Focos app is mainly used for realistic blurring of photo background, but it also provides all the important options for photo enhancement. Highlight: Each correction can be applied to a specific depth area of the image.
The depth map required for this is automatically generated using artificial intelligence. However, you will get more convincing results if the iPhone itself creates a depth map when recording in portrait mode with its cameras, three cameras, or lidar scanner. Dokma The author Olaf Germann offers you some possibilities of the application.
In particular, you will often need to manually correct the AI-based depth map for best results. It’s really easy: the depth map (in the “patch” area) (on the left) is color coded. In the Light Color area, use the slider to select the color of the Depth area that you want to assign to an incorrectly coded area. The colored spot bar running through the image helps find the correct area (right). Then use the “brush” to paint the areas to be corrected.
The basic functions of the application are simple. It analyzes the image when it is opened and creates a depth map if it is not already there. Their quality largely depends on the subject – if necessary, you can take manual corrective action later. Use the “Aperture” slider to set the strength of soft focus (as in a camera, small aperture values correspond to a shallow depth of field). By clicking in the image, the AF point determines, so to speak, which part of the image should remain sharp. Hint: Use the “Portrait” mode in the iPhone camera app, because only in this mode is a depth map created and saved directly from the camera and lidar data.
Focos offers 16 different lens presets, each creating a different bokeh. Most of them, however, are only paid. Bokeh describes the blur property, which ranges from soft circular blurring circles to turbulent dispersal and swirl effects. At Focos, each bokeh parameter can be set individually and saved as a separate “lens” specification.
With the help of depth map, corrections can be made depending on the depth of the image. In the “Effects” area, you can select, for example, the “grayscale” transformation (left) from the various correction options and limit its effect to the desired “depth range” using the slider (bottom left). In this way, the foreground area of the image can be excluded from the de-saturation of the color switch effect (lower left). The Effects app is non-destructive.
Interesting is the alternative perception of the image as a 3D model that can be rotated and resized freely using swipe and pinch gestures – here the rotation is done 30 degrees to the right (bottom right). You can use the effect bars at the bottom of the image (lower right) to specify the depth range the effect should work in. It will also give you a good idea of how the program “sees” the image, so it can know what corrections are needed.
With the added depth dimension, Focos also allows for post-lighting of the scene – including casting shadows. Depending on the quality of the depth map, the lighting result is often as impressive as realistic bokeh. Six different lamps are available with different lighting characteristics. A 3D model of the image (on the left), which you can use to determine the distance and location of the light source, helps determine their location. Along with changing the color and intensity of light, there are many creative possibilities that require intricate masks and shadows created by hand in traditional software.
AR mode (left) shows the 3D model of the scene moving freely in space. So instead of using gestures to pan and zoom the scene on the touchscreen, you can move around with your iPhone or iPad. What at first glance seems like a gimmick actually makes it much easier to assess depth segmentation and, above all, positioning of light sources (right).
Move your mobile device so that you can find the best angle to move the light source. Like a photographer with a fixed-focal length lens, “foot-ups” is the order of the day: move toward the model to zoom in and get an overview from a greater distance. It feels a bit like the future.
