Raleigh, North Carolina – August 24, 2010 – Alien Skin Software, maker of simple photography tools that render beautiful pictures, today announces the immediate availability of Bokeh® 2, the new version of its lens simulation plug-in for Adobe® Photoshop® and Lightroom®. Bokeh provides a wide range of creative focus effects and accurate lens simulation in a simple interface. Photographers use Bokeh to draw attention to their subject by manipulating focus, vignette, and depth of field.
“Bokeh has grown beyond lens simulation into a creativity tool, especially with the addition of motion blur,” said Terence Tay, the architect of Bokeh. “Now photographers can get sophisticated focus effects without the hassle and expense of using tilt-shift or special effect lenses.”
After
Before
Creative Focus
Bokeh gives photographers a wide range of tools to focus attention where they want it. The focus region is easily placed over the subject and then the fun begins. Every aspect of the lens blur can be customized, from highlight intensity and shape to motion blur and vignette. The vignette can change the mood of the scene through darkening or desaturation. The new motion blur can give the illusion of movement like expensive creative lenses, but it is even more flexible, allowing spiral and rotational blurs.
Accurate Lens Simulation
Bokeh accurately simulates the distinctive blurring and creamy highlights of real lenses. This was achieved through 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. Now Bokeh renders film grain to match the original photo which makes defocused regions look completely natural. Bokeh can even change the depth of field of a photo even after it was shot by realistically blurring the background.
Adobe Photoshop CS5 64-bit and Lightroom Support
Bokeh 2 now works in Lightroom, including batch processing. The 64-bit version of Photoshop CS5 works great with Bokeh on both platforms. Bokeh provides multiple techniques for non-destructive editing in Photoshop, including Smart Filter support and rendering effects on a duplicate of the original layer.
Ease of Use
Bokeh has a slick new interface for easily placing focus regions. Now multiple focus regions are supported and there are new focus region shapes. The preview is now much faster and more interactive, making experimentation easier. To help get started and for advanced techniques, the Web site has a large library of tutorial videos and example images.
Pricing and Availability
Bokeh 2 sells for $199 USD. Owners of Bokeh 1 may upgrade for $99 USD. Online or physical delivery is available through the Alien Skin website at www.alienskin.com. Free upgrades will be automatically sent to purchasers of Bokeh 1 who purchased in April 2010 or later.
Host Requirements
Bokeh 2 is a plug-in and requires one of the following host applications:
- Adobe Photoshop CS3 or later
- Adobe Lightroom 2 or later
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or later
- Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X3
System Requirements
Microsoft Windows users must have at least a Pentium 4 processor or compatible and Windows XP SP3 or later. Apple Macintosh users must have an Intel processor and Mac OS X 10.5 or later. A monitor with 1024×768 resolution or greater is required.
About Alien Skin Software
Alien Skin Software makes Photoshop plug-ins for photographers and graphic designers. We distill advanced math and cutting edge research into simple tools that render beautiful pictures. Our reputation for bug-free software and fast, friendly tech support has grown worldwide since 1993. For more information, visit our website at www.alienskin.com.
For marketing or product review information, e-mail press@alienskin.com or call (919) 832-4124.