Frosted Glass Effect on Photo
Blur the whole photo except a sharp cutout zone - the magazine-style viewfinder effect. Drag a rectangle or circle to define the sharp area, optional corner brackets for the cinematic frame.
Drop a photo to start
JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC up to 40 MB · stays in your browser
Never uploaded · 100% browser-side
How it works
- 1
Drop your photo
Drag & drop or browse to upload. JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC up to 40 MB.
- 2
Define the sharp cutout
Drag a rectangle (or switch to ellipse) over the area you want to keep sharp - usually the subject's face, a product, or a focal element.
- 3
Tune blur + brackets, save
Blur intensity slider, optional viewfinder corner brackets for the cinematic feel. Save in any format - the effect bakes into the output.
Why use this online tool
Inverse-mask blur
Most blur tools blur a region. This one keeps a region SHARP and blurs everything else - the opposite operation, used for highlighting subjects.
Viewfinder brackets
Optional decorative L-shaped corner brackets around the sharp cutout - the magazine / film-poster aesthetic. Toggle on or off.
Multi-cutout support
Highlight more than one subject by drawing multiple sharp regions - useful for group shots or spotlighting two products.
Free, browser-side
Photo stays in your browser. No upload, no signup, no watermark on output.
When to use it
- Magazine / editorial layouts where the subject's face is sharp and the rest is dreamy soft-focus
- Music album / poster designs with a viewfinder framing the artist
- Product shots with a sharp cutout around the hero item, rest dreamy
- Travel / portrait Instagram posts with a 'spotlight' on the main subject
- Architectural photography highlighting one feature against a soft surround
Frequently asked questions
- How is this different from regular background blur?
- Conceptually similar, but the spotlight effect is more dramatic - the blur intensity is typically much higher (30-50 px vs 8-15 for casual background blur), and the optional corner brackets give the cinematic viewfinder feel that decorative background-blur usually doesn't include.
- What do the corner brackets look like?
- Four L-shaped white lines just outside the sharp cutout - exactly the viewfinder framing you see in cinema cameras and magazine layouts. They scale with the photo size and have a subtle drop shadow so they remain legible on bright backgrounds.
- Can I use a circle / ellipse cutout?
- Yes - switch the shape toggle to Ellipse. Drag out a square for a perfect circle, a wider rect for an oval. The blur logic is identical; only the cutout shape changes.
- Will the cutout edge be sharp or feathered?
- Currently sharp - the cutout boundary is a hard line. Soft-feathered edges are on our roadmap. For a feathered look now, drop the blur intensity to 8-12 px and the natural Gaussian fall-off softens the contrast at the edge.
- Does this upload my photo?
- No. The frosted-glass effect runs entirely in your browser using the canvas Gaussian filter. Photo never leaves your device.
Related free tools
Blur Background of Photo
Keep your subject sharp while the background blurs around them - the depth-of-field 'portrait mode' look without an expensive lens. Drag a rectangle or ellipse over the subject.
Blur Region of Photo
Drag a rectangle or ellipse over any part of a photo and blur it - hide faces, license plates, IDs, sensitive text. Multi-region, drag-to-resize, browser-side.
Vignette to Photo
Darken the corners of any photo with a tunable vignette slider. Smooth radial fall-off draws the eye toward the centre subject.
Vintage Filter
Give any photo a warm, faded retro look in one click. Tune the intensity to taste. 100% browser-side, no upload.
Need more than just frosted glass effect on photo?
Our AI editor goes way beyond simple transforms - background removal, style transfer, upscaling, photo-to-anime, and 50+ more AI tools. First 5 edits are on us.
Open AI editor - 5 free credits