Vignettting- Is it good or bad?

fleetwoodjazz

Established
Local time
8:01 PM
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
89
Gents,

Recent check at all photos, I find that my simple style is only shooting one main subject in/near the center of the frame.

And it reminds me once I was so much in love with those pics with vignetting that draws you immediately into the center. This is not the first time I hear that call inside. Vignette by post processing looks plain ugly to my eyes. I can't help thinking about dumping my Zeiss 35 f2 and 50mm f1.5 for those CV 1.2 and 1.1 :bang::bang::bang:

What is your view? Do you like vignetting or not?

Please, no debate about Noctilux vs Nokton, ect... I simply love vignetting!
 
I don't mind it at all, I find my CV 40mm f/1.4 Nokton vignettes wide open and my CV 21mm f/4 as well. But it has to be natural.
 
Ask a pro competition judge of photo events.

Ask a pro competition judge of photo events.

A friend of mine is a 35 year art history professor and an accomplished large format photographer. He has judged a high number of photographic competition.

His advice on vignette. It's considered as a point getter in photographic competition. It's an accepted means of preventing the eye from wandering off the image. Or, said another way, it contains the image within the border.

One might ask, why does Photoshop have a means to add vignette to an image?

Mike made a presentation about judging to our camera club. Three thing that seemed to rankle members about his comments. White mat only.. no colors. In fact many competitions strictly specify white. Unless spelled out, make the matt almost imperceptibly heavier on the bottom (say 1/4 to 1/2 inch more), and use vignette constructively.

I can count on one hand the number of white mats used on our informal competition night monthly at the club... never heavier on the bottom, and every effort to minimize vignette.

Needless to say, Mike has never been invited to judge at the club meeting.

One of my favorite small cameras is the Olympus XA2. It's an absolute master at the vignette, and that may be the reason I like it so much. I don't think it's ever produce a picture with no vignette.
 
A friend of mine is a 35 year art history professor and an accomplished large format photographer. He has judged a high number of photographic competition.

His advice on vignette. It's considered as a point getter in photographic competition. It's an accepted means of preventing the eye from wandering off the image. Or, said another way, it contains the image within the border.

One might ask, why does Photoshop have a means to add vignette to an image?

Mike made a presentation about judging to our camera club. Three thing that seemed to rankle members about his comments. White mat only.. no colors. In fact many competitions strictly specify white. Unless spelled out, make the matt almost imperceptibly heavier on the bottom (say 1/4 to 1/2 inch more), and use vignette constructively.

I can count on one hand the number of white mats used on our informal competition night monthly at the club... never heavier on the bottom, and every effort to minimize vignette.

Needless to say, Mike has never been invited to judge at the club meeting.

One of my favorite small cameras is the Olympus XA2. It's an absolute master at the vignette, and that may be the reason I like it so much. I don't think it's ever produce a picture with no vignette.

Absolutely right.
I just hate pixel-peeping, technical reasoning etc....where is the love for art in photography nowadays????:confused::confused::confused:
 
I'm a big fan of just a little vignetting. I'll often add just a little bit back to the image in aperture. Maybe I should buy some crappier lenses.
 
I am a fan of 'vignettes' myself.

The best i've i've been able to achieve so far on film is with the Oly XA.
 
Yep, I agree with the comments on the XA and XA2. Great cameras, great 'vignetters' and I like the effect myself.
 
I like it, I wish they made a filter for it. My 28mm f3.5 Super Takumar had/has it, I know it is subtle but I still love that lens:

3563155527_7e2d7745ae.jpg
 
Back
Top