Blur Photo Background

The tool runs the same segmentation model as the AI Background Remover (IMG.LY's open-source IS-Net model, executed in your browser) to find the main subject. It then draws a blurred copy of the whole photo and places the sharp, cut-out subject on top.

The blur is uniform. A camera with a wide aperture blurs things more the further they are from the focus point; this tool has no depth information, so the background is blurred by the same amount everywhere, and the ground under a person's feet is as blurred as the far distance. For most portraits and product shots that still looks natural enough, especially at moderate strengths.

The slider sets the blur radius in pixels, from 1 to 100, starting at 12. Because it is measured in pixels, the same value looks stronger on a small image than on a large one. Light values soften a distracting background while keeping it recognisable; high values turn it into smooth colour.

Very high values make any small mistakes in the cut-out more obvious, such as a halo of sharp background around hair. If you see that, lower the strength.

The first run downloads the model and runtime from IMG.LY's content network (staticimgly.com), which can take a while. Your browser normally caches them. The photo itself is processed on your device and is not sent to IMG.LY or to Image York.

The result is saved as JPG at quality 0.95, at the original size. EXIF data is not kept. If you would rather blur the entire image, for example to hide details, use Blur Image, which needs no model.