How to create a Bokeh effect on a smartphone

Regardless of the technique for taking photos, be it a smartphone or a camera, many photo connoisseurs love to create beautiful effects in their pictures. This also applies to the well-known bokeh effect, which allows you to focus on objects or silhouettes, creating an alluringly beautiful, blurred background.

Today, modern mobile phones can take stunning high-quality photographs. Therefore, now you can find many different devices that differ in their parameters. To work with photography, you can turn to manual settings, which are a universal option for full functionality.

What is the bokeh effect?

The very word "Bokeh" from the Japanese language means - "fuzziness", "blur". This suggests that the effect itself depends on the level of sharpness and its depth, which is displayed on the surrounding space. The lower the sharpness level, the more pronounced the bokeh effect.

What affects the bokeh effect?

In recent years, the cameras built into smartphones have reached a high standard of quality. It is surprising to imagine that this limit is only for a certain period of time. These advanced features make it possible for anyone to create bokeh shots without the help of mobile apps. The standards of modern phones are designed for several cameras, which have a main aperture module. This design allows you to technically obtain the desired results for the photo.

Well-established smartphones (iPhone, Huawei, Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi) have more than three cameras located on the back of the case. A special sensor measures the depth of field of images, which separates objects from the background in the pictures.

How to get bokeh effect without third party apps?

Bokeh can be obtained in a simple way without the participation of applications and Adobe Photoshop.

For this you need:

• Take a close-up photo of an object.
• The focus of the camera must be focused on the desired object (manual focus or automatic).
• Good lighting on the right object. For best results, you can distribute the light source behind the subject or object. An excellent location would be: trees, glowing light bulbs, street lights, grass, and so on.
• The best shooting is in sunny weather, given the regime time. In case of darkness, bright illumination behind the object is necessary.

By following these simple steps, you can easily get the desired bokeh effect in your smartphone shots. Photos will be with a well-blurred background and possible blurry discs.

Disks appear when the subject in the picture is not in focus. This option looks natural, although it seems complicated.

Advantages of the method:

• To blur the image, you do not need to install mobile applications.
• The image has a natural look without distortion.
• Emphasizing the main object or subject in the frame.
• The technique is convenient for close-ups.

The only drawback of the effect is that it can be hardly noticeable in the picture, provided that the objects are taken in full growth or portrait. This is due to the wide viewing angle in the cell phone camera itself. Only in this case it will not be possible to obtain the desired blur effect in the frame (when the object is located 1 meter or more from the shooting camera).

What can be useful for photography?

For high-quality pictures, you need the right technique - cameras with lenses of the right extensions. Modern smartphones are also suitable for photography. For maximum convenience in creating photographs, monopods, selfie sticks, special tripods of any size and thoughtful lighting will become useful attributes. On the website of the Ukrainian brand Gelius, you can find many useful devices that will improve your work with photos.

Some of the most suitable options: Gelius Pro Selfie Monopod Tripod - a tripod for maximum user convenience, Gelius Blogger Set Life Hack Improved - a blogger set that has thought out all the necessary details for comfortable use and less time, Gelius Pro Selfie Monopod - will allow you to do photos and videos in motion or sitting on the required surface.