Make your photos sparkle with Bokeh Photo FX

Bokeh Photo FX is a new iOS app from independent developer Kai Qian Chen. It's available now as a free ad-supported download from the App Store, and also has a premium paid version available for $1.99. Bokeh Photo FX is a simple photo manipulation app that allows users to apply various "bokeh" and "light-painting" effects to their images, then share them via social media. The free version carries 60 different effects, while the paid "Pro" version has over 200. Using Bokeh Photo FX is a simple matter of choosing to either start by taking a photo with the device's camera or load an image from the photo library. Once this is done, the user is presented with all of the available effects and may then begin applying them one at a time by tapping them. Upon tapping an effect, it appears in the middle of the image at a default size, and can then be adjusted in several ways. Moving the effect can be achieved by dragging it with a single finger, while resizing is accomplished by pinching. The individual effect may be deleted by tapping a cross button at the top of the screen, or all effects may be deleted by tapping a similar cross button at the bottom of the screen. Multiple effects may be layered and reordered using the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, and individual effects' saturation and opacity can be adjusted with an "edit" button at the top of the screen. There is no "masking" function to selectively apply parts of particular effects -- images are simply layered atop the original image. Once an image has been completed, it may then be shared using the button in the upper-right corner of the screen. From here, the image may be shared via Twitter or Facebook (using iOS 5 and 6's built-in sharing capabilities respectively) or via email. A "More..." button allows access to some additional options, including saving to the device's photo gallery, copying it for pasting into another app or printing it. The user may customize this menu by switching off services they are unlikely to use -- a nice touch, albeit largely unnecessary since all the options fit on a single screen height. Bokeh Photo FX is a solid app that allows for some interesting effects to be created quickly and easily. While it doesn't offer anywhere near the depth of some other mobile photo manipulation apps, it is simple and accessible to use, and allows even inexperienced photographers to experiment with fake bokeh and light-painting effects. The only real criticism which can be leveled at it is the fact that the free version features some quite obtrusive advertising -- rather than using banner ads, the app instead regularly pops up full-screen ads which must be manually dismissed. This often occurs while browsing parts of the interface such as the photo library, which can sometimes lead to accidental and undesired taps on ads. It's also a shame that the "Pro" version is a separate app rather than an in-app purchase -- it would have been much more convenient (and probably easier to promote) if the ability to unlock the additional effects was within the app rather than requiring a separate download. These issues aside, Bokeh Photo FX is a good addition to inexperienced mobile photographers' virtual camera bags, and is worth a download for those who find the distinctive bokeh and light-painting effects attractive. You can follow Bokeh Photo FX's progress with AppData, our tracking service for mobile and social apps and developers.

Social Pro Daily

Make your photos sparkle with Bokeh Photo FX

Pete Davison

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Pete Davison