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How to Blur a Full Picture and Part of a Picture in Canva

Canva has a slew of amazing features, one of which is blurring. What’s especially amazing about this feature is that it easily lets you blur an entire picture, or just part of a picture, depending on what you need. It’s super versatile and worth checking out.

To blur a picture in Canva, click on the “Edit Image” button. Choose the “Blur” effect and use the “Auto” button to blur your entire image. Adjust the intensity as needed. To blur a part of your picture, use the “Blur” and “Restore” buttons to manually draw your blur effect onto your picture.

If you’re still feeling a bit blurry about blurring on Canva, don’t worry. We’re about to walk through everything you need to know, step-by-step.

To begin with, we’ll talk about how to blur an entire picture. Then, we’ll talk about two methods for blurring part of a picture.

How to Blur a Full Picture in Canva with the Blur Tool

To blur a full picture in Canva with the blur tool, click on the “Edit Image” button. Choose the “Blur” effect and click on the “Auto” button. Use the intensity slider to increase or decrease the amount of blur covering your picture.

Here’s what to do, step-by-step:

1. Select the picture you want to blur

Canva’s blur effect will be applied to the picture you have selected. This means that, if you have multiple pictures in your design, it will only be applied to the one you have selected.

If you have multiple pictures you’d like to blur, simply repeat these steps for each picture.

You’ll know your picture is selected when there’s an outline around it.

For this tutorial, I’ll use this picture of my cutie pie chihuahua who has claimed the pillow I spent hours and hours crocheting 🙂

dog on pillow in canva

2. Click on the “Edit Image” button

You’ll find the “Edit Image” button in your top toolbar in Canva. Once you make sure you have the correct image selected, click on that “Edit Image” button.

dog on pillow in canva edit image button

3. Find the “Blur” button in the “Tools” list

Once you open the image editing menu, you can either type the word “blur” into the search bar or scroll through the options until you find it. It should be within the “Tools” list.

blur option for image in canva

4. Click on the “Auto” button within the “Blur” options

If you’re hoping to blur your entire picture, you’ll want to click on the “Auto” button within the “Blur” options. We’ll talk about the other buttons in the next sections.

Once you click on the “Auto” button, Canva will start to work its magic and your image will blur.

canva image auto blur

5. Adjust the intensity of your blur

After Canva has finished applying your blur to your picture, you can decide how intense you want it to be. 

Use the “Intensity” slider to increase or decrease your blur to what you need it to be.

canva image auto blur intensity slider

6. Repeat, as needed

Once you’re done blurring your picture, repeat this process for any other pictures you need to blur in your design.

Alright, now that we’ve talked about how to blur a full picture, let’s dive into blurring part of a picture in Canva. There are two different ways to do this.

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How to Blur Part of a Picture in Canva with the Blur Tool

To blur part of a picture in Canva with the blur tool, click on the “Edit Image” button. Choose the “Blur” effect and click on the “Blur” button. Adjust the intensity, spread, and size of your brush and then use your mouse to manually add a blur effect to parts of your picture.

We’re going to talk about two ways to apply a blur to part of your picture. In the next section, we’ll talk about a quicker, less accurate way to apply your blur to part of your picture.

In this section, we’ll talk about the method that uses the blur tool and takes a bit longer.  

This is because you’ll need to apply your blur manually. The big benefit of this is that you can fully customize your blur and make sure it’s exactly where you need it to be.

Here’s what to do, step-by-step:

1. Select the picture you want to blur

You’ll be able to apply your blur to the picture you have selected. This means that, if you have multiple pictures in your design, it will only be applied to the one you have selected.

If you have multiple pictures you’d like to blur, simply repeat these steps for each picture.

You’ll know your picture is selected when there’s an outline around it.

dog on pillow in canva

2. Click on the “Edit Image” button

You’ll find the “Edit Image” button in your top toolbar in Canva. Once you make sure you have the correct image selected, click on that “Edit Image” button.

dog on pillow in canva edit image button

3. Find the “Blur” button in the “Tools” list

Once you open the image editing menu, you can either type the word “blur” into the search bar or scroll through the options until you find it. It should be within the “Tools” list.

