How To Create a Soft Fade Vignette Effect in Corel Photo-Paint

A vignette, or soft fade, is a popular photo effect where the photo gradually fades into a solid colored background, usually in an oval shape. These steps were written using Photo-Paint 10, but it should be similar in other versions.

 

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 2 minutes

Here's How:

1. Open a photo.
2. Go to Object > Create > From Background.
3. Select the circle mask tool.
4. Draw a mask around the area of the photo you want to keep.
5. (Optional) Turn on Mask overlay (Mask > Mask Overlay). This gives you a red tint so you can visualize the feathering effect before you apply it to the photo.
6. Go to Mask > Shape > Feather (or click the Feather a Mask button on the property bar).
7. Enter a width and direction for the feather effect and click OK. A width between 20-50 pixels works best.
8. The feather can be seen immediately with the mask overlay. If you don't like the feathering amount, apply feathering again or undo and try again.
9. Go to Object > Clip Mask > Create > From Mask.
10. Optional: Go to Object > Combine > Combine Object with Background for a white background.

Tips:

1. If you want the photo to fade into a background color other than white, create a new object, fill it with the desired color, then combine objects together.
2. Because we used a clip mask, the effect is not permanent. The mask can be further edited by clicking on the mask thumbnail in the Objects Manager docker.
3. Click on the plus sign between the mask and the object in the object docker to reposition the vignette mask independently of the photo.
4. Click on the mask thumbnail and apply Effects > Blur > Gaussian blur if you want a softer fade.
5. Paint directly in the clip mask with shades of gray for other effects.