Image Vignette Adder

What this tool does

The Image Vignette Adder darkens the edges of a photo with a smooth radial gradient, leaving the centre of the image bright and drawing the viewer’s attention to the subject. Two sliders control the effect: Intensity sets how dark the edges become, and Spread controls how far inward the gradient extends. The result is rendered onto an HTML canvas in your browser and previewed live as you drag the sliders — no button to click, no waiting. When you are happy with the look, you download the output as a PNG directly to your device.

Why you might need it

Vignettes are one of the oldest photographic tricks in the book. Analogue cameras produced them naturally because lenses gathered less light at the edges of the frame. Modern digital cameras correct for this, which is why many photographers deliberately re-apply the effect in post-processing — it is a quick way to add visual polish and focus.

For portrait photographers, a vignette keeps the eye on the face rather than the background. For product photography, it can make a product on a plain white or grey background look premium and intentional rather than flat and clinical. Blog hero images with a vignette often feel more cinematic than the raw photograph, especially when the image is cropped to a wide banner format where the edges would otherwise be distracting.

Social media creators use subtle vignettes to give their feed a consistent look — even a 20–30% intensity with a mid-range spread is enough to give a cohesive feel to a grid of photos with varying subjects and backgrounds.

How to use it

1. Drop your photo onto the upload area, or click to browse for a file.
2. Drag the Intensity slider to set how dark the edges become.
3. Drag the Spread slider to control how far the gradient reaches inward.
4. Watch the live preview update instantly with every slider movement.
5. When satisfied, click Download with vignette to save the result as a PNG.
6. Click Clear to start over with a different image.

Format and quality notes

The download is always a PNG file. PNG is lossless, so there is no additional quality loss compared to the original image (aside from the darkening intentionally applied by the vignette). JPEG originals will be re-encoded as PNG, which makes the download somewhat larger than the original JPEG. If download size matters, take the PNG output and run it through the Image Compressor tool to re-encode it as JPEG at 85–90% quality. WebP is another good option — it typically produces files 25–35% smaller than equivalent JPEG at the same perceptual quality, and it is supported by all major browsers and most social platforms.

Tips for best results

Start with a moderate setting — Intensity around 50–60% and Spread around 60–70% — and adjust from there. Very high intensity (above 80%) starts to look artificial unless you are going for a deliberate cinematic or moody aesthetic. Very low spread combined with high intensity can produce a harsh ring-shaped darkening rather than a smooth gradient; try increasing spread if the transition looks abrupt.

For portrait photography, a subtle vignette at 30–40% intensity with 65–75% spread is a reliable, professional-looking starting point. For dramatic cinematic stills or atmospheric landscape shots, push intensity to 70–80% and experiment with how far in you want the gradient to reach. Because the preview updates in real time, the fastest workflow is to drag a slider slowly until the image looks right, then download — the whole process typically takes under ten seconds.