Lens Blur effect

The Lens Blur effect simulates the blurring of objects not in the focal plane of a camera. The appearance of the blur depends on the control layer used as a depth map and the iris settings for the simulated camera aperture.

Richard Bird provides a video tutorial on the AETUTS+ website that shows how to use the Lens Blur effect to create a tilt-shift result.

Andrew Kramer provides a video tutorial on his Video Copilot website that demonstrates how to use the Lens Blur effect to create the look of a shallow depth of field.

This effect works with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color.

Original (upper-left), Depth Map layer (lower-left), and result (lower-right)

Depth Map Layer

The control layer from which the depth map is taken.

Depth Map Channel

The channel of the control layer to use as the depth map. Pixels with low values correspond to low depth (near the camera); pixels with high values correspond to high depth (far from the camera). Select Invert Depth Map to invert this relationship.

Blur Focal Distance

Depth of the focal plane, where pixels are in focus.

Iris Shape

The polygon to use as the iris shape.

Iris Blade Curvature

The roundness of the edges of the iris.

Iris Rotation

The rotation of the iris.

Iris Radius

The size of the iris. Increase this value for greater blur.

Specular Threshold

All pixels with a brightness value greater than Specular Threshold are treated as specular highlights.

Specular Brightness

Brightness of specular highlights.

Noise controls

Film grain and noise are removed when you blur an image. To make the image look more realistic, you may want to add noise back to the image so that it doesn’t look retouched. To add noise, set Noise Amount, and choose a noise type from the Noise Distribution menu. To add noise without affecting the color in your image, choose Monochromatic Noise.

Stretch Map To Fit

Stretches the control layer to the dimensions of the layer to which it is applied; otherwise, the control layer is centered on the affected layer.