Bokeh Effect

Bokeh Effect

A colorful Bokeh effect is, in fact, one of the most impressive special effects out there that at the same time is extremely easy to create, especially with Pixelmator.

Layers, the Gradient Tool and the Quartz Composer Defocus filter are used in this tutorial.

Step 1

Create a new image in Pixelmator. To achieve a result similar to the one shown in the tutorial, use a size of 1920×1200 pixels; however, feel free to use any other size as well.

Step 2

Fill the background layer with a black color. Choose Edit > Fill, set Color to black and click OK.

Step 3

In the Layers palette (View > Show Layers), click the Add button (+) to create a new layer. To create a blurry defocus for the image composition base, first choose Filter > Quartz Composer > Defocus and drag the sliders to set values approximately as follows: Size = 0.50, Blur = 0.30, Density = 0.59. Then set the Primary Color to white and the Secondary Color to black and click OK.

Please note that since the Defocus filter generates the effect randomly, your results may look different from the example in the image below.

Step 4

Duplicate the recently created layer by choosing Layer > Duplicate. Set the duplicated layer’s Blending to Color Dodge, as the Color Dodge blending mode gives some depth to the circles.

Step 5

In the Layers palette click the Add button (+) to create another new layer. Change its Blending to Screen.

Step 6

To add small defocus circles to the recently created layer, select it and choose Filter > Quartz Composer > Defocus, then adjust the values to approximately: Time = 24, Size = 0.15, Blur = 0.03, Density = 0.75. Click OK.

Step 7

Click the Add button (+) to create another new layer above the others. Set the Blending to Screen. To add medium-sized defocus circles to the layer, choose Filter > Quartz Composer > Defocus, and adjust the values to approximately: Time = 0.00, Size = 0.30, Blur = 0.1, Density = 0.55. Click OK.

Step 8

In order to create a light blend between the circles, duplicate the recently created layer with the medium circles by choosing Layer > Duplicate, then change the duplicated layer’s Blending to Color Dodge.

Step 9

In order to color the image, first click to add a new layer above the rest. Then click to select the Gradient Tool (G) in the Tools palette, and in the Gradients palette (View > Show Gradients) select the Rainbow gradient preset by clicking on its icon.

Step 10

Apply the gradient to the recently created layer and change its Blending to Overlay, since the Overlay blending mode combines layers equally. And the Bokeh effect is done!

Resources

Tutorial Credits

Tutorial Comments

  1. Henzo - November 26th, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    Is the issue here that when the author says ‘Choose Quartz Composer > Generator > Defocus’ he doesn’t mention that Quartz Composer is found in the Filter menu in the menu bar? It should be ‘Filter > Quartz Composer > Generator > Defocus’. That’s the only problem I can see there. Abduzeedo, your work looks fantastic – the tutorials are fantastic too but do make sure you get every detail – I’ve found myself frustrated by some of your other tutorials because of missing yet crucial detail.

    That said, thanks for the contributions you’ve made – I love Pixelmator and the tutorials make it all the more valuable for someone trying to learn how to use it. Don’t stop! (just make sure all the steps are in there and accurate ;-)

  2. Xero - November 27th, 2010 at 12:01 am

    Followed the tutorial with no problems other then the filter menu thing, which was easy to work around: if you type in ‘quartz composer’ in the help menu it sends you directly to the menu object under the ‘filter’ menu.

    Might want to try that next time.

  3. Binkyjoe - December 1st, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    Wow, diva Smith needs to take a chill pill. I followed this without a hitch, and it hardly took five minutes.

    Abduzeedo rocks.

  4. soaringcheetah - December 1st, 2010 at 7:58 pm

    Great tut! Fast and easy. Some people just don’t know that there’s a “help” menu…

  5. Bee Apples - December 7th, 2010 at 3:54 pm

    I don’t understand how this is difficult, honestly! I got through it in 10 minutes max, and the results were flawless, thanks to the instructions. :-) Great tutorial.

  6. diva smith - December 7th, 2010 at 5:03 pm

    diva, what an arrogant.

  7. DMar - December 10th, 2010 at 1:57 pm

    This tutorial was super simple and I love the result! It would take me a ton more time to do this in PS. Love the gradient application in real time… I just played with it for a while to see what I could do with it. Pixelmator gets huge ups from me and my MacBook Air 2nd Gen!

  8. wu jing - December 25th, 2010 at 7:23 am

    This is really great! And easy to learn, I just suggest if in the coming tutorial, we can learn most of the important function will be more help, such as how to use ” magic wanted tool” etc.
    Thank you very much!

