How to Create Depth of Field in Adobe Premiere Pro CC (2022)

Depth of field is a great way to focus the audience’s attention. Our eyes naturally go toward whatever is in focus on screen. When the background is blurry and the subject is sharp, the viewer knows exactly where to look. The best way to achieve this is in camera while filming, but sometimes you don’t have a lens that goes wide enough, or the footage was already shot without it. In those cases, you can fake it in Premiere Pro.

The technique uses a Camera Blur effect with a mask to create a gradient blur that falls off from sharp to blurry, similar to real lens depth of field. It is not a perfect replacement for optical blur, but for a quick fix it works surprisingly well.

How to Create Depth of Field in Premiere Pro

Applying the Blur

1. Create a new sequence and import your footage. Drop it into the timeline.
2. Go to the Effects panel and search for Camera Blur (under Video Effects > Blur and Sharpen).
3. Drag Camera Blur onto your footage.
4. In Effect Controls, find the Camera Blur settings and bring the Percent Blur up to around 25%. You will see the entire image blur out. Don’t worry, we are going to mask it next.

Creating the Gradient Mask

5. Under the Camera Blur effect name in Effect Controls, click the small rectangle icon (the 4-point polygon mask). This creates a rectangular mask on the effect.
6. Zoom your Program Monitor out to about 10% so you can see the full mask boundaries.
7. Hold the Shift key and drag the corners of the mask rectangle out past the edges of the frame. Drag the bottom edge to cut across the footage at the point where you want the blur to begin (usually at your subject’s feet or waist level).
8. Now increase the Mask Feather value. This creates a smooth gradient transition from the sharp area to the blurred area. Higher feather values create a more gradual falloff.
9. You can drag the mask up or down to reposition exactly where the focus transition happens.

Tips

• Hold Shift while moving the mask to keep it moving in a straight line. This prevents the mask from drifting sideways.
• Use this on wide shots where the background is distracting but you want the subject to stand out.
• For moving shots, you may need to keyframe the mask position so it follows the subject as they move through the frame.
• If you want a circular blur (like a vignette focus effect), use the ellipse mask instead of the rectangle. This can create a nice focus pull look centered on your subject.

That is how you create depth of field in Premiere Pro. It is a quick and easy way to bring attention to your subject when the camera didn’t capture it the way you wanted.