Many Lightroom users are unhappy with the Post-Crop Vignette in Lightroom 2 because it gives much different and usually less appealing results compared to the Lens Correction Vignette.

Inspired by Matt Kloskowsk’s recent post “Presets - Focal Point for Landscapes” I decided to see if I could recreate the effect of the Lens Correction Vignette using gradients. The results (I feel) are pretty good! Definitely much closer than I ever got with the Post-Crop Vignette adjustment.

This version simply servers as a proof of concept. I still have to clean it up and also create a portrait orientation version. To do this I plan to edit the .lrtemplate file directly to precicely place and angle the gradients. I have already done this in another gradient related preset and it works well but this one will require some digging through the file and some number crunching to get all the angles right, etc.

Please let me know if this is helpful! Once I get the final versions completed I will post them as well. I am super busy though to don’t hold your breathe! If anyone has the time and desire to attempt some cleanup and tweaking please feel free to give it a go… and share your results!

Vignette - Lens Correction Mimic via Gradients [by DigitalOxygen.ca]

UPDATE: Well sadly I just realized that gradients are treated just like the lens correction vignette tool and the adjustments are relative to the edges of the original photo, not the crop edges. So if you use this preset, then crop your photo it will crop out part of the effect of the preset. One workaround would be to manually move the gradients when you crop the photo but that kind of defeats the purpose of using a preset!

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