Do you use vignettes in wildlife photography? 🤔🤷🏼‍♀️

[Larry S.]

Occasionally I look at an image and nothing seems to work through formatting, editing or filtering….or all of them. I shot this Carolina Wren recently that was blown out in the background and was ready to hit the “delete” key. I re-framed it square and converted the image to B&W. Very marginal improvement (Yup, lot of grain/noise). I recalled that many portrait photographers vignette their clients to focus attention and add drama. I gave it a try. I’m still “underwhelmed” but think this technique may be useful going forward. I suspect others use vignettes in wildlife photography but don’t recall seeing one in these forums…

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[Cameron T]

Nope. I don't use them in anything. I feel like it usually takes away from the image. If I can do it naturally (eg frame the subject with dark branches or leaves) I'll do it, but not in post. I don't enjoy them

 

[Palouse]

Never that strong. Just a subtle hint.

 

[Doug Herr]

nope.

 

[Larry S.]

Nope. I don't use them in anything. I feel like it usually takes away from the image. If I can do it naturally (eg frame the subject with dark branches or leaves) I'll do it, but not in post. I don't enjoy them

I agree…..just looks too weird, like I’m looking through a spotting scope…

 

[Butlerkid]

Yes...but extremely subtle....barely noticeable even with the two images side by side. It is effective for many genres, including architecture. But it is a finishing technique. It will NOT save a poor photo.

 

[Lee R]

Yes if it adds to it but subtle amounts, just enough to pop the subject or color a little in the center if it warrants it.

 

[GregT943]

Yes...but extremely subtle....barely noticeable even with the two images side by side. It is effective for many genres, including architecture. But it is a finishing technique. It will NOT save a poor photo.

Same for me. If I do use it, which I don't always do, I keep it subtle enough that its very difficult to even notice.

 

[LouiseDan]

I will often use either a subtle radial gradient spotlight or a gradient vignette

 

[Larry S.]

I certainly agree with all the comments. This is the original:

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[Butlerkid]

I certainly agree with all the comments. This is the original:
View attachment 93679

Watch Steve's video on using Noise reduction. That would help the image more than anything else.....IMHO.

 

[tclune]

I am sometimes tempted to do it, but I can never decide whether it helps direct attention or is a gimmicky distraction. It may be that I just overdo it when I try. Here's one I seriously considered:

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Original

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Vignette

Any thoughts?

 

[MrFotoFool]

My favorite tool for doing this is one in NikColorEfex4 called darken/lighten center. It is more subtle (and to my eye more pleasing) than the regular vignette tool which Nik also has (and obviously can be done in Lightroom or Photoshop). It darkens the outside AND lightens the center simultaneously. Of course the degree of both can be adjusted to suit your preference, as well as the size of the vignette circle. The way I use it, no one would know it had been done seeing the final photo, but if you compare the version without and the one with you can see the one with the tool has more pop. This is for color. For my black and white work I tend to vignette more heavily.

 

[Butlerkid]

^^^^ ditto

 

[EricBowles]

If there is an obvious vignette, it's a failure. When judging or selecting for exhibit, a heavy vignette is a complete failure and the image is rejected or receives a low score. I do use a good bit of editing on many backgrounds for wildlife and portraits, and usually use some type of vignette on landscapes, but you need to look very closely to see what I have done. If I simply darken the corners and edges, I use a very light touch. More likely, I'll adjust clarity, contrast, highlights, and saturation to direct the eye toward the subject and parts of the subject that are appropriate.

Think about lens corrections. Many lenses have vignetting of 1.5 stops or less in the corners, and that's as much as I would need or want - maybe less.

I also don't have any compulsion to apply the same vignette to all corners of an image. I may apply it only to the bottom corners and the bottom of the frame - and not apply it to the sky or upper half of an image.

 

[mtmiller]

I will often use either a subtle radial gradient spotlight or a gradient vignette

I am same boat as LouiseDan. Subtle inverted radial gradient.

 

[Butlerkid]

My favorite tool for doing this is one in NikColorEfex4 called darken/lighten center. It is more subtle (and to my eye more pleasing) than the regular vignette tool which Nik also has (and obviously can be done in Lightroom or Photoshop). It darkens the outside AND lightens the center simultaneously. Of course the degree of both can be adjusted to suit your preference, as well as the size of the vignette circle. The way I use it, no one would know it had been done seeing the final photo, but if you compare the version without and the one with you can see the one with the tool has more pop. This is for color. For my black and white work I tend to vignette more heavily.

And you can place the center of the vignette anywhere you want...........

 

[wes]

Almost always, but very subtle