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# How to Add a Vignette in DaVinci Resolve
- URL: https://davinciresolveclub.com/add-vignette-davinci-resolve/
- Published: 2026-10-25T05:40:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-27T14:23:17.000Z
- Description: Build a soft vignette with an inverted Power Window, keep the subject bright, and check framing and motion before reusing it across clips.
- Author: Jason Miller
- Tags: Tutorials, Beginner Guides, #learn, #color-grading-cluster

To add a vignette in DaVinci Resolve, open the **Color** page, put a **Circle Power Window on its own serial node**, and shape it around the area you want to protect. Invert that window, soften its edge, then lower the master Gain gently. The correction should fall around the subject and stay off their face.

This [Power Window method](https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/color?ref=davinciresolveclub.com) works in **DaVinci Resolve Free and Studio**. I prefer it for a subject placed away from the center: you can see exactly where the correction falls, change its shape, and track it when the framing calls for that. The steps below follow the desktop Resolve 21.1 controls.

[Download](https://streamly.surf/c/2ebmf2MxAg6s?ref=davinciresolveclub.com)

## Build a soft vignette on a separate node

Balance the shot first. If exposure, white balance, or the input transform still needs work, start with the [color-grading workflow](https://davinciresolveclub.com/how-to-color-grade-davinci-resolve/). A vignette can guide attention, but it's a poor substitute for correcting an underexposed subject.

1. **Select the clip on the Color page.** Keep the node graph in Clip mode so this treatment belongs to the selected shot. Select the node after which you want the vignette.
2. **Choose Color > Nodes > Add Serial Node + CPW.** This adds a serial node with a circular Power Window and opens the Window palette. You can also add a normal serial node, open Window, and choose Circle. Keep this node dedicated to the vignette.
3. **Frame the protected area.** Move the oval over the face, product, or other point of attention. Widen it with the blue handles; use the magenta handles to spread the soft transition. For an off-center subject, move the window off-center too. If you want it to follow motion, do the tracking described below before the next step.
4. **Invert the Circle in the Window list.** Use that row's Invert icon, beside the separate Mask icon. Invert selects the area outside the window. The Mask control governs interactions with other windows; it is not the control you need here.
5. **Check the selected region before grading.** In the Viewer's option menu, choose [Highlight > Highlight BW](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3252) for the high-contrast black-and-white view. The outer frame should be white, the protected center dark, with a soft transition between them. If the center is white, check the Window inversion before changing exposure. Return to the normal image to judge the picture.
6. **Lower the master Gain in the Primaries controls a little.** Use the master adjustment rather than dragging the color wheel toward a hue. Stop while the corners still hold useful detail. Compare the vignette node on and off, then play through the shot with the window outline hidden.

The separate node matters. A window limits the corrections on its node; adding one to the node that already balances the entire image can unintentionally turn that global correction into a local one. Blackmagic documents both that behavior and the [command for adding a circular-window node](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3268). If the graph is unfamiliar, the [guide to Resolve nodes](https://davinciresolveclub.com/davinci-resolve-nodes-explained/) explains the underlying signal flow.

![Circle Power Window with blue shape handles, magenta softness handles, and its Invert control beside a matte with white edges and a dark center](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/29/a929429b-cfab-4467-b902-a0cd9c90feac/content/images/2026/10/vignette-window.webp)

Invert selects the outside. Check the matte first, then judge the strength on the normal image.

## Choose softness and strength for the shot

A visible oval is usually a sign to revisit the window's shape or softness before making it darker. Enlarge the protected area and spread the feather until the change blends into the existing light. Blackmagic's [onscreen window controls](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3272) separate the geometry handles from the magenta softness handles, so you can adjust the transition apart from the shape.

No Gain value suits every shot. A close-up with dark clothing needs a different treatment from a bright interior. I'd rather leave a distracting corner slightly visible than make skin or a white wall reveal a dark ring. If lowering Gain mainly tames bright edges but leaves the rest too open, a small master Offset adjustment is another option. Watch the shadows, because Offset moves the whole tonal range within the selection.

- **The face darkens:** check that the Circle is inverted and that its soft transition does not cut across the face. Also make sure you are changing the dedicated vignette node.
- **A hard ring appears:** increase softness or enlarge the window. Reducing strength alone may leave the same visible boundary.
- **The corners become empty black:** back off the grade. Check the full image, not just the brighter center that attracted your attention.
- **The vignette feels tilted or misplaced:** adjust the oval's aspect, rotation, and position for the composition. A circular starting shape does not require a centered circular result.

