How to Employ Antique Vignetting in Photography
Vignetting is the effect of a photograph's edges fading out into black at the corners. This was common in early cameras, where the image projected by the lens does not evenly cover the rectangular surface of the film (or the digital camera's sensor). The imperfections of images that result can be compelling because of their imperfections. Here's how to achieve this effect.
Instructions
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How to Employ Antique Vignetting in Photography
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Employ a specially modified camera. Special lenses are available that will provide the antique vignetting effect. Simply attach the lens to your SLR camera and fire away.
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Use digital technology to antique your shots. First, change your picture to black and white. Now, if you use Photoshop, select the rectangular marquee tool. Then in Windows -- Options, set the "Feather" control to somewhere in the range of 50 to 70. Drag a rectangle over the photo, or a portion of the photo. Go to the Menu bar and select "Inverse."
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Once you've selected "Inverse" from the menu, select Layer -- New -- Layer. Go to "Mode" and chose the setting "Hard Light." Once you've selected that, click on the box that says "Fill with 50% gray." Select OK
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Now use the Paint Bucket tool and select the color black, with an opacity of 30. Click to fill the corners of the frame, continuing until you've achieved the level of black you want in the corners of the picture. As a final step, tweak the exposure of objects in the frame, like clouds, by toggling back and forth between "Hard Light" and "Soft Light." You've now created a picture that looks antique.
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Tips & Warnings
Note your results with different settings in Photoshop, so you can replicate the results when you want.
