TIP #2: I like to set my flow to around 40 or so and simply paint on additional layers for additional blur if needed. Either way, the more opaque the color, the stronger the effect will be). My overlay is set to red but you may have set yours to be a different color. ( TIP: Hit the ‘O’ key to see a colored overlay of where the effect is being applied. Using the brush tool, "paint" the blur effect on your image wherever you like. Use the feather and flow sliders to adjust how strong you want the effect to be. You can literally paint on the blur wherever you want it and apply additional brush layers to specified parts of the image! Of the three methods we’ll discuss today, brushes offer the most directed control. The Lightroom Brush is an incredibly versatile and incredibly powerful tool.
Now that we’ve got the first 2 steps out of the way, let's go into more detail about how to use each individual adjustment tool. ( Tip: You can double click on the slider name to reset sliders to zero). Make sure all the other sliders are set to zero. Reducing sharpness and clarity tends to create unexpected brightness because you are removing some contrast. Lastly, I bring down the exposure just a bit as well. I like to see the most dramatic effect first and then move the sliders back up from there, as I go. In addition to bringing the sharpness all the way down, I also bring the clarity slider all the way down. ( TIP: If you’re not a fan of sliders, you can also click the number to the right of the slider and simply type in the value you would like to use). From there, simply drag the sharpness slider all the way back to -100. I usually begin by selecting the ‘Sharpness’ menu item. These options are very similar for each tool. Next you will need to set the blur effect that you want to be applied to your image using the Lightroom brush, radial gradient or linear gradient tool options. Next, choose which option you want to use to apply blur to the image. You can blur a background in Lightroom using any one or more of these 3 tools:ĭepending on the option you choose, first click on the Masks icon in the toolbar just below the histogram in Lightroom. Regardless of which option you choose, the first 2 steps are identical. I’m going to walk you through 3 different (and easy) ways to blur the background in Lightroom. Getting this right in camera is preferable, but did you know you can fake a background blur in Lightroom pretty easily? With the skillful use of brushes and filters, you can hardly tell the difference. Or maybe like me, you just simply forgot to adjust your aperture? Don’t worry, I won’t tell if you won’t. Have you ever have those times when you wish you’d shot something with a wider aperture, so your image would have that dreamy background blur behind your subject?