To brighten the edges instead, keep the outside selected and raise the correction gently. Flipping the sign of the exposure adjustment turns darkening into lightening, and you don't need to reverse the mask again.

## Use an Outside node when the inside already has a correction

If a non-inverted window already isolates a face for a local correction, an **Outside node** can handle the surrounding image separately. Select the original node, right-click it, and choose **Add Outside Node**. Put the edge-darkening adjustment on the new Outside node.

Resolve connects both the RGB image and the original node's key to that new node. Its **Key Input Invert is already enabled**, which makes it work on the opposite region. Leave the original window non-inverted for this arrangement. Inverting that window as well reverses the selection a second time and can send the Outside correction back onto the subject.

The [Outside-node documentation](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3417) shows the green RGB connection and blue key connection. It's useful when you need independent inside and outside corrections. For a vignette with no existing inside treatment, I'd stay with the single inverted-window node above, because it's simpler.

![Window node connected to an Outside node by a green RGB cable and blue key cable, with the original window non-inverted and the outside selected](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/29/a929429b-cfab-4467-b902-a0cd9c90feac/content/images/2026/10/vignette-outside.webp)

An Outside node inverts the incoming key by default. Keep the original Circle non-inverted in this arrangement.

## Track a vignette only when the subject needs it

First decide what the effect should follow. A fixed vignette can suit a static composition or a deliberate lens-like edge treatment. A window designed to protect a person walking across the frame needs to move with that person. I wouldn't track every shot by default, since that can make the darkening wander for no useful reason.

For a moving subject, set up the Circle and its tracking **before inverting it and lowering Gain**. Start from a clear frame with useful subject detail; it can be in the middle of the shot.

1. Position the non-inverted Circle around the subject and open the **Tracker** palette in **Window** mode. Stabilizer and FX are different modes.
2. Choose **Color > Tracker > Track Forward** to analyze from that frame toward the end.
3. Return to your reference frame and choose **Track Reverse** to cover the earlier part of the shot.
4. Review the entire track. Once the window follows the intended area, invert it in the Window list and apply the edge correction.

Blackmagic's [window-tracking instructions](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3309) explain the two directions and note that a new track overwrites existing tracking data. If the window drifts onto the background, choose a better reference area and retrack, then inspect the whole shot again. You can still resize or offset the window after tracking, but that doesn't make a bad path reliable.

![Window-mode Tracker workflow with a central reference frame, reverse and forward directions, and an oval following a saxophonist across three example frames](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/29/a929429b-cfab-4467-b902-a0cd9c90feac/content/images/2026/10/vignette-track.webp)

Start at a clear reference frame and cover both directions. Review the path before adding the final edge darkening.

## Reuse the treatment without replacing another shot's grade

For clips that need their own framing, copy only the vignette node's settings into a fresh node on the destination clip. Select the source vignette node and use **Edit > Copy**. Select the destination clip, create and select its empty serial node, click inside the Node Editor, and use **Edit > Paste**.

Interface focus matters here: [Resolve distinguishes pasting a node from pasting a whole grade](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3362). Do not paste into the clip thumbnail when you only intend to transfer one node. Node settings can include tracking, so the copied window is only a starting point. Reframe it and replace tracking that belongs to the old shot.

Use an [Adjustment Clip for a shared finishing treatment](https://davinciresolveclub.com/adjustment-clips-davinci-resolve/) when a fixed vignette should span several already balanced shots. That is convenient for a consistent edge look, but the same oval can miss the next subject or darken a title underneath it. Review every cut and split the treatment where the framing changes.

## What about the Vignette effect?

Resolve also documents a standalone **Vignette** Resolve FX under Film Emulation. Its Basic mode has Size, Anamorphism, Softness, and Color; Advanced mode adds controls including Center and Transparency. Those are the [standalone Vignette effect's controls](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3568), separate from the Power Window controls used above.

Don't confuse it with the Vignette section inside [Film Look Creator, which the manual labels Studio-only](https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/DaVinci%5FResolve%5F21.1%5FReference%5FManual.pdf?ref=davinciresolveclub.com#page=3553). You don't need Film Look Creator, a paid plugin, or Studio for the Power Window workflow in this guide. Start there when the subject's position and a visible mask check matter more than choosing a preset effect.