How To Blur Your Photo Background

1. Open the Image

There are a couple of ways to open the image. From the Welcome Screen, select Get Startedand then click on the button to Open Document, alternatively, from File > Open.

2. Masking the Subject

The first step is to mask the area of the image that you want to preserve. Masking is a way that we can protect certain areas of a photograph from changing when we apply an effect to the image. Think of it like using masking tape when painting around a window.

Here, we have used the Brush mask. To access it, click and hold on the masking tools in the toolbox (3rd icon down) or (B) as a shortcut key. This will allow you to “paint” a mask on the area that you want to “protect.” One thing that may make it easier to see what you have masked is to turn on the Mask Overlay (Mask > Mask Overlay).

Selecting this will open the Mosaic dialog box. In here you have the ability to adjust the size, background color and whether a vignette gets applied. YOu will also notice two icons in the upper left corner. These are to allow for different types of preview. Feel free to play around. Once you have the appearance that you are looking for, click OK.

3. Applying the Blur

Once you have the subject masked, from the Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur. For this image we have set to Radius to 30 Pixels. Feel free to experiment with the setting, Once you are satisfied, click OK. Finally from Mask > Remove (Ctrl+R).

4. Next Steps

Now that you have applied the effect, you can save the file out or continuing to edit your image in other ways.