Reverse Vignetting, in Black-n-White

Looking at the creative of brightening corners of an image instead of darkening them, opposite to the traditional approach of vignetting.

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This is a follow-up creative piece on reverse vignetting, a technique I used in a couple of previous posts. In this session, the images are presented in black and white. The purpose of reverse vignetting is to brighten the corners of an image instead of darkening them, as is typical with traditional vignetting. This technique is particularly useful for images where the area of interest is centered against a plain background or when background clutter is distractive and is more of a nuisance.

This can be achieved by adjusting the settings in ('Radio Filter' in 'Effects' if you are using) Adobe Lightroom or otherwise, similar tools in other photo editing software.

In addition, black and white images create a dramatic and artistic effect, encouraging viewers to focus on the faces, gestures, compositions, and expressions of melancholy, romance, or even hope.

While the technique is done primarily on the image editor in post-production, I did mine with a slightly different approach. The shots were taken with a low-end HMD Nokia smart phone (best in bright sunlight or otherwise, contre-jour, at the widest aperture available) and the images edited simply by adjusting shadow compensation.

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