Cinematic Bokeh rendering for real scenes

Abstract

In this work, we present a novel approach for rendering high-quality Bokeh and depth-of-field for real, non-computer graphics scenes by synthesizing a real lens and involving depth. Although this discipline is well-known to methods in computer graphics, their transition to real content is pending due to the lack of real scene geometry. Our approach utilizes a highly integrated RGBD camera as well as a lens Bokeh archive which is derived from high-quality lens point-spread function measurements. Our novel kernel stitching renderer which implicitly employs non-recursive ray tracing, incorporates both contributions. Thereby, we obtain spatially and depth-varying, photo-realistic and high-dynamic Bokeh shapes, as well as inherently realistic depth-of-field renderings per pixel without image-space splatting. This methodology allows for an increased creative choice in the depth-of-field setting without enforcing the final depth-of-field blur being burned-in while capturing. We explicitly show that our rendering methodology compares to real references of a high-quality reference lens.