Alien Skin Bokeh - The Lens Simulator Photoshop Plug-In

Introducing Alien Skin Bokeh, the lens simulator Photoshop plug-in filter. Alien Skin 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, Alien Skin Bokeh provides many techniques for realistic blurring and altering the mood of a scene.

Alien Skin 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 Nikon 105mm f/2.8 Macro. The result is a photo-realistic look, in contrast to the unnatural blur from other software.

Alien Skin Bokeh is a plug-in and will require one of the following host programs:
Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 or later on Windows
Adobe Fireworks CS4
Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

Alien Skin Bokeh - Features

Depth of Field - Alien Skin Bokeh

Alien Skin 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, Alien Skin Bokeh is even better at this than a real lens because you can choose which objects to blur.

Distinctive Alien Skin 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. Alien Skin Bokeh gives you all the creative controls you need to manipulate highlight shape from stars to hearts to the creaminess of the highlights.

The tilt-shift effect is a part of the professional photographer’s arsenal. Whether you are a portrait or landscape photographer, Alien Skin 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 in Alien Skin Bokeh

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 results from Alien Skin Bokeh software is a photo-realistic look far superior to those produced by other software.

Vignette in Alien Skin Bokeh

A vignette is the darkening at the edge of a photo caused by limitations of real lenses. This effect can be simulated by Alien Skin 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.