An easy way to create DSLR-style background blurred photos on your smartphone.
Summary
| Our Score | Our Score |
| License | Free (Ads) |
| Link | http://appm1.com/afterfocus/ |
| Create blurred background with smart and manual tools, ease of use, save work in progress and share results. | |
| Some advanced features available only in the Pro version, ad-supported, limited maximum image size for saving. |
Details
Compare the two featured images above. On the left is the original photo before editing; on the right is an edited photo with backgrounds blurred. Thus the focus object (i.e. the beautiful girl) is more outstanding than the backgrounds.
If you like this type of photo, you do not need to buy an extra DSLR camera to capture one with shallow depth of field, but can easily create a DSLR-style background blurred photo as well with just a mobile app.
Several apps are available from the stores to produce soft blurry background photos but AfterFocus is one of the best for its auto function and smart tools to allow you to work faster and get better results on smartphones with a small screen.
It is a superb photo editing app to produce a pleasing out-of-focus effect or blurry backgrounds. With simple steps, you are able to create a photo that looks more professional and concentrates the attention of the viewer on the main subject. It works with any photos saved in your album or a new picture to take with the app.
Two methods, smart and manual, are provided in this app to make a background blurred photo. It’s easier and time saving to go with the smart method, with which you simply draw lines on a photo and the focus area will be automatically recognized by the app.
First, select the foreground icon, draw white lines on the object you need to focus, then select the background icon, draw black lines on the background you want to make it blur. When needed, do the same with grey lines to blur midrange pixels in a photo.
To do some fine tuning, you can zoom the canvas by two-finger pinch and move the canvas by two-finger slide to add more supporting lines. Tap “Next” and “Save”, you will then get the result.
Types of Blurs, Filters and Effects
To add more fun to your photos, these are three types of blurs to apply: lens blur, motion blur and zoom blur. Motion blur is particularly meaningful to the background of a focus object that is running.
On top of creating blurred backgrounds, this app also allows you to apply filters to the foreground, background or the whole image with an intensity slider, use fading background and add effects to your photos.
The aesthetic quality of blurry backgrounds (aka bokeh) can be rendered with the aperture of a certain shape, of which results are more noticeable in backgrounds with points of light.
Save and Share
While you’re editing, you can save your work in progress to a project file, and when done, share your creations with your buddies from this app, excellent for any photographers with just a smartphone.
A free version is available for Android with ads and supported up to a maximum image size of 1024 pixels for saving. The iOS version is unfortunately not free.