The camera you have is the best camera. That’s what makes smartphone shooters so necessary. DSLRs can take great looking shots, but your pixel can fit in your pocket and you can go anywhere. Not only is it convenient, but thanks to Google Photo’s portrait blur, you can turn static photos you have already taken into bokeh and depth striking shots.
Portrait blur is nothing new. Launched exclusively by Pixel, this feature allows you to add blur to the background of photos that were not originally shot in Portrait mode. However, in the past, this feature was limited to human subjects only. When working with other subjects in the portrait mode camera, the portrait blur will not appear for photos of pets, plants or other objects you want to poke-fi.
However, with the new Google Photos update, everything will change. Google has now added the ability to apply portrait blur to all images in Google Photos, which significantly expands the scope beyond human subjects.
How to use Google’s Portrait Blur on virtually any subject
To try this feature yourself, you will need a Google Pixel device or you must be subscribed to Google One. When running Android 8.0 or later, your mobile phone must have at least 3GB of RAM. (At this time, this feature is not compatible with iOS.)
Additionally, you need to install the latest update of Google Photos to improve your Portrait Blur feature. The update is brand new and is starting to come out, so it may not be available for your device yet.
Once that is done, the same portrait blur feature you may already know and like. To use it, select an image from Google Photos and tap “Edit”. Allow settings to load and, if necessary, select “Portrait”. From here, “Blur” by tapping “Tools” from the other menu bar; Allow Google Photos to select the best position of the blur by “Auto” or move the slider to adjust the blur manually. Tap “Done” to log-in to your settings.
Although Google does not provide any details, it does warn that this feature will not work on every photo. If you are not happy with how the Portrait Blur worked, you can turn to the Blur settings page for that image to change or disable any level blur. If you want to turn it off, move the slider to “0”.
