Blur the photo background
The original setting, softened behind the selected subject instead of replaced with an unrelated scene.
Choose a photograph with visible separation between subject and setting; blur cannot invent depth where the outline is ambiguous.
The ground, the edge and the shadow appear here once a photo is open.
Nothing is sent anywhere: the picture is read into this page and stays in it.
Choosing this ground deliberately
Blur is the conservative background change: it keeps the colours and broad shapes that explain where the photograph was made while reducing high-frequency clutter that competes with a face or product. The opening radius is 24 pixels at export size, and the control reports that value rather than hiding it behind weak, medium and strong labels.
The pipeline excludes the subject from the colour being blurred before it recombines the frame. That matters because an ordinary blur pulls skin, hair and clothing into the background and produces a glowing echo around the silhouette. The same keep, erase, feather and decontamination controls remain available because no blur radius can correct a mistaken outline.
The failure case to inspect
A uniform masked blur is not optical depth of field. A wall one metre behind the subject and a mountain on the horizon receive the same radius, and foreground objects selected as background will blur even if a lens would keep them sharp. Use it for separation, not as evidence that a photograph was made with a particular lens.
The red mask view is the useful checkpoint: it shows the area being replaced before the new ground can flatter or hide a weak edge. Zoom into hair, shoulders and any gap between an arm and the body before export.
Questions this opening should answer
- Is this the same as portrait-mode depth blur?
- No. A phone's portrait mode estimates depth and can vary blur by distance. This page separates foreground from background and applies one blur radius to the selected ground.
- Why not blur the whole photograph first?
- A whole-frame blur softens the subject too. This workflow builds an outline, blurs background-only colour and then composites the original subject back over it.
- Can a large blur repair a cluttered edge?
- It often makes a weak edge more obvious. Refine the mask first, then increase radius. Hair and gaps between limbs should remain readable before the ground is softened.
Continue with a related workflow
- Change the backgroundOpen a photo, select the subject, put a new ground behind it.
- Blue backgroundAn exact light-blue swatch for ID-card and form photographs.
- White backgroundOpens on document white, with the off-white escape hatch beside it.
- Why a swapped background looks fakeFour giveaways, each with the control that fixes it.