US$39.99/mo US$54.99/mo
Save 25% on 20+ creative apps, including Photoshop. First year only. Ends May 30. See terms.
See what's included | Learn more
PHOTOSHOP FEATURES
Capture the allure of blur. Make sharp subjects stand out against soft backdrops.
By making part of the image fuzzier and less distinct, another part of the image looks even sharper and more vivid. The Blur Gallery offers a wide range of blurs to choose from — here are four of the most common ways to adjust your background in Photoshop:
Capture the blurred background of many stunning portraits. Bokeh is the Japanese word for blur, but in English the term refers to blurry circles that seem to be radiating or refracting light. The bokeh effect can add a professional look to a photo.
Add a smooth, uniform blur across the image that blends color. Gaussian blur uses a mathematical formula known as a Gaussian function to reduce the information in the entire image, which blurs the image.
Play with perspective with a tilt-shift blur, which simulates the effect of a tilt-shift lens. Images are in focus in one part, usually the foreground, and get blurrier along a gradient. Tilt-shift images often have the added effect of making full-size objects appear miniature or toy-like.
Duplicate or recall the effect of a shallow depth of field with an iris blur. This effect selectively blurs part of an image. The center remains in focus while the outlying areas look blurry.
There are many ways to achieve a blurred background, but this is the quickest, easiest way to do it in Photoshop.
Use the Select drop-down menu and choose Subject. Photoshop can usually find the subject using content-aware AI.
To avoid gauzy or ghostlike edges on the main subject, expand the subject selection area by about five pixels or so. That way, the edges of the subject will still appear sharp in front of a blurred background.
Make a new layer mask of the subject. This will ensure your edits are nondestructive, and you can always go back to the original image.
In the Layers panel, go to the background layer. Use the Filter menu, select the Blur tool, choose which type of blur you want to use, and adjust accordingly with the blur slider.
Discover tutorials about adding blur, and how to adjust the amount of blur in an image.
Explore how to use field blur, lens blur, and many more of the blur options Photoshop has to offer.
Discover how to put one part of a photo into sharp relief and blur what remains.
US$9.99/mo
Lightroom for desktop and mobile, Lightroom Classic, and Photoshop on desktop and iPad.
Learn more
US$20.99/mo
Get Photoshop on desktop and iPad as part of Creative Cloud.
Learn more
US$39.99/mo US$54.99/mo
Save 25% on 20+ creative apps, including Photoshop. First year only. Ends May 30. See terms.
See what's included | Learn more
US$39.99/mo US$54.99/mo
Save 25% on 20+ creative apps, including Photoshop. First year only. Ends May 30. See terms.
See what's included | Learn more
US$19.99/mo
Save over 60% on 20+ Creative Cloud apps.
See terms | Learn more
Purchase by phone: 800-585-0774