Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Stereo-based bokeh effects for photography

  • Special Issue Paper
  • Published:
Machine Vision and Applications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bokeh, a sought-after photo rendering style of out-of-focus blur, typically aims at an esthetic quality which is not available to low-end consumer-grade cameras due to the lens design. We present a bokeh simulation method using stereo-vision techniques. We refine a depth map obtained by stereo matching, also using some minor user interaction. Overexposed regions are recovered according to depth information. A depth-aware bokeh effect is then applied with user-adjustable apertures sizes or shapes. We also simulate swirly bokeh, also known as cat-eye effect. Our method mainly aims at the visual quality of the bokeh effect rather than (so far) at time efficiency. Experiments show that our results are natural looking and that they can be comparable to bokeh effects achieved with expensive real-world bokeh-capable camera systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Abbott, J., Morse, B.: Interactive depth-aware effects for stereo image editing. In: Proceedings of the 3D vision, pp. 263–270 (2013)

  2. Demers, J.: Depth of field: a survey of techniques. GPU Gems 1(375), U390 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  3. He, S.: How to customize heart bokeh (aperture) for the camera? DIY tutorial. www.youtube.com/watch?v=he_RUMxo-H8 (2013)

  4. Hirschmüller, H.: Accurate and efficient stereo processing by semi-global matching and mutual information. Proc. Comput. Vis. Pattern Recogn. 2, 807–814 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Kopf, J., Cohen, M.F., Lischinski, D., Uyttendaele, M.: Joint bilateral upsampling. ACM Trans. Graph. 26, 96 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Klette, R.: Concise Computer Vision: An Introduction into Theory and Algorithms. Springer, London (2014)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  7. Klette, R., Rosenfeld, A.: Digital Geometry: Geometric Methods for Digital Picture Analysis. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (2004)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Kraus, M., Strengert, M.: Depth-of-field rendering by pyramidal image processing. Comput. Graph. Forum 26, 645–654 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Lee, S., Eisemann, E., Seidel, H.-P.: Depth-of-field rendering with multiview synthesis. ACM Trans. Graph. 28, 134 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Lee, S., Eisemann, E., Seidel, H.-P.: Real-time lens blur effects and focus control. ACM Trans. Graph. 29, 65 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Lee, S., Jounghyun Kim, G., Choi, S.: Real-time depth-of-field rendering using anisotropically filtered mipmap interpolation. IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graph. 15, 453–464 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Lee, S., Kim, G.J., Choi, S.: Real-time depth-of-field rendering using point splatting on per-pixel layers. Comput. Graph. Forum 27, 1955–1962 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Levin, A., Lischinski, D., Weiss, Y.: A closed-form solution to natural image matting. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell. 30, 228–242 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Liu, J., Gong, X., Liu, J.: Guided inpainting and filtering for Kinect depth maps. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Pattern Recognition, pp. 2055–2058 (2012)

  15. Liu, D., Nicolescu, R., Klette, R.: Bokeh effects based on stereo vision. In: Proceedings of Computer Analysis of Images and Patterns, pp. 198–210 (2015)

  16. Liu, S., Lai, P., Tian, D., Gomila, C., Chen, C.W.: Joint trilateral filtering for depth map compression. In: Proceedings of Visual Communications and Image Processing, No. 77440F (2010)

  17. Matsuo, T., Fukushima, N., Ishibashi, Y.: Weighted joint bilateral filter with slope depth compensation filter for depth map refinement. In: Proceedings of International Conference Computer Vision Theory and Applications, pp. 300–309 (2013)

  18. Mowery, A.: Create the famed Petzval swirly bokeh with your lens for cheap. www.diyphotography.net/create-famed-petzval-swirly-bokeh-lens-cheap/ (2015)

  19. Petschnigg, G., Szeliski, R., Agrawala, M., Cohen, M., Hoppe, H., Toyama, K.: Digital photography with flash and no-flash image pairs. ACM Trans. Graph. 23, 664–672 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Rockwell, K.: Nikon Lens Bokeh Comparison. www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/bokeh-comparison.htm (2006)

  21. Rockwell, K.: Bokeh. www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm (2008)

  22. Wang, Q., Yu, Z., Rasmussen, C., Yu, J.: Stereo vision-based depth of field rendering on a mobile device. J. Electron. Imaging 23, 023009 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Wu, J., Zheng, C., Hu, X., Wang, Y., Zhang, L.: Realistic rendering of bokeh effect based on optical aberrations. Vis. Comput. 26, 555–563 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Xue, W., Zhang, X., Sheng, B., Ma, L.: Image-based depth-of-field rendering with non-local means filtering. In: Proceedings of International Conference Multimedia Expo Workshops, pp. 1–6 (2013)

  25. Yu, X., Wang, R., Yu, J.: Real-time depth of field rendering via dynamic light field generation and filtering. Comput. Graph. Forum 29, 2099–2107 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Yu, Z., Yu, X., Thorpe, C., Grauer-Gray, S., Li, F., Yu, J.: Racking focus and tracking focus on live video streams: a stereo solution. Vis. Comput. 30, 45–58 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Zhang, W., Cham, W.-K.: Single image focus editing. In: Proceedings of International Conference Computer Vision Workshops, pp. 1947–1954 (2009)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Dongwei Liu & Radu Nicolescu

  2. Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

    Reinhard Klette

Authors
  1. Dongwei Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Radu Nicolescu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Reinhard Klette
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dongwei Liu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, D., Nicolescu, R. & Klette, R. Stereo-based bokeh effects for photography. Machine Vision and Applications 27, 1325–1337 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00138-016-0775-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00138-016-0775-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation