Your thoughts on Vignette

What are your thoughts regarding vignetting in post?

I used to use it pretty heavy in the past but now am a bit more judicious. Most of my shots do have some vignette as I don't like bright edges

These are examples of the heaviest I set it at now, probably -10 to -15 in LR

It has its place but I would certainly use it sparingly as you have decided, otherwise it becomes pretty cliche. In my own shooting style I lean more towards DOF control: shallow DOF to concentrate attention on close in subjects, or even farther objects with long lenses.

I use a strong one, but have also been told repeatedly (here) not to. I use it because I like it and none of my clients have told me not to. I could probably try a less strong one, such as in your examples that look like a happy medium.

I use a small amount of dark vignette on certain images, generally only on moody portraits. Definitely not on all images.

White vignette is right out.

Can you control the shape in LR, like make it oval instead of round? To me the biggest problem is exemplified by image #2 where the corners are dark, but the center bottom of the image is bright.

If you can add some 'shape' to it, I think it is better. Personally if I have to do anything more than a very,very subtle one, I bring the shot into PS and work the image and crease a completely custom vignette which may also use luminosity masks to create it.

The last one looks OK to me, just becasue a flash was obviously used and one expects the brightness to fade away from the subject (although the bright spot on his head is another matter).

ejenner wrote in post #16427081
Can you control the shape in LR, like make it oval instead of round? To me the biggest problem is exemplified by image #2 where the corners are dark, but the center bottom of the image is bright.

If you can add some 'shape' to it, I think it is better. Personally if I have to do anything more than a very,very subtle one, I bring the shot into PS and work the image and crease a completely custom vignette which may also use luminosity masks to create it.

The last one looks OK to me, just becasue a flash was obviously used and one expects the brightness to fade away from the subject (although the bright spot on his head is another matter).

Yes there are ways to control the vignette. In LR I use the default "Highlight" vignette. If you use the Paint or other variation it will vignette more symmetric and even. And there are a host of other options to help control it light feather and midpoint.

In LR 5 you now have a radius tool that can control even more. I have not used it but have seen videos and it looks quite nice

ejenner wrote in post #16427081
Can you control the shape in LR, like make it oval instead of round?

To some extent, yes. There are four sliders in the current version of Lightroom (actually ACR): Amount (how dark or white), Midpoint, Roundness, Feather.

My $0.02, I vignette sometimes. Of course it depends on the subject. In most cases I don't like it to be noticeable.

I usually use a bit of a vignette. Just to darken the edges a little. If it's noticeably a vignette, then it's too much.

One of my biggest regrets with my early photography/editing was heavy use of vignettes.

If I had time, I would go back and reedit all those weddings.

I like it with landscapes and portraits to draw attention to the subject if it's done very subtly. But if you look at an image and the vignette is obvious, it's overdone, IMO. It should be subtle enough to go unnoticed except to the subconscious.

On a full size image I pull a wide oval around the subject, feather to 300-400 pixels, reverse the selection, use the selection to create a new layer, then change the new layer blend mode to Multiply. Then I reduce opacity way down until it's just a hint. If it turns out I don't like it, I just dump the layer. It doesn't always work, but it's often worth trying.

Owain Shaw wrote in post #16427004
I use a strong one, but have also been told repeatedly (here) not to. I use it because I like it and none of my clients have told me not to. I could probably try a less strong one, such as in your examples that look like a happy medium.

Same here. Other photographers hate my using them. But I like them and continue to use them as I like.

I almost never use it or at least use just a bit.

I like it in moderation. If you can notice it's been there, it's too much imo. The examples you posted look good to me.

jefzor wrote in post #16428275
I like it in moderation. If you can notice it's been there, it's too much imo. The examples you posted look good to me.

I agree with every thing you said (in that post, at least. I'm sure we have wildly differing opinions on other stuff.)