  9. ana luisa - December 26th, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    esta muy bonito

  10. Ausra - January 7th, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    Hopefully a week if everything goes well :)

  11. Pam - January 7th, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    Ahhh i see as I don’t have the quartz tool either. After doing some webbing, internets say its a developer plug in so bit confuzzled, hopefully fix will sort it as i like pretty colours and it would be nice to do this one.

  12. Pete - January 8th, 2011 at 1:32 am

    Ok, I dont know why people are complaining, this is top notch software (up there with photoshop) for absolutely nothing (compared to photoshop) the tut was really awesome, thanks ive been trying to work out how to do this since o git pixelmator. thx for the awesome tut.

  13. desert skys - January 11th, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    Was led to pixelmator from mac app store, DL the software to an imac with snowlepoard OS installed.

    Me thinks that users who have troubles are not creating or (adding) the layer(s) needed.

    Me found the software worked as the tutorial described,not so much the same as me fuss with the adjustments so nearly the same.

    I must say as a PHOTOSHOP CS4 user this is really cool stuff, NO BS. Quartz Composer is there and seems to work ok! Will follow up if it don’t

    Cheers!

  14. bobai kovich - January 12th, 2011 at 3:03 am

    Just bought Pixelmator from the App Store. There is no Quartz Compozer in the Filter menu, which is very frustrating as I really want to try the tutorials. Hope this gets fixed soon. Great software otherwise!

  15. Angryyoungman - January 14th, 2011 at 3:44 am

    Quartz Composer… where is it? Why isn’t it available? How do I get to achieve these results when I’ve been sold a package that isn’t able to follow the most basic tutorials and what kind of sick mind thinks “we’ll make these really eye catching and easy to use tutorials with specifics that aren’t included in the software!”

  16. B. - January 14th, 2011 at 4:12 am

    Calm down, Angryyoungman, it is said in the comments above that the Quartz Composer is not available now, but it should be fixed pretty soon.

  17. Normand Boudreau - January 15th, 2011 at 5:59 pm

    There is no quartz composer in the filter file. what do I do?

  18. Whitney Wooten - January 15th, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    Followed with no Problems great Results..

  19. cristina - January 17th, 2011 at 6:53 am

    still waiting for the quartz composer……. hope someone will fix it sometimes.

  20. ksea - January 17th, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    I agree with the frustration level of these tutorials when there is a key step left out. I have no quartz either but thanks to you guys I see there is a tech issue with it thus I wont continue banging my head to do this tutorial…some tutorials are good, thanks to those creating them but get every step for newbies like me..thanks!

  21. Martin - January 18th, 2011 at 2:14 am

    Good tutorial, as always. Yet, also as always, you might want to add some explanation every now and then. Here it would be helpful if you gave quick explanations on what the blending types do (I know you do for one of them) … just constructive criticism ;)

  22. desert skys - February 4th, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    For those who have troubles – Quartz composer is there and works, download the manual and read how this software works. . . the manual DL is in the center box just below where reply’s are entered. This is not a game console or sloppy paint program. . .

  23. PTBJr - February 6th, 2011 at 8:31 pm

    Has the filter>Quartz Composer thing been fixed yet? Those that are able to create this; why do you have this filter and I do not! I love the program, coming from using photoshop I am running into some difficulties but that was expected! The tuts definitely make the transfer easier. Thanx for all the hard work!

  24. Jorn - February 8th, 2011 at 6:29 am

    @desert skys, and others. Quartz composer needs to be installed from the Leopard install disc it isn’t there by default on all systems. I don’t think people believe Pixelmator is a game console but in this tutorial It looks like it should be there by default, that Quartz is something from Pixelmator. Quartz is something you need to install at OS level. You can’t say it is there when obviously people cant see it. Try some google searches on quartz and you will find some Apple sites thas says what to do.

  25. Jorn - February 8th, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    Ok, after latest update the Quartz is there =) Nice. My bad on the Mac OS install thing then. Hopefuly the tone gets little bit nicer here now.

  26. Luke - February 26th, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    Great tutorial, it would be nice to see more tutorials in the future.

    -Luke

  27. sarah - March 17th, 2011 at 7:56 am

    aaaaaaaa

  28. Thomaz Cotta - March 25th, 2011 at 3:35 am

    it doesn work! the last two steps dont make sense!

