A vignette is a photograph or illustration in which the background fades gradually away until it blends into the paper on which it is printed. In this short tutorial, I’m going to show you one method (because in Photoshop there is nearly always more than one way to do things) to create this effect.
1. Open your image. I’m using a stock image of a family out skiing.
2. Double-click on the background layer to convert it to a “normal” layer. You can rename your layer in the New Layer dialog box that opens and I named mine “vignette”.
3. In the toolbox, select the Elliptical Marquee tool.
4. Drag out a circular marquee selection around the area of the image that you want to hold on to.
5. Click on the “Add layer mask” button at the bottom of the layers palette.
6. Click on the layer mask thumbnail in the layers palette. 
7. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and make sure the Preview option is checked.
Play with the radius values until you are happy with the amount of fade and then click OK.
You should now have a vignette with a transparent background. If you want to add a colour background, all you need to do is add a layer underneath your current layer and fill it with whatever colour you like.
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May 28th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I really rate this tutorial as i’m still pretty new to photoshop and am still learning my way around, figuring out which tools do what, and which tolls to use and for which effect ect.
But seeing as how i am learning, i cant figure out how to fill the background layer.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I wouldn’t bother with the vignette option. When I do that effect with photoshop, I prefer to use the feather option instead.
After you select the area you want, click the right mouse button and select feather. The number can then be changed to what you want. For the vignette look, you would set it to around 5, but I prefer to use it more at around 30, so you get a smoother fade.
Click the edit tab at the top and choose to copy.
Then open another pic or a blank backround using the desired colour you want and then paste your feathered pic into that. Looks better than the vignette option in my opinion.
July 17th, 2008 at 1:21 am
I do not see an option for “add layer mask”. Is that only in the full version of photoshop or is it in Elements (6.0) and I am just not seeing it. I am having a tough time learning about layers.
July 17th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Hi Judy
This tutorial was written with full photoshop in mind. I’m not sure if there is the same option for adding a layer mask in the same place, but I’m sure there are layer masks available somewhere in PSE 6.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:13 am
Thank you for the excellent tutorial! I can’t tell you how much time this saved me…
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October 14th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Glad to be of service.