but to lighten the main subject of photography.

The lesson was made in the Russified SS 2017 program, but can be easily repeated in any version of Photoshop.
The lesson can be completed by a user with any level of Photoshop proficiency - just repeat the steps after me and you will get the desired result.

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• Author - Nakroshaev Oleg
• Duration of the video lesson- 10 min 06 sec
  
• Picture size - 1280x720
  
• Video format - MP4
• Archive size - 61 MB

Lesson transcription:

Good day to all! Oleg Nakroshaev and the PhotoshopSunduchok website are in touch.

When looking through your photos, you quite often see this problem - the main subject is too light. Just like in this photo. This photo was taken in the city of Lomonosov. This is the Menshikov Palace. Overall, the photo looks good, but the main subject, this part of the castle, turned out to be very bright.

In this lesson I want to show you several ways to darken the main subject of photography - from the simplest to the more complex. Why several? In general, there are quite a lot of ways. The fact is that one method can suit one photo, and another method can suit a completely different one. Our photographs are very different. Therefore, I will show several ways.

So, let's move on to the lesson - let's start with the simplest methods.

Let's go to the "Channels" palette, hold down the "CTRL" key, I click on the "RGB" channel, I have loaded a selection and this is a selection of the highlights in the photo. Now I add a Curves adjustment layer. I'll turn on the "Targeted Correction" tool - this is this hand with a double-headed arrow. I move around our object and see that it is mainly in one quarter tones and is approaching halftones. Therefore, I will simply, like this, lower the curve down. For example, like this. Let's see - this was the photograph, this is the photograph we received. Thus, using this method, we darkened the main subject of the photograph. Not only the main subject, but also all the lights in the photo. If necessary, you can reduce the opacity of the layer. In the History palette, I'll click on the camera icon and take a photo in History. Just so I can compare later which way is better.

Let's switch to the "Open" state and consider the second method. Let's go to "Selection", select a command such as "Color Range". Let’s expand the “Select” list and select “Backlight”. Thus, we again highlight the light in the photo. Using the “Scatter” and “Range” sliders, you and I can adjust the amount of lights that fall into the selection. For example, let it be like this. Click “OK”. Highlight selection has loaded. Let's add curves again and lower the curve down, darken the lights in the photo. For example, like this.

Again, I'll take a photo in the History palette. I will return to the “Open” state. We can already look at it - here is the 1st method, here is the 2nd method. They are very similar, but the result is, of course, different.

Let's go to the original image and consider the third method. I'll create a copy of the layer "CTRL + J" and go to "Image" - "Adjustments" - "Shadows / Highlights". We have the photo, by default, lightened by 35%. I’ll turn the lightening down to 0, but in the “Lights” section, I’ll increase the effect on the contrary, thereby darkening the lights. Well, for example, this way. I'll click "OK". This was the photo, this is the photo we received.

In the sky we even got this kind of “HDR” effect. But this method is not always suitable, since we often get halos. This can be observed, for example, in trees.

In the “Stories” palette, I click on the camera icon. Let's go to the original photo and we can see the results of 3 methods - photos 1, 2 and 3 and let's look at the 4th method.

In this method we will use “Channels”. Let's go to the Channels palette and look at the red channel. I look at the main subject - in the red channel the object is too light, the green channel, the blue channel. Here, in the blue channel, more or less, the object is darkened and some details appear. Therefore, I will use the blue channel. Although, of course, there are not very many details in it either. I'll go to the Layers palette. I'll add a new layer. I’ll go to “Image” - “External channel”. I expand the “Channel” list, select “Blue”, “Overlay” - “Normal”, 100% opaque. I click “OK”. With this action, we placed the blue channel on a new layer. Now, I’ll add another “Curves” adjustment layer and darken the main subject, thereby improving the blue channel. Let it be like this. My top layer is active. While holding Shift, I click on layer 1 and merge the two layers into a group - CTRL+G. I set the blending mode for this group to Burn.

