Refokal

Focus after the fact

Want that blurry-background look, but the photo's already taken? Open it, click what should be sharp, and Refokal adds blur that behaves like a real lens. Any camera, any photo.

Early access · free

Refokal editor with a depth-of-field screenshot

Refokal 0.1.22 · editor view1816 × 1257 px

How it works

  1. Open any photo

    Phone shot, DSLR, whatever you shot it on. Refokal works out how far away everything in the frame is.

  2. Click to focus

    Click the point that should be sharp, or drag it around. The preview follows live.

  3. Dial in, export

    Set how strong the blur is, touch up by hand if you like, export to PNG, JPEG, WebP or TIFF.

What it's for

The photo is already taken. Refokal changes what the camera did.

Portrait mode for any photo

Kit lens or phone, subject stuck against a busy background. Click your subject and the background melts away — no expensive lens needed.

Product & small-studio shots

Small setups, busy backgrounds. Lift the product out of the scene in one click — no lighting rig required.

Fake miniature (tilt-shift)

Drag a focus line across the frame and the world looks like a toy. The classic tilt-shift effect, on any photo.

Busy backgrounds, softened

Real-estate interiors, street shots, group photos — pull the eye to what matters by blurring what doesn't.

Features

Depth of field is the whole app. Every part serves that one job.

Depth from any photo

AI works out the depth of your scene, so any shot can be refocused — even years after the shutter. No camera depth data needed.

Click to focus

One click sets the focal plane. Drag it around and the preview follows in real time.

Real-lens bokeh

Out-of-focus light keeps its shape — round or hexagonal, the way a real lens renders it. Not a muddy smear filter.

Refine by hand

When the depth estimate misses, paint a correction. Lift your subject out in one click.

Crisp details

Unsharp mask, clarity and deblur, applied only where you want them.

Color by depth

Grade the near, focus and far zones separately, so the subject stands out.

Fog effects

Depth-based fog that builds with distance — an easy way to separate a subject from a busy background.

Download

Free during Early Access, Linux and Windows. Exports carry a small watermark.

You're getting in early: expect rough edges, and tell us what to fix next.

Linux

Deb for Ubuntu and Debian, Flatpak for everything else.

Windows

Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.

Needs a Vulkan-capable GPU (NVIDIA, AMD or Intel). On first launch the app downloads its AI models, about 780 MB — on a slow connection this can take a while.

NVIDIA is fastest, through CUDA. Everything else runs through Vulkan.