What this tool does
Blur Background / Portrait Focus blurs a photo's background while keeping a manual elliptical focus area sharp, simulating a shallow depth-of-field look.
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🪞 Blur Background / Portrait Focus
Blur photo backgrounds while keeping a manual portrait focus area sharp, locally in your browser with before/after preview and download.
A natural oval mask for head-and-shoulders portraits with a softly blurred background.
Choose a photo to start. Background blur and portrait focus run locally in this browser.
Why it is useful
It is useful for quick portrait-mode thumbnails, product spotlight images, and social posts without uploading the source photo to a remote service.
How it works
The selected image is decoded locally, drawn to a canvas, and a blurred copy is composited underneath. A manual elliptical focus mask decides how much each pixel blends between the sharp original and the blurred background.
Manual, not AI
The focus mask is a manually placed ellipse, not AI subject segmentation. For complex backgrounds you can widen the mask or increase feathering to blend the transition.
Best input
Use portraits, product shots, or single-subject photos. Busy scenes may need a narrower mask and stronger blur to separate the subject from the background.
Privacy note
Image processing is browser-local. The page does not intentionally upload selected images or save them to a server.
Important limitation
The portrait look is a manual mask approximation, not true optical or AI depth detection. Canvas exports can remove metadata, flatten animated images, and shift color profiles.
Quick answers
Does this upload my photo?
No. Background blur and focus masking use local browser APIs and Canvas processing.
Is the focus area automatic?
No. The focus area is a manually positioned ellipse you can resize and move. It is not AI subject detection.
Can I darken the background?
Yes. The background dim control darkens the blurred layer for a stronger separation from the focused subject.
Common Use Cases
Create a portrait-mode social thumbnail
Blur a busy background behind a face or product so the subject stands out in a profile photo or post.
Spotlight a product photo
Use the Product Spotlight preset to keep a wide object sharp while softening distracting surroundings.
Clean up a busy selfie
Apply Strong Background Blur with a small feathered mask to mimic a shallow depth-of-field phone shot.
Photo Effects Studio workflow
Move between vintage, duotone, noir, vignette, grain, cinematic color grade, and background blur effects while keeping selected image pixels local to the browser.