Luminar NEO: How to use the Vignette Tool

luminar neo Mar 09, 2023
Luminar NEO Vignette Tool

The Vignette in photography represents the darker or brighter parts of the photo's edges. The vignette can be caused by optics, or it can be purposefully added in post-processing. Adding a vignette can be a great way to draw the viewer's eye towards the main subject. In Luminar NEO, we can use the Vignette Tool to do that.

GIFT 🎁: Download your Free Luminar NEO Shortcut Cheatsheet and immediately speed up your editing workflow in Luminar NEO! Click here to get your gift!

 


 

In this article:

  • What is the Vignette Tool?
  • Introducing the Vignette Tool sliders
  • Getting started with the Vignette Tool
  • Video tutorial
  • Luminar NEO

 


 

What is the Vignette Tool?

A Vignette tool darkens or lightens the edges of your image. This is quite an old technique to emphasize the subject in photos. The effect typically leaves the center of the image unaffected while shading or lightening the edges. LuminarAI goes further by letting you place the center point of the vignette anywhere in the image.

 


 

Introducing the Vignette Tool sliders 

 

Standard Settings

Choose Subject

Click this button to enable a crosshair. You can then click within the photo to center the vignette. This allows you to adjust the focus of the vignette by offsetting it and guide the viewer’s eyes to your subject.

Amount

This slider adjusts the darkening around the edges of the photo. Move it to the left to give more shading to the edges or to the right to brighten the edges.

Size

This slider sets the size of the obscured area. Moving it to the left increases the darkened area. Moving it to the right decreases the darkened area.

 

Advanced Settings

Post-crop/Pre-crop

This drop-down menu lets you choose whether you want the vignette to be applied before or after any cropping.

Roundness

This slider changes the shape of the shaded area.

Feather

This slider sets the smoothness of the transition between the area of shading and the rest of the image.

Inner Light

This slider increases the brightness in the central region of the image that is not affected by shading. It allows you to create a contrast effect.

 

TIP: The Vignette tool allows you to highlight key points in a photo, making it more interesting. A slight shading of the edges provokes the viewer to consider the lighter central part of the photo. For a realistic picture, don’t lower the Amount below -50. As a rule, the Amount slider is used to apply darker shading. Highlights are rarely used except for in some vintage looks.

 


 

Getting started with the Vignette Tool

When adding a vignette as a part of the post-processing workflow, it is recommended to do that at the end of the process when all the other adjustments have been made. It is always important to review the vignette when the image is re-cropped or re-edited to ensure that it isn't too dominant.

 TIP 👍:  It is an excellent practice to distance yourself from your screen to view the effect added by the vignette, as it makes it easier to judge the impact.

Vignette Tool: 

  • Open the image in Luminar NEO using the Add Photos button (Cmd/Ctrl + O) in the Catalog module (L).
  • Move to the Edit module (E).
  • Apply all the basic developments with the tools available in the Essentials section (Develop, Enhance AI, Color).
  • Continue with other editing tools in Luminar NEO.
  • Open the Vignette Tool, and start by adjusting the Amount slider (dark edges towards the left, bright edges towards the right).
  • Adjust the size of the vignette with the size slider. 
  • To be more creative, you can use the Choose Subject button to adjust the centre of the vignette on your image based on the location of your main subject.
  • Use the Advanced Settings to fine-tune the result.

 


 

Vignette Tool video tutorial

Watch the full video tutorial covering all sliders in this tool.

 

 


 

Luminar NEO

Luminar Neo is the latest editing software from Skylum. It was announced back in September 2021, and it's been highly anticipated since.

Luminar Neo is an AI-powered photo editing software. Skylum has said that Neo isn’t replacing their previous release—Luminar AI. But Neo sets out to fix some of the issues users faced with Luminar AI.

We were impressed with the AI tools in Luminar AI. But like many others, we encountered performance issues. Luminar Neo uses the same AI tools, but the new high-speed core engine improves speed and performance.

Luminar Neo isn’t just more of the same. We’re happy to see Skylum has taken Neo in a different direction, adding layer and mask AI tools to the program. This broadens Neo’s appeal, taking it in an Adobe Photoshop direction.

Learn more about Luminar NEO here.

Use one of our discount codes: CPNEO10 will give you a 10% discount - CP10 will give you a $10 discount.