  29. Jennifer M. - April 10th, 2011 at 1:43 pm

    Wow this one is really cool! :)

  30. Arwym - April 18th, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    Both the tutorial and the effect are fantastic! Thank you very much!

  31. Anna - June 5th, 2011 at 1:28 am

    I love the Bokeh effect. I am 11 and I found this tutorial pretty easy, and I didn’t have any help at all from my dad. ;)

  32. Matt - June 5th, 2011 at 3:54 pm

    I had no problem following the tutorial, and got a good end result. In fact, I think mine looks better ;-p

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/63734453@N02/5802149550/

    But I’m not sure that I actually /learned/ anything. What do those copied layers and blending modes actually do? How can I apply this technique to my work if I don’t know what it does?

  33. PeterM11 - June 25th, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    I too had no real problem following this tutorial. Really awesome how it turned out.
    Now I just need to learn how to remember how to do these things on my own.

  34. Connie - June 27th, 2011 at 7:39 am

    I plan to try this tutorial soon but was wondering if anyone has done this with a photo instead of a black background? Thanks.

  35. Miku - July 14th, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    Um… It completely made sense to me… And I’m only 9…

  36. Maxie Alexei Toulouse - July 17th, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    It makes sense, what I think is that people do not read well and not pay attention to instructions. I did it and worked it nice!

  37. Cindy - July 29th, 2011 at 11:55 am

    AWESOME AWESOME!!!
    LOVE IT!!!

  38. Cindy - July 29th, 2011 at 11:56 am

    @Anna Good Work Girl! :)

  39. deiden - August 1st, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    For step six, blur should be 0.03

  40. LilleG - August 4th, 2011 at 11:03 am

    Great tutorial! I had no trouble at all following it.

  41. LilleG - August 4th, 2011 at 11:36 am

    For those who don’t know what the various Blend modes do, and want to, there is a fairly comprehensive article that explains most of them here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blend_modes

  42. yandere - August 5th, 2011 at 1:10 am

    worked like a charm, and I learned a bit about the gradients + layering too! Thanks !

  43. Rae - August 11th, 2011 at 5:44 am

    Wow thanks for the tutorial!! This is my first time using Pixelmator (and I’m not familiar with Photoshop) so this really helped. The learn section is a great idea! Thanks for the great tutorial!

  44. Wolfos - August 12th, 2011 at 10:24 am

    Only works on black background, so it’s completely useless.

  45. Doug - August 14th, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    Step 6 incorrectly says the Blur = 0.3; it should actually be 0.03 (which is what you see in the screenshot).

  46. jennifer - August 24th, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    I’m trying to apply the bokeh effect to a night photo?? I’ve been trying but so far I can’t figure it out. Any ideas?

  47. Free Articles - December 8th, 2011 at 2:12 am

    Aw man I love your blog site!

  48. sstyle - December 11th, 2011 at 12:08 am

    Great tutorial! Question: I am trying to place a photo of a person behind the small circles but in front of the medium and large circles, so that it seems like the person is surrounded by a sea of circles in front and behind them (the rest of the person layer is transparent). But when I place the layer of the person in the middle of the layer order, the gradient layer also applies to the person.

    Does anyone know how to get it so that the person is not altered by the gradient, but only by the circles in front of the person?

    Thanks! I learned a lot from just following the steps of the tutorial.

  49. Ausra - December 13th, 2011 at 8:01 am

    Move the layer with the person above the gradients layer.

  50. sstyle - December 14th, 2011 at 7:26 pm

    @Ausra: Thanks for the response. But if the layer with the person is above the gradient layer, then all the circles will be behind the person. I’m trying to get it so that circles are behind and in front of the person, as if the circles are “snowing” around the person. But without the gradient applying to the person (which would obviously look weird).

  51. Royallena - December 28th, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    This really work it’s so amazing ^^

  52. Jo - January 31st, 2012 at 4:11 am

    Wow!! So I had a go, never used it before and only mucked up one step – can’t seem to find “Generator” and this did seem to make a difference. Read most of the responses, so not sure if this has already been addressed? Would love a reply as i think this is really cool software and a great tutorial. It is amazing how far computers, software and the ability to communicate and offer tutorials (free) have come!! THANKS :)

  53. Ausra - January 31st, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    Jo,

    It was a mistake. You should choose Filter > Quartz Composer > Defocus. (Step 7)

  54. GMartins - February 16th, 2012 at 4:53 pm

    Useful and simple tutorial! Ta.

Leave a Reply


© Pixelmator Team Ltd.