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How To Blur The Video Background in After Effects

Liza Brown
Liza Brown Originally published Feb 21, 23, updated Sep 29, 24

While capturing a video, it may be possible that the background of the video looks dull or tedious. Or, unwanted people in the background are ruining the overall presentation. To get rid of this, many people use Adobe After Effects to blur the background in the video. If you don’t know how to use After Effects, this article will provide you with accurate guidance. Moreover, we will also highlight an alternative to Adobe After Effects for additional help.

In this article
  1. What Do You Need To Blur Background in Videos?
  2. How to Blur the Video Background in After Effects?
  3. Bonus Tip – The Alternative to After Effects to Blur Face in Videos

Part 1: What Do You Need To Blur Background in Videos?

There are many scenarios in which blurring the video background becomes necessary. In this part of the article, we will discuss some common scenarios in which people feel it is mandatory to blur the video background.

1. To Put Focus on Subject

If you want to keep the spotlight on the main subject of the video, blurring the background becomes essential. By doing so, you can highlight and grab viewers' attention to the subject of your video.

2. Replacing Background

Sometimes choosing and capturing a vibrant background for your video is tough. So, if you have a dull background in your videos that does not look aesthetic, you can simply blur it. There are various blur effects that you can add to the background of your video to create an overall sophisticated presentation.

3. Hiding Sensitive Information

There are some places, such as museums or private properties, where you cannot take a video without the owner's permission. The reason is that there might be sensitive information in such places that needs to be confidential. So, if you are making a vlog in such places, you can blur the video background to avoid copyright strikes on social media platforms.

4. Ensuring Privacy

If you are making a tutorial video while sitting at home, you may concern about the privacy of your family members or house. Thus, in such cases, blurring the video background can be a safe idea to ensure the privacy of your home.

Part 2: How to Blur the Video Background in After Effects?

Do you want to blur the background in the video where the subject is moving continuously? This may sound complicated to you; however, using Adobe After Effects can make this process quite simple and easy. Adobe After Effects is a professional software that many users utilize to execute professional editing. Using this efficient platform, you can smoothly make eye-catchy intros and outros for your videos.

Moreover, you can add transitions to your videos to generate compelling results. So, if you want to add stunning and appealing visual effects to your video, Adobe After Effects is the best choice. Furthermore, you can use Adobe After Effects for 2D animation and motion graphics. That’s why many content creators use this software in TV, films, and the web to manipulate videos proficiently.

Moreover, you can also merge tons of images and videos using this tool to display your creative editing skills. This part will guide you on efficiently using Adobe After Effects Blur Background feature.

Steps to Blur Background in Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects is an amazing tool for applying aesthetic visual effects to your videos. To make background blur in After Effects easily, check the following steps:

Step1 Open Adobe After Effects and upload the video clip you want to edit. Once done, double-click the video you have added to the timeline to select the clip you want to blur.

Step2 Now head to the ROTO brush displayed on top and click on it. The green circle can be used to select the part you would need. In comparison, the red circle can be used to highlight the part that you don’t need. To shift between these two colors, you can press the Alt key. So, carefully use the green color to select the needed part. You can also zoom in to make selections effortlessly.

use the roto brush

Step3 Once you have made the selection, play the video to do the calculations. After giving some time to do calculations, copy the layer from the timeline. To blur the background in the video, search for “Gaussian Blur” in the effects tab. After applying this effect to the copied layer, increase the blur effect and wait for the calculations.

increase gaussian blur value

Step4 Now adjust the feather value from the left side to 20% on Layer 1. Once done, you can see the results in the preview window.

adjust feather value

Bonus Tip – The Alternative to After Effects to Blur Face in Videos

If you have a fixed background in a video and your subject is not constantly moving around, we can provide you with a simple alternative to Adobe After Effects blur background tool. To accomplish the best results in the scenario mentioned above, you can try Wondershare Filmora. This tool offers tons of presets that can help you in creating and edit videos with perfection. Moreover, you can do basic editing as well on Filmora to crop, resize, trim, and merge video clips.

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Filmora also provides various effects that can help you add a new perspective to your videos. To make your video look cinematic and aesthetic, you can use its vintage and retro effects. Furthermore, you can use its background blur effects to hide unwanted parts from your videos. In this section, we will address basic instructions that can help you blur the selective parts of the video.

Steps to Add Blur Effect Using Filmora

Have you ever tried Filmora to add blur effects to your video? Here are the simple instructions that can help you in adding a blur effect to your videos:

Step1 Create a New Filmora Project

After launching Filmora, hit the “Create New Project” option to begin. Now hit the “Arrow” icon to import the desired video clip to the project media section. Once done, drag and drop the video into the timeline.

import the video file
Step2 Select the Background Blur Effect

Now head to the “Effects” tab and locate the “Background Blur” option on the left. By selecting this option, you can explore various background effects that you can add. Once you have chosen the background effect, apply it to your video on the timeline.

access the background blur section
Step3 Export your Blurred Video

After adding the blur effect, double-click on it to open the blur settings. From the settings, you can modify the opacity and blur strength according to your preference. Once done, hit the “Export” button to save your video with blurred background.

export the filmora video

Conclusion

To improve your video outlook, paying attention to the background is essential. However, you can use the After Effects blur background tool if you have captured unwanted things in your video. After reading this article, you have learned the complete guide to using Adobe After Effects to blur the background in videos efficiently.

If you want a simpler and more professional tool, we recommend using Wondershare Filmora. This tool has a friendly interface that you can operate efficiently without any inconvenience.

Liza Brown
Liza Brown Sep 29, 24
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