How to Blur a Face in Adobe Premiere Pro CC

There are plenty of reasons you might need to blur someone’s face in a video. Privacy laws, legal requirements, protecting a minor’s identity, or simply respecting someone who did not consent to appear on camera. Whatever the reason, Premiere Pro makes this relatively quick using Camera Blur combined with the built-in mask tracker.

Today I am going to show you how to blur a face and have the blur track the person’s movement automatically.

How to Blur a Face in Premiere Pro

Applying the Blur

1. Place your footage on the timeline and navigate to the section where you need the face blurred.
2. Go to the Effects panel and navigate to Video Effects > Blur & Sharpen > Camera Blur. Drag it onto your footage.
3. In Effect Controls, find the Camera Blur effect. The default blur amount should already make the image blurry. If not, increase the Percent Blur value.

Creating the Face Mask

4. Just below the Camera Blur effect name in Effect Controls, you will see mask shape tools. Click the ellipse icon to create an oval mask. This is the best shape for faces.
5. An oval will appear on the Program Monitor. Drag it over the subject’s face and resize it to cover the entire face. Use the handles to adjust the width and height.
6. In the mask settings, increase the Mask Feather to about 50-80 pixels. This softens the edge of the blur so it does not look like a hard circle pasted on the footage.

Tracking the Face

7. Make sure your playhead is at the beginning of the clip (or the beginning of the section where the face appears).
8. In the mask settings, find Mask Path. Click the wrench icon to open tracking settings.
9. Select Position, Scale & Rotation as the tracking method. This gives the tracker enough information to follow a face as it moves, gets closer/further, and turns.
10. Click the forward play button (the right-pointing arrow) next to the Mask Path. Premiere Pro will analyze each frame and move the mask to follow the face automatically.
11. Let it process. This may take a few minutes depending on the length of the clip and your computer’s speed.

Checking the Result

12. Play back the footage and check that the blur follows the face accurately throughout. If the tracker loses the face at any point, you can manually adjust the mask position at that frame and continue tracking from there.

Tips

• Increase blur amount for unrecognizable results. A subtle blur might still leave the person identifiable. For legal protection, use a high blur value (70%+) that makes the face completely unrecognizable.
• For moving subjects, the automatic tracker works well with clear, well-lit footage. If the subject moves behind objects or the footage is shaky, you may need to manually correct some frames.
• Multiple faces. To blur more than one face, add additional Camera Blur effects to the same clip, each with its own mask and tracking path.
• Use the Gaussian Blur effect if you want a different blur style. Camera Blur simulates a lens blur while Gaussian Blur creates a smoother, more even softness.
• Mosaic effect alternative. For a pixelated censorship look instead of a blur, use the Mosaic effect (under Video Effects > Stylize) with the same masking and tracking technique.

That is how you blur a face in Premiere Pro. The mask tracker does most of the heavy lifting, so even long clips with moving subjects can be blurred relatively quickly.