Photoshop How To

You don't, necessarily, need a fancy and pricey lens with a fast aperture to shoot an image with attractive background blur, aka bokeh, for portraits. In the below tutorial from Unmesh Dinda of PIXimperfect, he shows you the "key" to simulating shallow depth of field in Photoshop.

"Using a hidden key to customize the blur filters, in this tutorial, you will learn how to mimic an expensive fast lens in few minutes non-destructively," Dinda says. "We'll learn some advanced controls for Iris Blur and Field Blur from Blur Gallery and combine multiple filters to easily create a creamy soft focus effect."

As usual, Dinda lets you download the image files he's using for free so you can follow along and make the edits as you go. You can download sample file #1 here and sample file #2 here.

Check out the Photoshop tutorial below and then go visit and subscribe to the PIXimperfect YouTube channel for more software tips. You'll also want to check out these two videos as well:

Here’s How to Turn Any Lens into a Macro Lens: 2-Minute Tip (VIDEO)

Here's How to Turn Any Lens into a Wide Angle with a Simple Lightroom Trick (VIDEO)