Here's how to create the classic soft-edged vignette that was originally made popular decades ago by portrait photographers, and still remains popular for wedding photos and portraits of children. A rectangular version is often used for photos used in print ads of high-priced items such as fine homes, jewelry, perfume, etc. Step One©ISTOCKPHOTO/OLEG PRIKHODKO Open the photo to which you want to apply the classic vignette effect. Step TwoPress M until you get the Elliptical Marquee tool from the Toolbox and draw an oval-shaped selection around the part of the photo you want to remain visible. Step ThreeTo soften the edge of your selection, go under the Select menu and choose Feather. When the Feather Selection dialog appears, enter 35 or more pixels (the higher the number, the softer the edge) and click OK. Step FourHere's the thingyou have your subject in a circular selection, and that's the part you want to keep intact. However, you want everything else deleted, so go under the Select menu and choose Inverse. Doing this selects everything except the area you want to keep intact. Step FiveNow, press Backspace to remove the background areas, and then press Control-D to deselect. Because you feathered the oval in Step 3, the edges are soft, completing the vignette effect. TIP If you'd like to use this soft-edged vignette for collaging with other photos, you'll need the white areas outside the edge to be transparent and not solid white. To do that, just before Step 2, double-click on the Background layer in the Layers palette. A dialog will appear; just click OK to change your Background layer to Layer 0, and then go on to Step 2. Before After |