The Photographer's Eye: Graphic Guide

TUNNEL

I call it a tunnel effect because that’s what it feels like, and even though this is simply the vignetting that is common from many wide-angle lenses, it has an effect not just on the brightness in the image, but also on the attention that the viewer will pay. Vignetting is a darkening away from the center, but because our eyes tend to look toward brighter areas, it concentrates attention toward the center. Lens manufacturers consider it an optical fault and engineer their lenses to minimize it, but some of us actually like it. In fact, it’s very difficult to correct for in zoom lenses, which is why processing programs like Photoshop have lens-correction modules. But you can always turn the vignetting correction off, or lessen it, instead ...