One of the big differences between a photo shot with a cellphone and one shot with a DSLR camera is that the former will always look “flatter”.
Your iPhone camera is made so that photos are taken with a deep depth of field: this means that almost every part of your shot will look sharp, and what is not in focus will look only slightly blurry. On a DSLR, on the other hand, you can use aperture settings and different lenses to achieve a human-eye-like effect where only the main subject is in focus, and everything around it is blurry.
There are many apps that try to fill this gap and provide a way to selectively blur your photos and Big Lens is definitely one of my favorite.
This app emulates the behavior of a mirror camera, by letting you pick the area you want to keep in focus and applying fake “aperture settings” on everything else.
This software works in two modes. The Basic one is very similar to what many other apps do: you just apply a linear or circular gradient. With the Advanced mode things get more interesting, since you can paint the area to keep in focus, and you also have a nice edge detection algorithm that makes things easier.
In both modes, after establishing the mask area, you can then apply aperture settings, change the lens shape (this will affect the “bokeh”) and also add some filters to your image.
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- After loading an image you can select Basic or Advanced Mode
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- In Basic mode, you use a simple gradient
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- Aperture settings: a big aperture will make the “out of focus” area blurrier.
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- A smaller aperture will make it sharper. The slider lets you tune the transition between the two areas.
The Lens settings will let you change the shape of the bokeh artifacts.
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- Heart-shaped
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- A starry bokeh
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- Triangle-shaped artifacts
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- A fake HDR setting can be activated using the switch on top: I’ve seen better in other apps, though
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- In Basic mode you can also use a linear gradient
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- Some of the effects
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- Each effect has a strength slider
The Advanced mode requires a little bit more work, but it can produce better results.
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- With the lazo and brush you define the rough area you want to keep in focus
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- The Auto tool shrinks the selection to a detected figure. It’s quite good, but not perfect,
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- You might need to use the brush and eraser to adjust the mask.
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- Once again you can apply different adjustments. In Advanced mode you have, on the right, the option to strengthen the blur.
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- You can use the Focus and Blur tools to adjust the focus area
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- Lenses and Effects work just like in Basic mode
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- Unfortunately, Big Lens does not support (very) Big Photos
In the end, Big Lens delivers what it promises: a good way to make cell phone pictures look more like DSLR ones. This app is universal and it’s quite cheap: I definitely consider it a “must have” for any iPhoneographer around.
PROS: Great results, good set of features, Universal
CONS: -
Check also: BlurFX, TiltShift, Tilt Shift Generator
| Compatibility | Universal |
| Price | 0.99$ |
| Free/Light version? | No |
| Developer | Reallusion Inc. |
| Resolution | 2448 px – Square only |
| My Rating | 9/10 |