Now, my task is to make sure that I overlay this resulting image on the lower background layer, and overlay it only in the red channel. We will do this with the help of “Layer Styles”. I double-click on group 1 with the left mouse button, the “Layer Style” window opens and here I give the command to overlay the resulting image on the background layer only in the red channel. To do this, I uncheck the green channel and the blue channel. I click “OK”. This is the photo we received. Let's now restore the colors. I made the background layer active. I press the key combination “CTRL+J” and move the “Background Copy” layer to the very top - I press the key combination “Shift+CTRL+]”, the image returns to its original state. Now, for this layer, I simply set the blending mode to "Color". Let's take a look - here is the original photo, this is the photo we received. The main subject was darkened quite well, details appeared, but at the same time the lower right part of the photo became too dark and the roses that we have in the foreground became too dark. Well, this is natural, since we darkened the red channel.

So what's now? Let's correct our result a little. I make the background layer active. I duplicate this layer – “Background copy 2” and place it again on upper layer- “Shift+CTRL+]”. Hold down the ALT key and click on Add a Layer Mask. A layer mask has been added - it is black. The picture is back to its original state. Now, I simply select the Gradient tool. In the options panel, I will expand the list of gradients and select the very first one, which is called “From foreground to background”. I select “Linear Gradient” - this is the first icon among these five. Don't forget to press the "D" key, that is, make sure that your colors become default. And now, I will draw a gradient along the lower right part of the picture, for example, like this. It didn't turn out very well. Therefore, I will draw it again and make the gradient a little longer. Our new gradient will replace the old gradient - this is very convenient.

And this is what we got - this was the picture, this is the picture we got. In the “History” palette, we’ll take another picture and now we can compare - here we have the original picture and 4 results - here’s 1, here’s 2, here’s 3, here’s 4. Choose the one you like best. And as I already noted at the beginning of the lesson, for some photographs this result will be suitable, for some – another, for the third one a completely different method may be suitable.

This concludes the lesson.

In this lesson, we looked at 4 ways to darken the main subject.

Thank you for your attention!

Oleg Nakroshaev and the PhotoshopSunduchok website were with you.

DOWNLOAD SOURCE AND LESSON "4 WAYS" DARKENING IN PHOTOSHOP Back

Non-destructive darkening and dodging is usually done using a 50% gray fill layer. Although this method has worked for me in the past, I find it difficult to predict the results I will achieve in the end. Later, I started using adjustment layers with masks to do the darkening and dodging, and found that I had more control over the tone and contrast of the image.

The advantage of using this method is that after applying the layer mask, you can easily reopen the dialog box and change the amount of brightness or darkening applied to specific areas.

From development before digital technologies

Dodging and burning is a traditional darkroom printing technique that is used to give certain areas of a printed image more or less exposure. The goal of the method is to restore lost information, usually caused by high-contrast exposure.

This technique can be easily applied in Photoshop and will help you restore your images. Have you ever taken photos with overexposed highlights? Or landscapes with lost detail in the shadows? This technique is a lifesaver for such situations and can be used in all tonal corrections of certain areas of images.

In the image above that I used as an example, the lentils and chicken underneath the fried egg were too dark and I was losing some important detail. Also notice how the white areas of the egg and the edge of the white napkin are overexposed. Dodging and burning will help correct these two problems.

First I'll lighten the dark areas.

Step №1 – Add corrective layer Levels

Open your image and use the Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette to add a Levels layer.

Step №2 – Do tone settings

Since I'll be working mostly on the area under the egg, I'll use the midtone slider in the center of the histogram to make tonal adjustments. Drag the slider to the left to lighten the area. Notice that the entire image becomes lighter. Do not panic. We'll use a mask later to fix this. On this moment concentrate on the area you want to lighten. Once you are satisfied with the tonal level, click OK.

Step #3 – Add a Layer Mask

Creating an adjustment layer will automatically add a mask to that layer. You'll see that your adjustment layer has two small windows. The box on the right is your layer mask. Make sure the box on the right is selected, click on the Primary Color Tool and set it to black. Place the cursor within the image and click on it. Adding black will hide the adjustment layer. Now you need to use White color to manifest it in those places where it is needed.

Step №4 – Manifestation corrective layer

Select the appropriate brush size for the specific area and reduce the opacity to 15%. Set the color to white and start carefully painting the area you want to lighten, in my case the food under the fried egg. Continue painting until you are happy with the lightness level.

If the lightening is too strong, double-click on the adjustment layer and move the slider to the right to make the effect less intense. Not light enough? Move the slider to the left.

Fast and effective way lightening or blackouts image areas at photo processing as a replacement for tools Lightening And Blackout.

