Mask-driven depth workflow
The effect starts with a key, not with Blur
Defocus Background becomes convincing only when the foreground matte is convincing. Resolve expects an existing key and then gives you dedicated controls to soften that key, shape the defocus and style the background independently.
Foreground key required
Mask-first workflow
Defocus Background does not identify the foreground subject by itself. It expects an existing foreground mask or key, for example from Magic Mask, a Power Window, or the alpha/key output of an upstream node. White areas remain sharp while black areas become the defocused region. In practice, the quality of the effect depends not only on the Blur amount but also on how cleanly the matte handles hair, shoulders, held objects and other difficult edges.
- Mask Preview shows the matte directly: white = sharp, black = blurred.
- Mask Invert swaps the foreground/background roles, which is useful for diagnostics and unusual keys.
- If the matte is poor, increasing Blur only makes halos and errors more obvious.
Blur · Contrast · Pivot
Adjust Mask
Mask Blur softens the transition between the sharp foreground and the defocused region. Mask Contrast strengthens or relaxes the separation inside the matte, while Adjust Pivot sets the point around which that contrast is redistributed. This is especially useful for translucent hair and soft edges, where a small depth transition is more convincing than a hard cut. Too much Mask Blur creates a halo, while excessive Contrast quickly makes the subject look cut out.
- Start with minimal Mask Blur and increase it only until the edge stops revealing the matte.
- Contrast and Pivot are often more useful on difficult mattes than simply blurring the whole edge.
- Check hair, motion blur and thin objects at 100% viewing scale.
Blur · Saturation · Colorize
Effects
Blur is the main depth-of-field control and sets the strength of the background defocus. Saturation changes only the blurred region, which can make the background quieter and less competitive with the subject. Colorize mixes the selected Color into the defocused area: at low values it acts as a gentle tint, while stronger values become an obvious creative grade. In a practical portrait workflow, it is usually better to set Blur first, then trim Saturation, and only add Colorize if the shot actually benefits from it.
- More Blur does not automatically look more cinematic; the depth should still match the lens feel and shot scale.
- A small saturation reduction often makes synthetic defocus feel more believable.
- Colorize works best as subtle background separation rather than as a replacement for a full background grade.
Gaussian / Lens · Anamorphism · Highlights
Advanced Options
Blur Type switches between Gaussian and Lens. Gaussian produces a more neutral, uniform blur, while Lens is designed to mimic optical defocus and is usually the better choice for a shallow-depth-of-field look. In Lens mode, Anamorphism stretches the bokeh/blur character along one axis and can move the result toward anamorphic optics, while Highlights increases the contribution of bright areas so point lights behave more like optical bokeh. These Advanced controls largely determine whether the result reads as a generic blur or as an attempt to emulate real lens behavior.
- Gaussian is useful for a clean graphic blur, while Lens is better for a more cinematic defocus.
- Keep Anamorphism moderate unless the source already has a clear anamorphic context.
- Highlights becomes most obvious on night lights, reflections and specular points.