reviews
Here are some great reviews of Bokeh 1...
 New York Times
Rik Fairlie wrote an article on the topic of bokeh that was mostly about our Bokeh plug-in. He gave a clear simple description of the problem and how Bokeh solves it. At one point Rick says, “I’m no Photoshop jock, yet I found Bokeh fun and easy to use, thanks to the excellent video tutorials on Alien Skin’s Web site.”
International Press Association (IPA 5-Star Rated)
In this comprehensive review complete with example images, Len Rapoport explains why Bokeh received IPA’s top 5-star rating and their featured product recommendation. “Bokeh can change the way you think when shooting your photos and certainly open your eyes to the possibilities now available to you once you have taken those photos.” Len also has this advice for photographers learning to use Bokeh, “It is truly a snap to learn. Alien Skin offers many tips and examples on their web site, making learning fast and easy.”
Professional Photographer Magazine
Betsy Finn is an award-winning photographer who knows her way around a lens. So it comes as high praise when she writes, “Based on my evaluation of Bokeh, I can say, I’m officially impressed.” Betsy demonstrates Bokeh’s capabilities using a series of beautiful examples and does a great job of describing its features. “Bokeh's versatility allows for a range of practical applications, from manipulating depth of field and adding vignettes to creating special effects by changing diaphragm shapes.”
Photography Blog (4.5 out of 5 stars)
Jon Canfield does a great job of summarizing Bokeh’s capabilities in this review. “Bokeh is an amazing piece of software,” he writes. “The ability to mimic expensive lenses so well effectively adds to my lens arsenal, including the ability to [mimic] lenses that I don't have available to me.” He gives Bokeh a 5 out of 5 rating for value for money.
Applelinks (5 “A” Rating)
Gary Coyne wrote a very detailed article describing how real lenses create bokeh. He also shows why Bokeh does a much better job than Gaussian blur. “I’m giving Bokeh a full 5 ‘A’ rating because it does what it says it does and it does it well,” Gary concludes.
About.com (4 out of 5 Stars)
Liz Masoner says, “Controls within the Bokeh tool are relatively intuitive and very precise control of the resulting bokeh are quickly attainable. This software much more closely emulates the patterns of real lenses than basic Photoshop blur effects are capable of doing. From the shape of the aperture to the amount of highlight and even the creaminess of the effect, Bokeh lets you control it all. This makes Bokeh from Alien Skin a very attractive piece of software for photographers.”
MacWorld Review Part 1 and Part 2
In his two-part article, James Dempsey clearly demonstrates Bokeh’s depth-of-field and tilt-shift capabilities. “Bokeh is obviously a great tool for professional photographers and designers, allowing them to focus on shooting, rather than swapping-out lenses,” he writes about Bokeh’s lens emulation capabilities. “Alien Skin’s Bokeh plugin definitely hits the sweet-spot here, allowing you to use the selection tools, blur sliders, and preview window to fine-tune your adjustments in a matter of seconds to achieve the perfect tilt-shift effect.”
Designorati
Jeremy Schultz writes, “Bokeh is another well-designed plug-in from Alien Skin and for photographers who need to recreate true bokeh, it’s an excellent tool.”
Photo District News
In her Software Watch column, Theano Nikitas lavishes praise on Bokeh. Theano says, “If you want to be really blown away, head over to www.alienskin.com and take a look at Bokeh (yes, it does exactly what the name implies). This new plug-in from Alien Skin is, in a word, amazing.”
Studio Photography
Diane Berkenfeld wrote a very positive article about Bokeh. She said, “Alien Skin produced a sweet piece of software in the Bokeh plug-in.” Diane concludes by saying, “One of the great things I like about Bokeh is that I can use it on any image–from the first digital images I shot to the ones I'm capturing today.”
Computer Power User
Tracy Baker highly recommends Bokeh in this review. She says, “Bokeh is easy to grasp, highly responsive, and, in the hands of someone who knows her way around a photo editor, can help quickly achieve results that would otherwise require a lot of tedious work.”
Digital Dingus (Highly Recommended Plus)
Jason Busch has a glowing (incandescent actually) review of Bokeh on the Digital Dingus web site. In his conclusion, Jason says, “Bokeh arrived just in time for digital photographers who don't have thousands of dollars loosely wadded in their back pockets. While Bokeh can't possibly replace expensive primes altogether, it's an inexpensive alternative.”