4. Click on the “Blur” button within the “Blur” options

Click on the “Blur” button. It’s the one that has the plus button with the transparent background. The plus symbol implies that you’re adding a blur effect to your picture.

canva blur image blur option

5. Adjust the intensity, spread, and size of your brush for your blur

With this method, you’ll essentially have a blur brush. This is a brush you’ll use to apply your blur to your picture in the areas you need it. 

To get started, you’ll want to customize your blur brush. Decide on the intensity, spread, and size of the blur brush you’ll want to use on your picture. 

canva blur brush setting sliders

6. Blur your picture, as needed

Now it’s time to start blurring your picture! Click on your picture with your blur brush and start drawing over any part of your picture you want to be blurred. 

As you draw, you’ll see anything you’ve drawn turn pink. Once you let go of your mouse, anything pink will blur. 

canva image using blur brush turning pink

This can take some experimentation. Don’t be afraid to test some things out and use Canva’s undo button, as needed. Also, don’t be too worried when you make a mistake. It’s really easy to remove parts of your blur, which we’ll talk about next.

Below is the result of using the blur brush around my pup. It only took a minute or two!

canva image blurred with blur brush

Also take advantage of the “Show Original” button below your brush sliders. If at any point you need to see what your picture used to look like, simply check that button. Uncheck it again to restore your blur.

canva blur image show original checkmark

7. Restore your picture, as needed

As you’re blurring your picture, you might find that you’ve gone overboard and it’s too late to use the undo button. For example, let’s say I accidentally created a blur on my pup.

canva image accidentally blurred

Here’s where the “Restore” button comes in! This is the button that has the minus symbol on it. The minus symbol implies that you’re removing a blur effect to your picture.

Within the restore option, you can adjust the intensity and spread. Once you’ve used those sliders to customize your restore brush, start drawing over any blurred areas of your picture that you want to remove the blur from.

As you draw, you’ll see anything you’ve drawn turn pink. Once you let go of your mouse, anything pink will be restored to your original image.

canva restore blur image

There you have it! If you want to blur part of your picture, follow the steps above to do it manually. What if you don’t want to add the blur to your picture manually though?

canva restored blur image

Let’s talk about a quicker, though less accurate, way to add a blur to part of your image in Canva.

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How to Blur Part of a Picture in Canva with the Auto Focus Tool

To blur part of a picture in Canva with the auto focus tool, click on the “Edit Image” button. Choose the “Auto Focus” option. Adjust the blur position and intensity sliders until the blur effect is how you’d like it to be for your image.

This method will focus on a part of your picture and expand your blur outwards from there.

Whether you want to use this blurring method or not will depend on your picture. It tends to work well with pictures that have a clear object to focus on and don’t need a lot of customization.

If you aren’t sure if this method will work with your picture, try it out and use the undo button, as needed.

Here’s what you need to do, step-by-step:

1. Select the picture you want to blur

Canva’s blur effect will be applied to the picture you have selected. This means that, if you have multiple pictures in your design, it will only be applied to the one you have selected.

If you have multiple pictures you’d like to blur, simply repeat these steps for each picture.

You’ll know your picture is selected when there’s an outline around it. 

dog on pillow in canva

2. Click on the “Edit Image” button

You’ll find the “Edit Image” button in your top toolbar in Canva. Once you make sure you have the correct image selected, click on that “Edit Image” button.

dog on pillow in canva edit image button

3. Find the “Auto Focus” button in the “Tools” list

Once you open the image editing menu, you can either type the word “auto focus” into the search bar or scroll through the options until you find it. It should be within the “Tools” list.

canva auto focus image

4. Adjust the blur of your picture

As soon as you click on the “Auto Focus” button, Canva will apply it to your picture. 

Take a look at the results and adjust it as needed. The blur position slider will change the focus of your blur. Basically, by using the slider, you’ll adjust where your blur radiates from. So, if Canva didn’t focus on the correct part of your image the first time, use that blur position slider to adjust it.

canva auto focus image options

You can also use the blur intensity slider to adjust the intensity of your blur.

Again, this blurring method works best for certain types of pictures. If you have a picture that’s a good fit for it though, this a fast and efficient way to add a blur.

Blurring in Canva is a really neat feature to take advantage of. With these strategies, I hope you can make the most of your blurred images to make some awesome designs. Have fun creating!

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