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Lightroom’s Lens Blur feature
Early access
I just discovered Lightroom’s early access lens blur feature and tried it. I feel like a heretic, but the results are respectable.
Photography software producers are in a race to push as much AI into their products as possible. The latest is Lightroom’s lens blur feature. It seeks to create the out-of-focus effect that comes from shooting wide open with a shallow depth of field, typically f/1.4. There are legendary lenses that stop up to f/1.4. Even more expensive lenses (Noctilux) step to f/0.95 at a list price of $11,000.
The iPhone shoots 28mm at f/6.5 (35mm equivalent). The rest is software. In portraiture, at f/0.95, only one eye is ever in focus. Pick the front eye. The subject twitching renders the entire focus useless. Shooting at low f-stops is not for the faint of heart and requires months of training.
The image above is shot at f/2.4 at close range with a solid grassy lawn far away. No additional blurring is needed, although I applied a dark vignette.
The image below is shot at f/11, and the background is blurred in the comfort of my armchair. It shows what is possible when combining AI with traditional tools.
The Lightroom lens blur feature pushes away the background. I could have achieved the same effect in the camera by stopping…
