Sometimes a picture just needs a little more. Something to add mood, add feeling; something to help the viewer feel the emotion of the image. Something to help focus the viewer onto one particular object in the image, to direct focus.
Enter the humble vignette.
By simply darkening or lightening the edges of an image, the whole mood of the photograph can change. Dark vignettes help colors to pop. Light vignettes brighten the image and give a slightly more “cheery feel”. It doesn’t have to be much. A subtle darkening or lightening, so subtle it can’t be seen unless specifically looked for, often proves to simply polish an image. Other times a stronger effect is used to create more of a mood of feeling within the shot, or to simply focus view.
This image was taken at a summer rodeo in Gardiner, Montana, the week before I left. Evening thunderstorms made lighting a challenge – there were moments of glorious warm filtered light mixed in with hours of rain and drab skies. In this shot, bull riding was just about to begin and the rodeo was almost over. Many people don’t realize the hard work behind the scenes it takes to put on an event like this, and I loved the juxtaposition between the rough stock event judge and the cowboys getting ready in the shoots. All night they had been working side by side, but suddenly one became the judge, the other the competitor. Jokes ceased. Work began.
A slight darkening of the frame along the top helps focus the viewer to the warmth of the arena dirt and the action in the shoots. Lightening along the bottom of the frame helps achieve the same effect but keeps the arena light and the ground in focus. This is the only shot in my records where I use split vignetting, and for this image, it works.
Tags: Techniques
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