Use Photo Editors to Blur Background with Easy Ways

There were times when we used to hate blurry images. Whenever we used to capture a photo and mistakenly it got clicked a little blurred, we started getting vexed by that. But how time changes! Now blur effect has become so trendy. Every other user is seen making their photo’s background blur and no doubt this effect seems extremely good and professional. Since everyone can’t afford those high-end cameras for these sorts of perfect shot, therefore there are many other ways to make your photo background blur. In this post, we are going to make you enlightened about some photo editors to blur background so that you can get what you have desired for so long.

• Part 1. Use Photo Editor to Blur Background of Your Photo on PC
• Part 2. Use Photo Editor Program to Blur Background on Mac
• Part 3. How to Blur Photo Background with iPhone App
• Bonus Tip: How to Blur Photo Background with DSLR

Part 1. Use Photo Editor to Blur Background of Your Photo on PC

In this section, we will introduce the best photo editor to blur background for Windows PC users. So, if you possess Windows computer, keep reading this.

Solution 1. Using Wondershare Fotophire Editing Toolkit

The best way to blur background of your photo in Windows PC is Wondershare Fotophire Editing Toolkit. This software has been designed keeping the creativity in focus. In other words, this software is perfect for giving a creative look to the photos. Fotophire gives a free trial version so that you can get satisfied with the result once and then use it later gain. It comes with its complete photo editing toolkit that comprises Photo Editor, Photo Cutter, Photo Eraser, Photo Maximizer and Photo Focus. Let us now learn how to blur background using this amazing software.

How to Blur Background with Fotophire Editing Toolkit

Step 1 – Launch the Fotophire Editing Toolkit on your computer and then choose the ‘Photo Focus’ option from the main interface. You’ll then be brought to a new window i.e. ‘Photo Focus’. Now, tap on ‘Open’ and locate the desired image on your computer that you wish to refocus the background of.

Step 2 – You then have to hit the ‘Creative Blur’ feature available on the right panel corner. Now, this will open up the drop down panel with different options to blur the background of your image.

Step 3 – Next, select the ‘Custom Blur’ option and you’ll notice that the complete image has now been blurred out. You are required to select the ‘Paint-brush’ icon and then selectively blur-out the subject area that you wish to bring focus on.

Note: You can also opt for ‘Linear Blur’ or ‘Radial Blur’ according to your preference.

Quick Tip: Make use of the ‘sliders’ settings available under the ‘Paint-brush’ icon to effectively customise the Radius, Hardness and Amount (intensity) settings of the brush.

Step 4 – Once you’re done with blurring background of the image and are satisfied with the processed image, last move is to save it on your computer. Hit the ‘Save’ icon from the top panel, give a desired name to your refocused image and then tap the ‘Save’ button.

Solution 2. Via Photoshop

Next, we have Photoshop on the list on how to blur the background on desktop. The process with Photoshop is neat and delivers a good output if the process is followed properly. The only thing that is problematic with Photoshop is that it is designed specifically for Pro users and hence, the step by step guide on how to blur background in Photoshop is a bit complicated. Therefore, please make sure to carefully follow the steps if your skills are not like that of Pro users.

Step 1: Launch the Adobe Photoshop toolbox on your computer and then import the desired image from which you wish to blur the background.

Step 2: Next, grab the ‘Quick Selection Tool’ from the toolbox at the left. Ensure that you have equipped the ‘Quick Selection Tool’ only, for this, look at your cursor it should look like a ‘+’ sign incorporated in the middle of a ‘circle’.

Step 3: Now that you are power packed with the right tool, it’s time to start selecting our subject in the image whom we wish to bring in the focus and the make its background blurred.

Quick Tip: To make things easier, while roughly making a selection around our subject it is advisable to try to over-select a bit. It’s useful as once you’re done with the rough selection, zoom into the picture and then hold down the ‘Alt’ or ‘Options’ Key on your keyboard to deselect the over-selected portions effectively, eventually, making a fine selection around your subject.

