[sany]

This question comes to my mind when I recently saw a web tutorial for converting Colour images into Black and White using photoshop. One of the steps involved darkening the edges of the image using curves and applying the Black and White adjustment layers.
So basically the darkening of the image edges is effectively applying an vignetting effect so it left the above question in my mind.
Did the old BW images captured on film had vignetting? This thread is not to really learn anything but a kind of knowledge sharing that could result out of opinions being shared here and could be useful for many exploring into BW photography.

[séamuis]

I don't know of any film old or new that would be that way. I know of plenty of old cameras/lenses that would certainly have a lot of light fall off around the edges causing such. I think though, with modern 'digital' B&W the vignette is a practical and very pleasing to they eye, method of subject highlight/isolation. admittedly, almost all of my 'digital B&W' photos include a vignette. I have always preferred that type of subject highlight. it draws the eyes to the center and to the subject at hand. with B&W its less pronounced than with colour while still giving the benefit. however, I don't really think this is something that was 'carried over' so to speak from B&W film. I shoot B&W film all the time on all sorts of cameras, and I get no seriously noticeable vignette from any film camera combination beyond the simple edge light loss from shooting a lens wide open.

[Aristophanes]

It's integral to all photography and is an aesthetic consideration determined by optics.

[newarts]

All lenses project a cone of light that gets dimmer towards the edges. Older cameras with not very good wide angle lenses are often very dim near the edge of the photo. Therefore one way to make a B&W photo look old is vignetting.

Here's a photo showing the edge darkening created by an optimum pinhole 50mm lens on an aps-c camera and a graph of the brightness along the yellow line. The graph isn't symmetrical because the pinhole isn't on center.


If a full frame camera had been used with this lens the vignetting would be more pronounced because the sensor would be 50% larger.

This is called "natural vignetting" and the brightness varies with cosine(angle) raised to the 4th power.

[JinDesu]

When you say integral, do you mean you want to get vignetting in your B/W shots? While a lot of the older film shots that I have seen do have vignetting creating some sort of nostalgic effect, I do not personally believe it is the standard for B/W shots.

[abacus07]

Is the vignetting the important part or is it the black border? Most photos are only viewed on white computer screens and black border particularly enhances B&W shots imo.

This might have been one reason that I chose to use pbase.com to host my photos several years ago. I liked how the photos looked on that site better than other sites. And they use a default black background for their galleries IIRC.

[RioRico]

It's integral to all photography and is an aesthetic consideration determined by optics.

All lenses project a cone of light that gets dimmer towards the edges. Older cameras with not very good wide angle lenses are often very dim near the edge of the photo. Therefore one way to make a B&W photo look old is vignetting.

Quite right. Yes, vignetting is integral to all photography, not just B&W. Yes, vignetting is a function of optics and frame. Image circles are not uniformly bright. Vignetting can be avoided by using a lens projecting a larger image circle, or enhanced with a lens projecting a smaller image circle. The ultimate vignetting comes from a full-circle fisheye lens or adapter, or a very small-format lens, where the frame captures the entire image circle and nothing beyond.

Some old-time (pre-color) photographers exploited vignetting, hence the association of vignetting with B&W photos. Why vignette? For money! Read about tintype photos and how they were made, something like this: The tintyper brings his wagon to town and set up a portrait studio. He uses a camera with a frame setup that exposes segments of maybe an 8x10 inch metal plate, maybe six sections each 3 1/3 x 4 inches. To fit the most of a subject onto that section, the corners are unimportant. Shooting vignetted gets the most pictures on that one metal plate, thus the most revenue. Follow the money!

[artobest]

Vignetting can be an effective way to increase apparent depth and direct the viewers' attention in your photographs; it works for black and white, but less so with colour, since colour is about a lot more than just tone.

I will often create an ellipse around my main subject with Photoshop's lasso tool, feather (around 200px) and reverse it, then create a curves adjustment layer; the reversed ellipse automatically masks the curves layer. Then I adjust the curve carefully downward, checking for banding or strange tonal effects. When I'm satisfied, I manually adjust the mask if required to follow the shape of the subject.

The results can be very discreet, almost invisible. It's best if your vignette is off-centre, keyed to the subject, not the frame. The technique works best with 16-bit images, since this is fairly heavy correction we're talking about.

[cats_five]

I never, ever add a vignette. To me most photos where this has been done are photos that would have benefited from cropping. It certainly isn't a requirement for B&W images. I'd also add that obvious vignetting isn't visible on the hundreds (maybe thousands) of 35mm shots I have.

[cscurrier]

I usually don't do a whole lot of work in post, but adding a subtle vignette is a guilty pleasure of mine for certain photos. Seamuis is right, it does help draw the eye to the center or subject. If I'm in the darkroom, I like to burn around edges to add a slight vignette, but mainly to give me a reason to spend a few extra minutes in the lab, because it's so much fun!

[Aristophanes]

I usually don't do a whole lot of work in post, but adding a subtle vignette is a guilty pleasure of mine for certain photos. Seamuis is right, it does help draw the eye to the center or subject. If I'm in the darkroom, I like to burn around edges to add a slight vignette, but mainly to give me a reason to spend a few extra minutes in the lab, because it's so much fun!

Which more closely emulates what the eye sees and the brain understands. Our eyeball optics are circular and vignette. The constraint of right angle photos comes only from the manufacture of paper.

[artobest]

I never, ever add a vignette. To me most photos where this has been done are photos that would have benefited from cropping.

But then you'd have lots of tightly cropped photos. Many subjects look best situated within/against a semi-abstract picture field, whether it's an area of soft-focus or low light intensity.

[cats_five]

But then you'd have lots of tightly cropped photos. Many subjects look best situated within/against a semi-abstract picture field, whether it's an area of soft-focus or low light intensity.

I have plenty of photos with space around the subject, but adding a vignette would cramp that space so I don't add them. Differential focus can be a wonderful thing.

[Squier]

Not neccessary at all, but we're into realms of personal taste, and so therefore the hard 'n fast rules dont apply.

I rarely use it for monos myself but on the odd occasion, maybe.

[cscurrier]

Very nice photo. I like how the vignette pairs well with the round post the birds are perched on.