On Instagram and other very famous social networks (such as Facebook and Twitter) many common users and famous photographers share photos with the blur effect or with the Bokeh effect, collecting a lot of followers and new shares. If we also want to give our smartphone shots a little bit more, in this guide we will show you all the tricks to be able to take photos with blur or Bokeh with any smartphone . We will show you both the methods with the camera apps integrated on the phone (which may already have the options to obtain these two effects) and the third-party apps that allow you to take very beautiful photos with blur or bokeh effect, in a completely automatic way ( we just have to frame and press the shutter button).
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How to make the Bokeh effect with the default camera app
If our smartphone is recent enough, it should include the blur filter or Bokeh in the settings of the camera app integrated by the manufacturer. Before trying any other method then open the Camera app on our smartphone and check that there is a filter or an effect called Blur, Blur background or Bokeh . On some Android smartphones the Bokeh effect is automatically added on every shot taken in Portrait mode.
To obtain a blur effect using the manual settings of the camera, first of all we set the Manual mode, then we act on the parameters Focus and Shutter aperture, so we can modify the blur effect on the photo (in this case we will have to be very good at finding the right value for the focus and the shutter, since a minimum error will lead to very bad or completely blurry photos).
How to make the Bokeh effect with Instagram
If the default camera app does not allow you to take blurry photos or with the Bokeh effect, the first app we recommend you use is Instagram, available for free for Android and iOS.
Once installed on our phone we open the app, tap on the top left of the camera symbol then use the Portrait mode, which can automatically apply the Bokeh effect to all compatible shots (the best results are obtained with a face no more than 2 meters from the target). We frame the subject and press the button below (the larger one, with the little man inside the circle with Instagram colors); the app will shoot and automatically apply the very realistic Bokeh effect. At the end of the shot we can choose to share the photo directly on Instagram, on an Instagram story or save it on our phone, so as to use it on other apps, in instant chats or on other social networks.
Being a post-production effect, the effect will not always be convincing: this is why we advise you to try first with the camera app in our possession, where usually the best results are obtained.
How to make the Bokeh effect with other third-party apps
If the Bokeh effect or blurred photos obtained with the default camera app or with the Instagram app is not convincing, we can try other third-party apps, designed precisely to create spectacular portraits and blurred photos in a simple and fast way.The best apps we can try for Android and iPhone are:
- AfterFocus (Android and iOS): one of the best apps to get blurry photos or portraits with instant Bokeh effect. On Android it is available for free, while on iPhone you pay (it costs about € 1).
- Bokeh Lens (iOS only): paid app available only on iPhone, useful for making blurred shots with professional-level Bokeh effect, equal to those obtainable with a reflex.
- Focos (iOS only): app available for free that can take perfect blurred photos with Bokeh effect even on iPhones without a suitable lens (all smartphones lower than the iPhone 7 Plus).
- Fine - Photo Editor (iOS only): another paid app for iPhone that can apply the Bokeh effect to shots taken in real time, as well as edit photos already taken.
- Blur Photo Cool Apps (Android only): with this free app we will be able to obtain professional-level blurry photos, comparable to those obtained with a professional photographer's SLR.
- Photoshop mobile apps (Android only): another app similar to the previous one with which we can apply blur and Bokeh both to the shots taken in real time and to the shots already taken.
- Manual Camera Lite (Android only): alternative camera app that offers great control of photographic settings, so you can manually create your own blurry effect simply by playing with the right options. Reserved for professionals or those who know very well which parameters to modify to replicate the Bokeh effect.
If we want to test other camera apps alternative to the basic one offered by the manufacturer, we invite you to read our two guides (one for each operating system), that is Best camera apps for Android to take photos with your mobile phone and best Apps to photograph with iPhone and make more beautiful photos .
Conclusions
As we could see in this guide, taking photos with blur or Bokeh is very simple, since many manufacturers already provide the blur option in the camera settings. Alternatively we can always use Instagram (which has a special artificial intelligence, capable of automatically recognizing the face and therefore applying the effect) or one of the many apps to blur the photos (both the photos still to be taken and those that have already been saved in our gallery).If we already have photos saved on the PC and we want to blur them in some places, we can read our guide on how to blur photos and blur the background by highlighting part of the image . If, on the other hand, we have the opposite problem (i.e. photos that are too blurry and unclear), we can try to correct the blurring errors by reading our two guides on how to focus blurred photos and blurred images and how to improve blurred photos online by making them sharper .
