What is a vignette?

A vignette is the gradual darkening toward the corners of a photo. Old lenses did it by accident, and photographers now add it on purpose to pull the eye toward the middle of the frame and give a picture a moody or vintage feel. A light vignette, fading to white instead, gives portraits and wedding photos a soft, airy look.

Tool description

Drag Amount below zero to darken the edges or above zero to lighten them. Size sets how far the vignette reaches toward the middle, and Softness how gradually it fades in, from a gentle falloff to a hard oval frame. The vignette follows the image's shape, so it's an oval on a wide photo and a circle on a square one.

Features

  • Darker or lighter edges
  • Adjustable size and softness
  • Before and after comparison
  • Runs in your browser, so the photo never leaves your device

How it works

The tool measures each pixel's distance from the middle on an ellipse stretched to the image, so the middles of all four sides count as equally far. The vignette starts at the distance Size sets and reaches full strength over the stretch Softness sets, with a smooth curve in between. Darkening takes light away the way a lens does, so colors keep their hue instead of turning gray. Lightening fades the edges toward white by the same visible steps.

Tips

  • A subtle vignette is usually best: people won't notice it, but they'll look at the middle.
  • Set Softness to zero and Amount all the way down for a black oval frame, or all the way up for a white one.
  • Crop first, so the vignette is centered on the final frame.