Step 4: Once, you’ve fine tuned your selection over your subject, tap the ‘Select’ menu from the top and then hit on ‘Mask’. Now, select a hairy brush like tool and fine tune your edge selection near the flyaway hairs to add more realistic touch. To check the whether you’re missing out some areas or not, try using the ‘transparency slider’ from the right.

Step 5: Now, select the ‘Show Edge’ option from the properties menu and slide to increase the radius till the edge become visible. Once done, deselect the Show Edge feature and you’ll notice that your selection has automatically improved.

Step 6: Next, select the ‘New Layer with Layer Mask’ option from the drop down menu besides ‘Output To’ at the bottom of the properties and hit on ‘OK’.

Step 7: Head towards the layers panel and then hide out the ‘mask layer’ that is recently created by tapping the ‘Eye’ icon besides it. Now, hold down the ‘Ctrl’ or ‘Cmd’ key on your keyboard and then click on the hidden mask layer, this will load its selection.

Step 8: Now, we are going to bill the background of the image behind our subject, for which we are going to use content aware feature of Photoshop.

Tap on ‘Select’ menu, then get into ‘Modify’ and finally hit on ‘Expand’. Then set the ‘Expand by:’ to ‘10’ pixels and hit ‘OK’.

Next, hit the ‘Shift’ + ‘Delete’ (Mac) or ‘Shift’ + ‘Backspace’ (Windows) key combination on your keyboard and select the ‘Content-Aware’ option from the dropdown menu next to ‘Use’ under ‘Content’ section.

Lastly, hit ‘Ctrl’ key along with letter ‘D’ to deselect the area. You’ll now notice that the subject is no longer visible in the image and its background has been intelligently filled.

Step 9: Time to blur the background now. Don’t worry about our subject as it is present on another layer. Now, make the ‘subject layer’ visible again which we have hided above. Post this, ensure that you have selected the background layer and then tap the ‘Filter’ menu at the top, get into ‘Blur’ and then choose ‘Field Blur’.

Step 10: You now have to set two points to set the depth of the blur, this is because the area near to the feet is closer and the buildings at the back of our subject is far away. Set the first point near the buildings and then the second point near the feet of the subject. Now, use the ‘Blur slider’ to set the desired blur intensity at both the points and hit ‘OK’.

Step 11: You’re all set now, with your final processed image. Simply, export the image to your computer at your desired location and that’s it.

Part 2. Use Photo Editor Program to Blur Background on Mac

Affinity Photo is a creative software to blur photo background on a Mac computer. Like Photoshop, this software is also packed with various features that users can make use of for their editing needs. Despite the fact that using this powerful software you can get a good blurred photos background effect on your photos but this again is a software for pro users and requires relatively higher technical skills in order to achieve a desired output. With this tool, users can do PSD editing, professional retouching, 360° image editing, batch processing and etc.

Step-by-Step Tutorial on How to Blur Photo Background Using Affinity Photo for Mac

Step 1 – Get the software downloaded on your Mac computer from the official website of Affinity Photo. Install the software and launch it afterwards. The installation may take up to several minutes so you should grab a cup of coffee meanwhile (pun)! The main screen of Affinity Photo will come up on your screen then.

Step 2 – Now, you are required to load the desired photo into the canvas in order to initiate to blur the background of photo.

Step 3 – Next, select the ‘Selection Brush Tool’ from the toolbox at the left of the software interface and start marking out the preferred subject area in your image to which you wish to bring into the focus.

Step 4 – If in case, you’ve accidentally or the brush has automatically selected extra portions other than your subject, simply hold down the ‘Option’ button on your keyboard and then mark out the extra selected area.

Step 5 – Since, this was just a rough selection, we now have to refine the edges of our subject in the photo to get a more professional blurred background photo output. For this, tap on the ‘Refine’ button available at the top of the interface screen.

Step 6 - A new pop up window will come up on your screen, then start marking out the edges of the subject, for instance ‘edges of the girl’s hairs’ in this case.

Step 7 - You can also mark in or expand the selection by tapping the ‘Foreground’ tab from the ‘Refine’ pop up window and then dragging the cursor near the edges of the girl’s hairs.