Peter West Photo Blog
In his photography blog, Peter West wrote a short but extremely complimentary review of Bokeh. Peter says, “Now a company called Alien Skin has created software which mimics the shallow depth of field effect of the $2,000 (and up…way up) lenses so treasured by professionals. This is digital magic and looks great.”
X-Equals Blog
Brandon Oelling gives a thorough tour of Bokeh, including screenshots to show how everything works. The article is full of praise, including, “I am really happy with the results of this tool, and I’m just scratching the surface of what is possible with the Bokeh product.”
James Evins on Flickr
James Evins posted a beautiful car shot on Flickr that he subtly enhanced with Bokeh. He said, “While I've never been a fan of faking bokeh, this filter really impressed me,“ and, “Alien Skin plug-ins are top notch. I use quite a few of them.” The comments below the picture are worth a read.
Digital Arts (4 out of 5 Stars)
Neil Bennett wrote a brief but positive review of Bokeh in the UK magazine Digital Arts. Neil said, “Bokeh includes fine-tuning controls over aperture type – including the diaphram shape and the ‘creaminess’ over the highlights – and vignetting, to mimic real lenses in a way that Photoshop’s blur tools can’t match.”
Macerella – For the love of Mac
In her blog For the love of Mac, Macerella (Joyce Ling) wrote a positive review of Bokeh. She goes into a lot of detail and I am glad to see that she watched our tutorial videos. Those always help people to understand Bokeh quickly. Early in the review she says, “Take a look at these examples on the Alien Skin website, and you will get excited as to the possibilities with this software, as I did!”
MaUsE DoubleClick Newsletter
Michael Shaw of the Macintosh Users East (MaUsE) user group in Ontario, Canada wrote a glowing review of Bokeh in the January 2009 DoubleClick newsletter. He starts, “This is something from Alien Skin so new that nobody else has anything like it.” Michael urges his readers to try the demo of Bokeh because, “I’m afraid that my one or two page article about this plug-in will not do Bokeh justice.”
The Photo Student
The team at The Photo Student web site shows off a good example use of Bokeh. Mouse over the picture to see before/after. The article ends with, “Our first conclusion of the software, more than your money’s worth.”
Pixelmania (in Dutch)
The team at the Dutch Pixelmania web site wrote a glowing review of Bokeh. We had to use Google Translator to read it, but it was worth it. The Pixelmania team confirmed that these quotes are correct. “Bokeh offers a high degree of control over the blur in the digital image. This control is better than you could get with even the most expensive lens…We have never seen such a beautiful blur!” and the review ends with “Recommended!”
www.photographyandthemac.com
Robert Lachman, a staff photographer from the L.A. Times, put a positive review of Bokeh on his web site. You can also hear an audio version in the MacReviewCast #190. Robert says, “It’s very simple and well-designed,” and concludes with, “I would definitely recommend Alien Skin’s Bokeh software.”
John Milleker’s Blog
John wrote a review of Bokeh within days of it coming out. The article goes into a lot of depth and contains some good example images. He concludes, “Try a demo of this plug-in if you enjoy the look, wow a client or two and it’ll pay for itself.”
Photoshop Basics in 6 House Blog
David Thiel is another photography blogger who was quick to write a review of Bokeh. You can tell that these early blog reviews are candid opinions, not just cut and pasted from our review guide. I want to quote the entire article, but here are some gems.
“When you've stacked a little pile of money against the many thousands of dollars it would cost to outfit myself with all the necessary cameras, glass, classes and books I'd need to get these shots, two hundred bucks didn't seem too bad at all.”
David ends with, “As with all Alien Skin software, the initial use is very simple (which is good because I am a very simple guy) but there are a ton of options and settings that will allow the artist to get the precise effect he is looking for. I haven't even really scratched the surface of what this software will do. But I wanted to tell you about it right away because it's something I really suggest you take a look at.”
Clay White’s PXLFXR Blog
New fans keep posting about Bokeh on their blogs. Clay says, “The results of this Photoshop plug-in are spectacular, perfect, the bomb, whatever term for wonderful you want to use.” He ends with, “Want that current rage - tilt/shift effect? Hold onto your Lensbabies and do it in post processing with Bokeh!”
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