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Cure Vignetting in digital images
Techniques
18 June 2009 14:29
Ever taken a shot and wondered why your image is suffering from dark corners? These dark corners are commonly referred to as Vignetting and are caused by light falling off at the edges of the image circle projected onto the sensor by your lens.
It’s a common problem encountered on budget lenses and usually occurs when using a wide aperture (low f/number) at the lens’s widest zoom setting. On telephoto zooms it tends to happen at the longest focal length. Choosing a smaller aperture such as f/8 or f/11 will usually cure Vignetting problems, but of course this can’t be done after the picture has been taken.
In the full version of Photoshop, Vignetting can be easily cured and removed under the Lens Tab in the Adobe Camera Raw interface. If you’re using Elements, you can go to Filter in the Menu bar and down to Correct Camera Distortion instead and remove it using the Amount slider found under the Vignette to the right. To get the best possible results, the Midpoint slider that lies beneath the Amount slider can be adjusted, but to begin with you need to set at the halfway mark of +50.
It’s a good idea to take note of the Amount and Midpoint settings that you use to cure your images so you can use them again when adjusting an image taken at the same aperture and focal length using the same lens.
Check out our quick tips below to see how you can remove the worst Vignetting problems from your digital images quickly and easily.
Photoshop
In the full version of Photoshop, Vignetting is best removed using the Lens Corrections Tab in the Camera Raw Interface.
Load your Raw file into Photoshop and change the Basic Tab for the Lens Corrections Tab. The range of different tabs can be found just beneath the Histogram.
Move beneath the Chromatic Aberration sliders to the Lens Vignetting sliders. Take hold of the Amount slider and drag this to the right to brighten any of your affected corners. If you’re purposely looking to add a Vignette to an image as an effect, move the Amount slider to the left instead. To fine-tune the removal of Vignetting try increasing the value of the Midpoint slider that’s found beneath the Amount slider.
Elements
To fix Vignetting in Elements, you can make use of the Correct Camera Distortion option.
Open your image into Elements before going to Filter > Correct Camera Distortion.
Move beneath the image and untick the Show Grid box.
Move over to the Vignette on the right and move the Amount slider to the right until the spread of light is even across the frame. The Midpoint slider is set to +50 as Default so use this slider to fine-tune the removal of the Vignette.
Before you hit OK click On and Off the Preview to check the improvement.
Video Lesson
To see how you can apply a creative Vignette to your images, don’t miss the Photoanswers Creative Vignette in Elements video tip – just click here.
