Darkening the edges and corners of an image is often used when creating backgrounds or artistic processing of photographs. This can be done by overlaying a gradient, an adjustment layer, or a shaded portion of the processed image.
Necessary
- - Photoshop program;
- - image.
Instructions
Step 1
You can darken the corners of the picture using an adjustment layer, the scope of which is limited by the edited mask. To create such a layer, load the image into Photoshop and apply the Brightness / Contrast option in the New Adjustment Layer group of the Layer menu. Darken the picture by adjusting its contrast and brightness.
Step 2
To make only the corners dark, you will need to edit the mask of the filter layer. Select the entire contents of the layer with the shortcut Ctrl + A and use the Transform Selection option of the Select menu. Decrease the selection so that the part of the image, which should be darker than the whole image, remains outside the selected area.
Step 3
Add feathering to the border of the selection using the Feather option of the Select menu. Click on the mask rectangle on the adjustment layer, turn on the Paint Bucket Tool and fill the middle of the mask with black.
Step 4
You can use the image itself to darken the corners. Copy it to a new layer using the Duplicate Layer option of the Layer menu and overlay the duplicate on the original image, choosing the Multiply mode for this. Use the Reveal All option in the Layer Mask group of the Layer menu to add a mask to the new layer. By creating a feathered selection filled with black in the center of the mask, you will leave only the darkened edges from the top layer.
Step 5
A radial semi-transparent gradient is also good for creating dark areas in the corners of the image. Insert a new layer over the image by clicking on the Create a new layer button. With the Gradient Tool enabled with the Radial Gradient option, click on the gradient swatch in the upper area of the program window.
Step 6
In the opened settings select a gradient from transparent to black and fill it with a new layer. If too much area of the picture is under the darkening, stretch the transparent part of the gradient layer by applying the Warp option in the Transform group of the Edit menu. Optionally, you can change the blending mode of the darkening layer from Normal to Multiply, Color Burn or Linear Burn.
Step 7
Save the image with dark corners using the Save As option on the File menu.