WITH this way I met him in the book by S. Kelby “Handbook for processing in Photoshop,” pp. 196-197. Here the method is presented as a replacement for Photoshop tools Dodge (Lighten) And Burn. I liked the method so much that I wrote it in the form Action, and I use it all the time. And the other day I came across a description of the same method in the magazine “Practical Photoshop” (No. 9 for 2011, p. 55), but in a slightly different vein, and - which is absolutely wonderful! — it uses exactly Dodge And Burn! To replace imperfect tools, we use these very tools!

But enough confusion, I’ll describe the method.

For darkening/lightening problem areas of the image (sky, sea, deep shadows, areas of the face - yes, what am I listing - everyone knows about them very well) - the most various ways. Levels with masks, Curves with masks, blending modes (with masks), Shadows/Lights. The above-mentioned ones are intended for local, local changes. Lighten And Dim.

So, here's an alternative.

Open the image whose areas require correction. In the main menu of the program, select Layers - New - Layer. Please note that this is exactly what you need to do - through the menu, so that a window appears, in which we will configure some parameters a little later. Or you can click on the button Create New Layer in the palette Layers, but holding down the key Alt.

In the window that appears, select the mode Overlap, and place the bird a little lower Fill with a neutral color in the “overlay” mode (gray 50%). As a result, a new layer appears above the original layer, filled with 50% gray, which in blend mode Overlap is ignored, so the image will not change at all.

Now, in classic version(which is from Scott Kelby), select a soft brush and reduce the opacity to 25-30 percent. Pressing the keys one by one D And X, set the front color to white. We begin to move the mouse over the places that need to be brightened. If the lightening effect is not enough, we go over the area a second or third time.

To darken light areas, press D to set the foreground color to black, and move the mouse over the desired areas.

I also read this recommendation somewhere: when doing any work in Photoshop, you need to do the next operation, then squint, lean back in the chair, perhaps in a “hands on your head” pose, and after these manipulations reduce the force of influence by 10-15 percent. Laugh laugh, but I actually do this sometimes. So we have such an opportunity in the form of a general opacity gray layer.

On this classic way ends, and there is a reason to drink to remember the second opportunity. It is proposed to use the same tools as a brush - Lighten And Dim. What are the advantages? If a regular brush works with the same force in each movement, then this pair gradually strengthens its action when crawling in one place, without releasing the mouse button. When using these tools you only need to increase Opacity- up to one hundred percent. Additionally, it is necessary to clarify the range in which changes are necessary - Shadows, Backlight or Midtones. The result is a softer, more flexible and thinner instrument.

Well, as a bonus, we’ll add the following to the collection of lightening/darkening methods:

At the very beginning, just add an empty layer (by clicking Create New Layer in the palette Layers), set the blending mode to Soft light. Take the same white or black brush with Opacity 30%, and perform the same actions as described. The result is softer and more moderate than the first.

In the end, I want to emphasize that all methods are very easy to write in Action.

Instructions

Photoshop, as you know, is a professional graphics editor with a lot of tools, so there are countless options for darkening the background. You can simply use a darkening brush on the picture, you can select the main characters on a separate layer using a lasso and dim the brightness of the background layer, or simply use some kind of light filter. We want to offer you another way. At first glance it looks a little complicated, but in reality there is nothing difficult or unusual, and the result of such darkening looks very natural and beautiful.

For successful work we will need Quick Mask and Gradient, located on the toolbar. The type of gradient you choose will depend on the shape of the main element of the photo. For example, when working with a portrait, choose gradient two with rays diverging from the center; in our case, we will use gradient number 4, which will give us a smooth transition along the entire main element.

Click the Quick Mask button. Go to the gradient tool, select the option that suits you best and apply a gradient to the image so that the main element is filled with red. It should look something like this.

Press the Quick Mask button again to exit its mode. Use the keyboard shortcuts CTRL + J to copy the selected area to a new layer. Go to the menu under Image – Adjustments – Brightness/Contrast. Move the sliders to decrease the brightness of the layer and increase or decrease its contrast. It all depends on what you would like the future photograph to look like. If this also darkens areas that you would like to keep light, there is nothing to worry about. Turn on the layer mask and, alternating white and soft brushes, remove or add darkening to the desired area of ​​the image.