I just installed the Lightroom beta with early access to the lens blur — and its unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I’ve played with a couple of these before, it actually works.

Now, this is too soon for a full scale review, these are just a couple of photos I’ve used it on.

But unlike pretty much everything else ever, this is believable.

I’ve always had three use cases, in this order:

1. Lower background distractions like telephone poles, or blur out a major distraction like someone else in the photo
2. Lower noise in the photo, especially if the background is already dark
3. Add higher bokeh just because it makes for a better photo

In the first image you can see that Gavrel’s jersey gets blurred out, but I don’t think you’d notice if it weren’t for the before and after. With a brush adjustment you don’t notice at all, it just becomes a light blur.

All images if you want to compare

All link to full size.