December 6, 2025
Guiding the eye.
What is it about?
A vignette is a darkening (or rarely brightening) towards the corners of the image. What used to be a technical flaw of cheap lenses is now a popular stylistic device. Why? Because bright areas attract the human eye. If you darken the edges, the viewer’s gaze automatically wanders to the center of the image to the main subject.
The most important functions:
- Scale: Determines how far the vignette extends into the image.
- Fall-off strength: Controls how soft the transition from light to dark is.
- Saturation: An often overlooked slider. It allows you to desaturate the colors in the darkened corners, which often looks more natural.
How to apply it:
Vignetting is usually one of the last steps in processing.
- Activate the module.
- Move the center of the vignette if necessary, if your main subject is not exactly in the center.
- Be subtle! A good vignette is “felt” rather than seen at first glance.