How to obtain a vignetting effect in Photoshop

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a vignetting effect in Photoshop, in a few easy steps.
Vignette is the effect of darkened corners in a picture. It is used especially when a concentration on the centered subject in the photo is wanted. It works well with portraits and macro photography, though you can implement it in all types of photos depending on the composition and elements.

I assume that you are familiar with the basics of photoshop, so let us start.

This is how it will look in the end:

photo by bocavermelha-l.b. on flickr

1. Open the picture in an new layer

2. Add a gradient fill layer over the picture

In the Gradient Fill window set the following options. Make the gradient to go from black to transparent and move the opacity stop from the right side of transparency to the middle. Set the style to radial. Leave the Angle at 90 and mark the reverse option.

For this moment you should have something like this:

3. Finishing the effect

Rasterize the mask layer and transform it so that only the corners of the photo remain black. Now apply soft light to this layer. You will have now a soft transition from dark to normal picture light. You can duplicate this mask layer until you achieve a desired darkning of the corners, though I advice you to stay at two copies of the layer.

This is it, enjoy the final result !