Reduce Vignette in iPhoto

Jazzman:

Not sure what you're wanting to do? Are you wanting to crop the vignette out of the photo? I don't know of any way to un-vignette a photo except by cropping. If you can post the image so we can view it it may be easier to find a solution.

As far as Photoshop is concerned, if you're in the market for a 3rd party editor you might consider Photoshop Elements for Mac. It has about 80% of PS's capabilities at 1/7 of the price. Amazon.com often has a rebate offer for it. Or, if you're in the market for a scanner, Canon bundles it with many of it's scanners.

Do you Twango?

TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

I experimented with Photoshop's tool for fixing vignetting and with LensFix. They both essentially lighten the outer edges of the image that have been darkened by the vignetting. If it's too dark non of them can bring an image where there is none.

I also experimented with Photoshop Elements Dodge tool and it seemed to do just about the same thing, lighten any area you painted with the tool. You can set the percent of exposure to apply on each pass.

If you're interested you can download the beta version of Photoshop CS3 ( http://labs.adobe.com/) and experiment with it's Filter->Distort->Lens Correction menu option and with it's Dodge tool which is the same as in Photoshop Elements (no demo for it). It will expire around March 27th I believe. It will give you a flavor of what PS can do and also PSE.

LensFix is in beta so you can download and run it to experiment with it - http://www.kekus.com/download/.

The vignetting will have to be slight, much less than what iPhoto does in one pass of its vignetting tool, for any recovery to be possible. The clone tool of PSE could be used to fill in some of the vignetted corners with some success.

Is there a way to have the vignette effect to have less opacity, to be more feathered and generally be less harsh then it is without needing to crop into the photo.

MacBook Duo Core 2GHz 2GB, iPod photo 60Gb Mac OS X (10.4.8)

MacBook Duo Core 2GHz 2GB, iPod photo 60Gb Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Vaz:

With Photoshop Elements you there are several tools you can use to change the opacity and soften that transition. For one the Dodge tool can lighted the area by a user set percentage per pass. The Smudge or Soften tool can soften the area by a user set percentage. PSE is a very good editor and worth the cost. Amazon.com often has a rebate deal on it. Also, if you're in the market for a scanner, Canon is bundling PSE4 with many of it's scanners.

Thank-you everyone, Im familiar with PS as I have been using it for 13 yrs but wanted to see if I can reduce the vignette effect within iPhoto for speed.

MacBook Duo Core 2GHz 2GB, iPod photo 60Gb Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Vaz:

I may be preaching to the choir here but are you aware you can use PS from within iPhoto as your image editor of choice? Go to iPhoto's General preferences pane and select PS under the Edit photo: menu. Then when you double click on a photo it will open in PS. The only caveat is that the edit must be saved to the same file name and extension. If the edit, like creating a layered file, results in an extension change it must be flattened and forced to save as a jpg or do a Save As to the desktop and imported as a new file. However if you want to still have the double click open in iPhoto's editor and still use PS when the occasion calls for it see the following;

Using 2 Image Editors in iPhoto
If you want to use both iPhoto's editing mode and a 3rd party editor without having to go back and forth to the Preference pane, once you've selected the 3rd party editor as your editor of choice, reset the Preferences back to "Open in main window". Then when you Control-click on an image, you can select "Edit in external editor" in the Contextual menu to edit in your selected editor.