The use of selective focus has been part of photography since the very first lenses where
invented. There are many techniques used to control either the plane of focus or removing
sharpness from edges. The most common way to do this is by controlling depth of field in the
camera by using a large aperture lens producing a narrow depth of field. Now photographers
have a new Photoshop plugin to help put the focus where they want ù the all new FocalPoint
1.0.

Selective Focus

The use of selective focus is used to remove distracting backgrounds and to focus the viewers
view on the subject. It also has artistic applications as well. This is a popular look in both portrait
and wedding work but also commercial and editorial photography, especially food. All of the
above mentioned techniques are used at the time the photograph is taken and require addition
hardware and knowledge of how to use them. Many of these tools have not transferred to digital
or behave differently with digital photography.

A New Tool for the Digital Darkroom

FocalPoint plugin for Photoshop gives photographers a way to create realistic depth of field
control, plane of focus control and selective focus to any image after it is photographed allowing
for more control and precision. The focus bug control in FocalPoint has a tangible, hardware feel
much like using a lens. It makes it fast for a photographer to define the "sweet spot" either in a
round shape or a plane and then control how much and of what kind of blur they would like to
add. This has a huge benefit over hardware tools like auxiliary lenses and filters because it allows
the photographer to control the focus after the image is taken, giving them more control and
requiring fewer shots in camera.

Easily Add Vignettes

Vignetting refers to the lightening or darkening of the edges of an image. This is a common
technique in photography. Vignetting goes hand-in-hand with selective focus. Vignetting is
created either in camera using vignetting hoods or in darkroom by burning or dodging the
edges of the image. It is used for the same reasons as selective focus, to minimize distractions
in the background and focus the viewers eye on the subject. Today vignetting is principally
applied in Photoshop through various methods but all of which require multiple manual steps
for a controlled and properly shaped sweet spot. FocalPoint plug-in uses the same focus bug
controls to allow the photographer to simultaneously selectively blur as well as lighten or darken
the areas outside of the sweet spot.

A Virtual Lens

The FocusBug is a unique control that allows you to adjust the sweet-spot (the area in focus) and
the most commonly used controls in a single, intuitive control. Simply click and drag to position
the sweet-spot. Then use the Bug's legs to set the size and shape of the sweet-spot. Next, adjust
the antennae to control the type and amount of blur and the hardness of the blur edge. Using the
FocusBug is fluid and in real-time, just like using a lens, but in Photoshop.

Save Settings & Create Presets

Once you have an effect you like, you can save it as a preset so you can easily recall it.
FocalPoint remembers all your settings including the relative size and position of the FocusBug
so you can apply it to similar images without having to make any adjustments. You can use
Photoshop actions to call a FocalPoint preset for batch processing an entire folder of images.

Features:

• 3D Tilt
  The FocusBug allows you to tilt the sweet-spot aperture in 3D, simulating the tilt effect of a
  view camera or tilt-shift lens. These allows you to increase or decrease the amount and
  feather of blur across a plane.
  
  

• Compatibility Test
  FocalPoint is using some heavy-duty math that requires some heavy-duty processing
  power. For this, FocalPoint relies upon the GPU of your video card to do most of the
  heavy lifting. Unfortunately, not all video cards are built the same. Please download and
  use this tool to see if the video card in your Windows PC system meets the minimum
  requirements for FocalPoint to run. You can read instructions for using the tool on our
  blog.

Mac OS X	Version: 1.0 Mac OS X 10.4.8 or higher G5 or Intel Core Processor(s) Universal Binary - Supports PowerPC & Intel Processors OpenGL capable video card with 128MB VRAM (256 recommended) at 1024x768 or higher
Windows	Version: 1.0 Windows XP with SP2 or Vista Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework or higher 32-bit operating system supported 64-bit operating system not supported yet OpenGL capable video card with 128MB VRAM (256 recommended) at 1024x768 or higher

Mfr.# FPNT-11651