One AI cutout, then instant bokeh
This tool blurs the background while keeping your subject perfectly sharp, the way a wide-aperture portrait lens would. That is a different job from our free image blur, which blurs the whole picture uniformly and is the right tool for censoring or softening an entire image. Here, an AI segmentation model (BiRefNet, the same one behind our background remover) finds the exact outline of your subject first, so the blur lands only where a photographer would put it.
The workflow is deliberately split in two. The AI cutout runs once on the GPU and counts toward the free daily allowance. Everything after that, blur strength, edge feathering, the vignette, happens locally in your browser on a canvas, so every slider change re-renders instantly and costs nothing. Try ten looks or fifty; only the first step ever touched a server.
Where a fake bokeh beats a real one
Phone portrait modes bake their blur into the file at capture time; if the effect was too strong or the edge detection glitched on hair, the shot is what it is. Running the same photo through this tool instead gives you the choice afterwards: dial the blur from a whisper of separation to a full creamy background, soften the cutout edge until stray hairs blend naturally, and add a vignette to pull the eye inward. Product shots for marketplaces benefit the same way, a busy room disappears into a soft backdrop while the item stays crisp.
What to expect
The subject cutout is computed at about one megapixel and then scaled onto your full-resolution photo, which works cleanly because only the mask edge matters and feathering hides the scaling. Your download keeps the original resolution of the uploaded photo, unlike generative tools that re-render the whole image. Clear single subjects, people, pets, products, give the best masks; subjects that blend into the background or very thin structures like bicycle spokes can confuse the segmentation. Photos up to 4096px per side are accepted; the upload lives only as long as the cutout takes. If you want the subject on a transparent background instead of a blurred one, use the free AI background remover.