Oval Vignettes and feathered edges

[hartpaul]

The Vignett in Effects - Effects > Photo Effects > Vignette as has already been mentioned allows for circle and rectangle. So it is very limited. Most of the vignettes I have seen have been rectangular or elliptical. The circular one almost demands a square format image - what proportion of images finish being square. I would like to see an elliptical which would include circular as well as the rectangular which would include square and of course the freehand mode. That way this Effect would be more useful.

[Dphotobug]

Yes, it has been mentioned, but Kathy says she can use the ellipse tool with it. The result she got was great. But I can't figure out how to mix these commands and techniques and get it all to come out the right way.

Here’s how Kathy described it on page 1:

“That's the nice thing about PSP - there's usually more than one way to do something. Is this the kind of softness you were looking for in the feathered edges or something more dramatic? I did this by creating an ellipse on the image and then used the photo effects to apply the vignette. I played with the feathering, blur, etc. until I got the softness I was looking for.”

Sounds like she gets the elliptical correct then goes to Effects > Photo Effects > Vignette for the feathering, blurring, light-dark, etc.

[Kathy_9]

Hi Don - hope this helps.

Kathy, your picture looks fine. And has lots of softness around the edges. Obviously you have the controls and adjustments working good. My feathering is slight and vague at best.

I have not gotten anything close to your results so far. I'll try some more.

Edit:
1. Are you using a Raster? When I do it seems the Effects > Photo Effects > Vignette tools are disabled. No matter how I set them nothing seems to change on the picture. Yes
2. If I don't use the Raster I can never get every thing around the ellipse where my picture is to disappear. It leaves traces of the original picture. I have to click the Fill tool several times around the picture to get even a fairly even coverage. I know that can't be right. I don't use the Fill tool; see below for my workflow. Hopefully that will help.
3. I read what you said and tried to follow it step by step. We must be leaving out something. I've tried it several times and every time the results are limited, unpredictable, and disappointing. The results I'm seeing aren't even close to being right.

First I open the image and use the Selection Tool to create the ellipse and reposition it as needed. Settings circled in red.

Step 1 - click for larger image so you can see settings and marching ants.

Next I take the image with the ellipse selection active into Effects -> Photo Effects - Vignette. You can see the settings I used in the screen shot. These are not absolute and you can play around and adjust to suit your taste and your image.

Step 2 - click for larger image to see Vignette Tool settings

Finished product cropped to taste.

[pdxrjt]

How do you reposition the selection. When I use the move too it copies and moves the section of the photo originally selected? TIA

[Kathy_9]

Right-click inside the selection (and continue to hold the right mouse button down) with the selection tool active and you can move it.

[MarkZ]

The Vignett in Effects - Effects > Photo Effects > Vignette as has already been mentioned allows for circle and rectangle. So it is very limited. Most of the vignettes I have seen have been rectangular or elliptical. The circular one almost demands a square format image - what proportion of images finish being square. I would like to see an elliptical which would include circular as well as the rectangular which would include square and of course the freehand mode. That way this Effect would be more useful.

I agree it would be great if the circle tool was an ellipse tool instead that you could drag into the proportions you want (including circle). After reading this topic I experimented with the Photo Effects/Vignette and found that if I used the freehand tool I could achieve an acceptable oval because of the feathering - imperfections in the oval become insignificant. Depending on the featheing you use, size etc. that could be a viable alternative.

[Dphotobug]

I get better results the other way. The only way I can get a good soft edge this way is to have the feathering set high when I make the ellipse.

[pdxrjt]

Thank you Kathy

[Dphotobug]

Yes, thank you Hartpaul and Kathy both. This has turned into a good tutorial thread about oval vignettes and feathered edges.

[hartpaul]

You are welcome. It becomes a good learning experience for me for new featurs and as well I can use the prepared materials at a local camera club on instruction nights.

[Kathy_9]

You are very welcome pdxrjt and Don.

[hartpaul]

I know it has been some time since a post was made here, but here is another perhaps simpler way of gettig your effect.
1. Load image.
2. choose selection tool and set to ellipse and no feather.
3. Hold Shift key down and from centre of image draw your ellipse. Rightclick and move your ellipse to where you want it.
4. Layers < New Mask Layer > Show Selection
5. Selections > Select None
6. Making sure the mask layer is active Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set your blur amount.
iF you want a different coloured background you can make a new rater layer, drag it to the bottom and fill it with desired colour .

[Dphotobug]

I hope every one had a good holiday season. Looks like we're back to the real world now.

I wanted to thank everyone who helped me get started with Paint Shop Pro X6. I've enjoyed my trial version and I guess it's either expired, or about to. The computer I was using is showing all the red flags that it is not what it used to be, so I'm currently transferring about 500 gigs of files to an external hard drive. I want to get everything backed up, and don't plan to use that computer for much longer. I hope to get a new laptop soon, and when I do I will be getting the paid version of Paint Shop Pro X6. A big part of that decision is the great support I received here from all of you good people.

Thanks a lot and I'll let you know when I'm up and going again with a new machine.

DS