Any illustrator or photographer will probably be able to tell you that blurring the backgrounds of your images adds instant depth to them. Of course, most cameras on mobile phones don’t have features that could blur the backgrounds of your images unlike in traditional cameras. Some of them do, but most of them do not. If you’re one of those unfortunate people whose cameras can’t blur backgrounds, you can still get that effect by post-processing your images. However, professional image processing software such as Photoshop can be extremely expensive. Blur Photo Background by Cidade is offered as a free alternative, but can it measure up?

First Impressions

In terms of first impressions, the Blur Photo Background Maker certainly does well. It is extremely quick and easy to install. Since it came from the Microsoft Store, all a user needs to do is proceed to the Microsoft Store page and click the Get button. There are no additional steps necessary to install it. The program will download and install itself automatically. 

The first screen is also pretty good. There is a sharp image on top of a blurred image, clearly indicating that this is what you’re going to get when you use this software. In all honesty, though, the performance of this software is a bit of a mixed bag leaning heavily on the negative.

Mixed Bag

As mentioned above, the performance of the Blur Photo Background Maker is a mixed bag that leans heavily on the negative. Among the positive things about this program is the fact that it actually does blur images. Unfortunately, that’s not what this program should be about. Just as its name suggests, the program is meant to blur the background of your images, and in that respect, this program doesn’t really perform that well. 

First of all, the interface for editing the image is too simple. There’s a window where you can view and mark the image. Below that is are the foreground and background buttons which you can select to mark the image with. Speaking of these buttons, it’s frustrating that there’s no indication which one you’re using at any given time. This is is even more problematic since you can’t undo any action you do. You’ll find yourself having to redo all of your marks because you accidentally used the wrong button.

In addition, you won’t really be able to accurately blur your image. The process of marking your image is so imprecise that you’ll often find that the resulting image has blurs in places that shouldn’t have blurs. 

Why Not Since It’s Free?

The Blur Photo Background Maker is definitely not for people who need images that look professional. In fact, it might not be for anyone at all. It’s difficult to use and basic features such as an undo button are conspicuously missing. If you can study it and make use of it, then good for you. It’s free anyway so you won’t lose anything by trying it out. To be honest, though, I’d say there are better free programs out there.