We study the effect of realistically rounding nanorod antennae and gap antennae on their far field and near field properties. The simulations show that both scattering behaviour and polarisation charge distribution depend significantly on rounding. Rounding is also seen to have a major effect on coupling between nanostructures. The results suggest that it is important to incorporate the effect of rounding to be able to design plasmonic nanostructures with desired properties. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America