Depth of field effects for portraits, bokeh, and cinematic photo edits. Explore AI background blur examples, inspect subject edges, and understand the limits.

Example imageExample notes
Skateboarder in the foreground against a softly blurred lakeside background
The skateboarder and soft lakeside background illustrate subject separation. This is not a measured optical test or a guarantee that every subject edge will be preserved.

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Skateboarder in the foreground against a softly blurred lakeside background
The skateboarder and soft lakeside background illustrate subject separation. This is not a measured optical test or a guarantee that every subject edge will be preserved.

Examples & practical guide

Depth of field: guide attention with AI background blur

Depth of Field creates a background-blur interpretation of your existing photo using a choice of descriptive looks. It is useful for exploring portrait separation and bokeh, but it does not expose a measured aperture or a manual focus mask. Start with a sharp subject and judge the boundary as carefully as the background.

Follow the edge of the subject

Background blur works only if the boundary works

A shallow-depth-of-field effect directs attention by separating a subject from its surroundings. The first check is not how creamy the background looks: it is whether the correct subject remains intact. Look along hair, glasses, fingers, fabric edges, and the gaps between an arm and the body. These transitions often reveal an unconvincing edit before the rest of the image does.

  1. Inside the subjectEyes, jewelry, and clothing should retain useful detail rather than becoming soft or newly invented.
  2. Across the boundaryWatch for bright halos, cut-out hair, or background texture leaking into a shoulder.
  3. Into the distanceNearby and distant objects should not collapse into an identical-looking flat blur.

Choose an effect for the picture, not the strongest name

The Blur Effect menu contains descriptive looks, including professional portrait blur, cinematic depth of field, creamy smooth bokeh, and lighting-led options. These are generated interpretations. An “85mm” effect is not a measured focal length, and there is no aperture, focus-distance slider, or editable depth map in this app.

A clean profile portrait

Suggested setup: upload a shoulders-up outdoor portrait and select professional portrait blur. Keep the input aspect ratio and Gender at none unless you specifically want another available setting.

Inspect: eyelashes and glasses should remain readable. Background branches must not become strands of hair. Choose a less cluttered source if the separation looks cut out.

A café scene with atmosphere

Suggested setup: use a photo of one person in front of distant café lights. Select creamy smooth bokeh and keep the original framing.

Inspect: the face should remain the focal point, with the lights behind it rather than spilling across its outline. If every light becomes the same repeated shape, the effect may look synthetic.

An editorial portrait at dusk

Suggested setup: upload a three-quarter portrait with space around the subject and choose cinematic depth of field. Begin without an additional lighting-heavy preset.

Inspect: shadows, skin tones, and the story of the location should still make sense. Strong separation is less useful if it removes the environmental context you wanted to show.

These are setup ideas rather than measured lens simulations or tested output examples.

A practical edit sequence

Upload a sharply focused source, choose one blur look, select the output format, and review the credit estimate. Generate a result and compare it with the untouched original. When evaluating different presets, return to that original each time; stacking generated blur on generated blur makes it harder to identify unwanted changes.

A photo with several people at different distances is a harder case than a single portrait. This app cannot let you paint individual people back into focus. Keep the source if the result loses an important person or object.

Before you create

depth of field: common questions

Can I set an exact aperture or choose the focus point?

No. This app offers named Blur Effect choices, not aperture numbers, a focus-point picker, or an editable depth map. Lens-related wording in an effect name describes a visual direction; it does not mean the image was captured or simulated with measured camera settings.

Will background blur make an out-of-focus face sharp?

Do not rely on it for that. The tool aims to create subject separation and may reconstruct detail rather than recover what the camera missed. Begin with the sharpest available source and reject any version whose newly crisp face no longer matches the original.

Why do hair or glasses look wrong after adding blur?

Fine edges, transparent lenses, and gaps through the subject can make separation ambiguous. Compare those areas at full size. A different named look or a cleaner source may help, but this app does not provide a manual brush to repair the boundary.

Choose your next step

  • Photo Filters

    Change color mood rather than focus separation.

  • Restore Image

    Address damage in an older source before considering presentation edits.

About this guide: AI-assisted writing, checked against the tool’s available settings. Suggested setups are creative starting points, not measured performance tests. AI results vary; inspect your own output before publishing. Report a correction.

Before generating, check the credit estimate and the visibility setting shown in the tool. Use only media you have permission to edit. See plans and credits, our privacy policy and terms.

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