Blur background: a portrait-mode look for any photo

To blur the background of a photo, open it in the tool above. The AI picks out the subject, whether a person, a pet or a product, and leaves it exactly as sharp as it was, while everything behind it becomes a softened copy of the same picture: the look of a portrait-mode shot. It's free, the download keeps your photo's full size, and both the cutout and the blur are made on your own device, with no upload.

Why cut out first, then blur

Most blur tools soften whatever area you paint or select, and that area rarely follows the subject's edge. The blur creeps onto a shoulder, or a sharp strip of wall survives around the hair.

Cutting the subject out first lets its outline set the boundary. The subject keeps every original pixel, the blur fills only what lies behind it, and fine strands of hair keep their partial transparency, so they rest on the blur the way they rested on the real scene instead of ending in a hard line.

Where a blurred background helps

• Profile pictures. A softened office, street or garden still says where you are, but the clutter stops competing with your face.
• Products in use. For the extra photos in a listing, a blurred desk or kitchen counter gives context while keeping attention on the item. For the main photo, where many marketplaces ask for plain white, use the product photo background preset.
• Thumbnails and social posts. A calm backdrop leaves room for a title or caption added in another app.
• Photos taken somewhere busy. A crowd or an untidy room turns into soft shapes, while the light and colors of the place remain.

The result keeps the size and shape of your photo unless you change them under Crop & size.

Tips for a natural-looking blur

• Decide what belongs to the subject. Things touching it are the likeliest to be mixed up: the chair someone sits in, the leash in a hand, the stand under a product. Erase what should blur and restore what should stay sharp; how the erase and restore brush works is covered step by step.
• Look inside the outline. Background seen through a gap, under a raised elbow, between a dog's legs or through the spokes of a bike wheel, can stay sharp when the AI counts it as part of the subject. Erase it and the blur shows through.
• Worry less about the hairline. The backdrop is a blurred copy of the same scene, so a missed wisp usually melts into soft tones of a similar color instead of leaving a notch, as it would against a flat color.
• Start from a sharp subject. A blurred background makes a soft subject look softer by comparison, never sharper, so pick the shot where the eyes or the label are crisp.

When a real lens blur is better

This tool gives the whole background one fixed amount of blur. A camera lens blurs more with distance, so the ground at someone's feet stays fairly crisp while the far wall melts away. Sometimes that difference shows:

• Full-length shots. The ground beside the feet gets as much blur as the horizon, which can make a standing person look pasted in. Framing from the waist up avoids it.
• Surfaces the subject rests on. A table under a plate goes soft right up to the point of contact instead of fading gradually.
• Lights at night. A lens turns small lights, like string lights or street lamps, into round glowing discs; a smooth blur like this one spreads them into a haze.
• A light touch. The strength can't be turned down, so for a slightly softer background, your camera's portrait mode or a wider aperture is the better route.

For head-and-shoulders portraits, pets and products on a plain surface, a uniform blur usually looks natural, and it takes seconds instead of a reshoot.

Other backgrounds from the same cutout

After the cutout, the blur can give way to plain white or black, any shade from the picker, or an image you supply. Blur always softens your original photo, while a picture you add is used as it is; the photo background changer explains how to pick and match a new scene. For nothing behind the subject at all, choose the transparent background and download a PNG.