Hello! Have you ever seen the highlighting effect of darkened corners applied to an image? Have you ever wondered how it’s done? Well, I have and did. One day I tried and sorta achieved the look, but it wasn’t quite right. Then I had a completely unrelated conversation with another photographer that planted an idea in my head. The next morning when I woke up, ding! I knew I knew. So I fired up the computer and loaded ‘shop and sure enough – I figured it out.

Well, now, two things. I wanted to show you a pic I put this effect on and tell you how I did it. But also, this article is a heads up on a new directive here at the SSL. Rather, a new version of the old thing, but let me share with you a bit of a conversation I had with this site’s designer-administrator, James.

We were talking about Photoshop and wielding the sword of the digital samurai, because that’s how we roll. And I mentioned an article I read in the indispensable magazine Photoshop User. This article described the steps of a process I’ll never, ever need. But it said something like “…keep in mind you can change your brush size with the bracket keys, [ and ].” Hey! I didn’t know that!

The point is this: we aim to host discussions in our forum from which you’ll glean improvement. We (creative beings) all yearn to learn, directly or indirectly. Whether it’s something as simple as a keyboard shortcut of which you weren’t aware, or a start-to-finish technique as follows, the synthesis of art and technology is spoken here.

Anyway, here’s the technique I discovered. Open Photoshop and bring up the image to which you’ll add Darkened Corner Highlighting. Awful name, but functional.

- Go Layer > Duplicate Layer and name it Darkened Corners.

- In the layers palette, click on Darkened Corners to ensure it is active and turn off the visibility (click the eye icon next to Background in the layers palette) of the Background layer.

- Go to Image > Adjustments > Exposure. Now, the amount you darken this layer depends on the composition of the image and the color and contrast you’re looking for, but to suggest a jumping-off point: Exposure -2.00; Offset -0.0050; Gamma .90. These numbers will get you close. Click OK.

- Now, in the toolbox, select the Elliptical Marquee Tool.  Place the cursor in one corner of the image, click and drag diagonally to the opposite corner. This creates an oval that generally fills the frame. Make your oval (or circle) selection fairly tight around the portion of the image you wish to highlight.

- Now go to Select > Feather (or alt + crtl + D) and enter something around 150 – 175 as your radius value and click OK.

- Hit Backspace to knock the center out of your oval.

- Turn on the visibility of the Background layer in the layers palette.

- Hit ctrl + D (deselect) to get rid of the oval selection.

Do you like it? If yes, go Layer > Flatten Image, then save that puppy as a jpeg. If no, turn off the Background layer again and hit alt + crtl + Z until you’ve undone what you don’t like and try, try again.  Have fun and post your image!

P.S. Does anyone have a different/better/easier/cooler/quicker/slicker method? I’m all ears, eyes, whatever.