How to Make a Background Blurry in Photoshop CS4

A blurred background draws more attention to the foreground.

Professional cameras provide settings for adjusting the aperture of the camera, which can create a longer depth of field. When this is done, the foreground of the image is in focus while the background looks slightly blurry. You can add a blurred background to any digital image using Adobe Photoshop CS4 to simulate the effect of a longer depth of field and help viewers to focus on a particular object.

Instructions

1. Open Photoshop and open your image by clicking "File" then "Open" and navigating to the location of the saved file. Double-click the file or click to highlight it and click "Open."

2. Click the "Quick Mask" icon at the bottom of the Tools palette to enter Quick Mask mode. This icon looks like a circle inside a square. Quick Mask mode allows you to paint a red color on the canvas to create an editable mask layer.

3. Click the "Brush" tool in the Tools palette and click and drag across the canvas to paint the areas you wish to stay in focus in the foreground. Use the "Eraser" tool to erase any mistakes, and continue until the entire foreground object is painted red. Use smaller brushes to paint small areas.

4. Click the "Quick Mask" icon to deselect Quick Mask mode. The unpainted areas now become a selection.

5. Click "Filter" in the toolbar at the top of the screen and choose "Blur" and then "Gaussian Blur." This will open the Gaussian Blur options window.

6. Click and drag the "Radius" slider left and right until you find the amount of blur you would like to apply, then click "OK" to apply the blur to your image.

7. Click "File" and then "Save as" and choose a new name for your image to avoid overwriting the original image.

Tips & Warnings

• Click "Edit" and "Undo" if you make mistakes when painting or erasing.

References

• Digiretus: Background Blur
• PictureCorrect.com; How to Radial Blur the Background of a Photo; Richard Schneider