Ryoh’s Blog

I’m fairly new to photo editing and to Pixelmator, so I don’t know if this is the best way to do this or not. If works for me, so give it a go.

Here are the steps that I use:

1. Open the photo you want to vignette and do your basic editing.
2. Create new layer (Vignette Layer)

3. Use the fill tool on the Vignette layer and fill the entire layer with black.

4. Right click on the Vignette Layer and add a Layer Mask.
5. Make sure you have the Mask layer selected and uncheck this layer so that it hides the black and shows the original image below.

6. Use the ellipse tool to select the area you want to vignette (again, make sure you are editing the Layer Mask).
7. Once selected, go to Edit then select Refine Selection and slide the Feather bar to where you want it. I like between 70-100.

8. Once again, go to Edit and select Fill.
9. Choose White as your fill colour.

10. Re-check the Vignette Layer (so you can see) then adjust the Opacity of this layer to your liking.

Viola! I know it sounds like a lot of work and steps, but it only takes a couple of minutes.

In search of Pixelmator tutorials, which is few and far between, I’ve noticed that there are many similarities between Photoshop and Pixelmator. If you can’t find info on PIxelmator, I would also suggest doing the same search on Photoshop. You may get a few hints like I did. One thing to keep in mind is that the Mask Layer uses opposite colours for the transparency: Pixelmator uses white and Photoshop uses black for the transparent parts.

Hope this helps and let me know if this isn’t working for you or there are any questions.