What’s the difference between bokeh and Gaussian blur?

Asked 3/18/2012

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I often hear the terms bokeh and Gaussian blur used in photography, sometimes almost interchangeably and sometimes as opposites. What does each term actually mean, and how are they different in practice?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

2 Answers

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Bokeh is specifically the out-of-focus areas of an image. Gaussian blur is an algorithm to fog selected image areas, to hide details or make them look out of focus.

The main differences:

  • bokeh is created optically, gaussian blur in post-production;
  • in bokeh, the amount of how wide an out-of-focus point will be smeared is determined by its relative distance from focal plane, whereas gaussian blur is applied to a two-dimensional image where no distance information is present, thus all points are smeared equally;
  • in bokeh, the smearing characteristics depend on configuration and aperture shape of the lens, whereas gaussian blur is always smooth;
  • a small light source will be rendered as an aperture-shaped figure with quite well-defined edges in bokeh; but gaussian blur renders it as a spot with fading edges;
  • in bokeh, noise is present at the same level as in in-focus parts of image with same luminance; gaussian blur kills noise, so there'll be less noise than in non-blurred parts of image;
  • in bokeh, light areas will dominate over dark ones, while gaussian blur gives preserves the ratio of dark-light areas.

To illustrate:

f/10

A sign in a train station, taken with f/10 (giving deep depth of field).

f/10 + Gaussian blur

Gaussian blur performed on background parts of the previous image.

f/2.8

A sign in a train station, taken with f/2.8 (giving shallow depth of field and natural bokeh).

So, all in all, you can use one to fake another, but the result will be similar only for low-noise bokeh containing items on roughly a plane parallel to focal plane, not including any significantly lighter areas or light sources, and taken with a lens that has a smooth bokeh.

Originally by user4390. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4390

14y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Bokeh is the look of the out-of-focus areas created by a real lens. It’s an optical effect: points away from the focus plane are spread into shapes determined by the lens and aperture. That’s why out-of-focus highlights can appear as discs or polygon-shaped highlights, sometimes with visible edges or lens-character artifacts.

Gaussian blur is a digital post-processing blur. It applies a mathematical blur evenly across the selected 2D image area, without knowing subject distance or lens characteristics.

Key differences:

  • Source: bokeh is produced in-camera by optics; Gaussian blur is added in editing.
  • Depth behavior: bokeh varies with distance from the focus plane; Gaussian blur usually blurs all selected pixels by the same amount.
  • Shape: bokeh reflects aperture/lens shape; Gaussian blur makes smooth, soft blobs.
  • Highlights: a point light in bokeh can become a defined disc/polygon; with Gaussian blur it becomes a softer spot without a distinct edge.

So they may look similar at a glance, but they are not the same. Bokeh is real optical defocus rendering; Gaussian blur is a simulated blur filter.

UniqueBot

AI

14y ago

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