Step 8 - Once, you are satisfied with the final selection of the subject, hit on ‘Apply’ button on the ‘Refine’ pop-up window. You’ll then notice that the final selection, which you don’t wish to blur, is marked with ‘marching ants’ line around our subject.

Step 9 - Now, since the selected area is our subject and we do not wish to blur it, we now need to invert the selection to blur everything else except the subject. To invert your selection, you need to hit on the following key combination on your keyboard simultaneously: ‘Command + Shift + i’.

Step 10 - As we have our background selected that we wish to blur, we can now apply the Blur Filters to it. For this, hit on the ‘Filter’ icon available on the right bottom of the ‘Layers’ pallet and then select the ‘Gaussian Blur Filter’ from the appearing drop down menu.

Step 11 - Next, you need to adjust the amount of blur you require on the background of your subject. To do this, adjust the ‘Radius’ slider to set the amount of blur required. Lastly, tap the checkbox beside the ‘Preserve Alpha’ option to add a finishing touch to your blurred photo background.

Step 12 - That’s it, you are now done with the editing phase. Simply just save it on your local storage for further usage.

Part 3. How to Blur Photo Background with iPhone App

For iPhone users, if you are wondering how to blur background using your device, you can use the app named Blur Photo Editor. You can blur backgrounds or any other section in a photo precisely by just showing the blur brush path in the magnifying glass. This app comes in multiple languages which mean you can access the app in which language you are comfortable with. You need to pay $49.99 for yearly subscription. Here are the steps to learn how this app works.

How to Blur Background with Blur Photo Editor

Step 1 – Install and launch the Blur Photo Editor app post downloading it from the Apple Store.

Step 2 – Now, import the desired image from your Camera Roll to the photo editor app to blur the background of.

Step 3 – Next, touch and drag the area that you wish to blur. In order to precisely and effectively blur your images, look out the blur path on the magnifying glass.

Tip: Adjust the Brush Size or use Undo or Redo features make your blur selection more precise.

Step 4 – Lastly, save your processed (blurred background) photo to your Camera Roll for your further use.

Bonus Tip: How to Blur Photo Background with DSLR

After discussing about different photo editors to blur background for different platforms, we would now like to explain you, as a bonus, how you can blur photo background with a DSLR depending upon your equipment settings. So let’s start now.

How to Blur Background in DSLR Using Macro/Super Macro Settings

1. First, set your device in the Macro Mode or ‘Super Macro Mode’, you can identify the mode by simply looking over the mode dial as it is generally marked with a tulip or a small flower. Now, ensure that your flash is turned off.

2. Next, make sure to that you are closer to your subject that the background of the subject.

3. Now, hold your DSLR still and get your subject in focus clearly. Finally, hit the shutter button to capture your image with a blurred background.

Quick Tip: Ensure that you are not covering the light on the subject and aren’t causing any unintended shadows while positioning your camera. Also, if your equipment doesn’t have a Digital Image Stabilization feature, you should then look up for a tripod stand as a helpful alternative.

How to blur background in DSLR using the Aperture Priority Mode

You’ll find this mode available on most of the cameras. Aperture Priority Mode, a semi-automatic mode, which automatically picks up the most suitable ISO-settings and shutter speed according to the change (made by you) in the aperture’s f-value.

Tip: In order to make your subject’s background blurry, consider opting for a wide aperture (smallest possible f-value).

1. Grab you camera and set it to the Aperture Priority Mode (AV or A).

2. Now, set the smallest possible f-value on your camera and make sure you are closer to your subject in the image than your subject’s background.

3. Consider, zooming in (if necessary) to bring the subject in more focus and then hit the shutter button to capture.

Conclusion:

So, that was all about blurring background of your photos and giving a professional touch to them. We offered many ways and photo editors to blur background and mentioned them in a detailed way along with the tutorials. However, we would suggest you that using Wondershare Fotophire will turn out to be the most helpful to you when you need to blur background. Providing the best features, it makes sure that you complete the process smoothly. We appreciate that you made time reading this article. Hope you find it useful.