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Alien Skin Bokeh v1 0 3

Finally, you can manipulate focus just like fast expensive lenses with Bokeh, Alien Skin’s lens simulator Photoshop plug-in. Bokeh can draw attention to your subject by manipulating focus and depth of field after the shot has been taken. From changing the depth of field to placing a radial sweet spot and adding a vignette, Bokeh provides many techniques for realistic blurring and altering the mood of a scene. 

Bokeh is the only software that accurately simulates the distinctive blurring and creamy highlights of real lenses. Terence Tay, Bokeh’s designer, performed careful experiments with lenses famous for their bokeh highlights, such as the Canon® EF 85mm f/1.2 II and the Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8. The result is a photo-realistic look, in contrast to the unnatural blur from other software.

Depth of Field

Bokeh provides creative controls to accentuate photographs and focus the viewer’s attention anywhere you want. In these examples, Bokeh was used to make the backgrounds fade into the distance. This is like going from an f/22 aperture to an f/2.8. However, Bokeh is even better at this than a real lens because you can choose which objects to blur.

Distinctive Bokeh Highlights

The most distinctive features of out-of-focus areas of a photograph shot by a real physical lens are the highlights. These highlights take on the shape of the lens aperture. Bokeh gives you all the creative controls you need to manipulate highlight shape from stars to hearts to the creaminess of the highlights

Tilt-Shift Effects

The tilt-shift effect is a part of the professional photographer’s arsenal. Whether you are a portrait or landscape photographer, Bokeh gives you the same effect without cumbersome lens changes. So, you can focus on capturing the best photograph at the moment and make creative focus decisions after the shot has been taken.

Accurate Lens Simulation

We performed careful experiments with lenses famous for their creamy bokeh, such as the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II and the Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8. The result is a photo-realistic look far superior to those produced by other software. 

Vignette

A vignette is the darkening at the edge of a photo caused by limitations of real lenses. This effect can be simulated by Bokeh for artistic effect or to get the same look found in low-end Lomo cameras. The results can be subtle or obvious as in these photographs.

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