Lens Blur in Adobe Camera Raw

Last updated on 12 Dec 2024

The AI-powered Lens Blur tool in Lightroom adds an aesthetic blur effect to any part of your photo. You can easily apply optical Blur and Bokeh effects through an interactive, customizable experience that lets you define the blur amount and refine focus. The effect can blur the background or foreground by making a depth map of the image.

Add Blur and Bokeh effect in a photo

In the Edit panel, select Lens Blur > Apply.
Once the blur is applied, you can do the following:
- Blur Amount slider: This lets you control the strength of the blur effect. The slider is set at 50 by default.
- Bokeh: Lets you select from any of the following Bokeh options:
  
  Circle: Modern circular lens
  
  Bubble: Standard circular shape with over-corrected spherical aberration
  
  5-blade: Commonly seen in the vintage lenses
  
  Ring: Commonly seen in reflex or mirror lenses, also known as Doughnut
  
  Anamorphic: Gives the bokeh an oval appearance
- Cat Eye: This slider lets you achieve a swirling, crescent-shaped blur effect toward the edges and corners of the image.
- Bokeh Boost: It lets you adjust the brightness of out-of-focus light sources in the image.
The Lens Blur panel in Adobe Camera Raw with Blur, Bokeh, and other adjustment tools.
Use the Focus Range to adjust the range of depth values that are in focus.
- Subject Focus: Automatically sets the focal range using AI-powered subject detection.
- Point or Area Focus: Manually set the focal range by clicking or dragging on the photo.
Select Visualize Depth to view the depth map and focal range. Select Refinement to manually refine the depth map and then adjust the Focus or Blur using the Amount, Brush Size, Feather, and Flow sliders.

Focus lets you brush over the blurry areas of an image and bring them into focus.

Blur allows you to brush over in-focus areas to blur them. It can also be used to increase the strength of blur locally in areas just outside of the focal range.
When you select Visualize Depth, the overlays on the image show the following colors:
- Warm or Yellow: Covers the area that has a near focal range.
- Cool or Blue: Covers the area that has a far focal range.
- White: Covers the area that is currently in focus. The White focal range overlay is only visible while adjusting the focal range slider.
Tip:
The Refine option is manual. To access the control, select the Refine icon and then select Focus or Blur.

If refinements have been applied, the Reset icon can clear them.

The Focus and Blur options will work only if the original image isn't blurry.
Select Auto Mask to allow automatic edge detection while brushing.