Bokeh
The photographic effect of parts of a scene appearing out of focus in a captured photograph. It is commonly used to "blur" the background in a portrait.
Bokeh is an optical effect that looks distinct from blur to a trained eye.
In traditional photography, a significant bokeh effect requires a physically large-diameter lens, as compared to a phone camera lens. Phones with larger lenses and sensors can produce a very limited bokeh effect.
Some phones can simulate bokeh using software. Some detect and blur the background, while better software produces something closer to bokeh, including varying levels of bokeh at different distances from the lens.
A large variety of different technologies are used by phones to measure depth (distance from the lens) in photos, which in turn can be used to create a good bokeh effect. The best depth sensing utilizes a dedicated active depth sensor, which may use a tiny infrared projector coupled with an infrared camera. Limited depth information can also be gathered using two standard cameras side-by-side, or by a single camera with advanced "dual-pixel" technology.
Last updated Oct 20, 2017 by Rich Brome
Editor in Chief Rich became fascinated with cell phones in 1999, creating mobile web sites for phones with tiny black-and-white displays and obsessing over new phone models. Realizing a need for better info about phones, he started Phone Scoop in 2001, and has been helming the site ever since. Rich has spent two decades researching and covering every detail of the phone industry, traveling the world to tour factories, interview CEOs, and get every last spec and photo Phone Scoop readers have come to expect. As an industry veteran, Rich is a respected voice on phone technology of the past, present, and future.
