Blur faces quickly and easily in Photoshop

In today's digital age, protecting privacy is of utmost importance, especially when it comes to using photos depicting people. If you have a picture with multiple faces and you want to anonymize them, it is advantageous to know a simple method to quickly accomplish this. In this tutorial, I will show you how to effectively pixelate multiple faces in Adobe Photoshop to ensure that the individuals depicted maintain their anonymity.

Main Takeaways

1. Using Smart Objects allows flexibility when applying filters.
2. The mosaic effect is easy to apply and adjusts to the desired pixel sizes.
3. You can use a brush to selectively choose areas to pixelate.
4. Adjustments are possible at any time, even after the original pixelation.

Step-by-Step Guide

First, open your image in Photoshop. Check if the image is already saved as a Smart Object. If not, you should change this now to take advantage of Smart Objects. If your image has not been converted yet, right-click on the layer and choose "Convert to Smart Object." You should now see an icon for the Smart Object in the bottom right corner.

Once you have converted your image into a Smart Object, you can now start pixelating. Go to "Filter" in the top menu bar. Choose the "Pixelate" filter and then click on "Mosaic." Here, you can adjust the size of the mosaic blocks. It is important to adjust this size to achieve the desired level of pixelation.

You can now set the size of the mosaic blocks in pixels. The larger the pixel size, the fewer details will be visible. For our exercise, we will choose a size of approximately 22 pixels. Confirm the selection with "OK" to apply the effect.

A significant advantage of using Smart Objects is that you can work with the applied mask. You can easily toggle the filter on or off without having to delete the entire image. To invert the mask, go to the Smart Filter's mask and press "Ctrl + I." This will reverse the mask, making the image visible again.

Time to edit the image! Now select the brush from the toolbar. I recommend using a hard brush with 100% opacity and 100% flow. Set the color to white. Now you can simply paint over the faces in the image that you want to pixelate.

For example, you can start by selecting a face and just painting over it. Is the face a bit too large? Then you can adjust the brush size accordingly. This method is really quick and effective, especially when dealing with many faces in a single image.

After editing the first face, you can repeat the process to pixelate other faces or other relevant areas, such as people's hats. Again, you can use the brush to edit the desired areas as needed.

If you accidentally painted over an area, you can simply change the brush color to black to undo the pixelation there. This option gives you more flexibility and control over the editing process.

Now that you have successfully pixelated the faces, take a final look at the image. If you find that the pixel size is not optimal, you can simply double-click on the Mosaic effect in the Filter panel. This allows you to adjust the size of the mosaic blocks accordingly.

Confirm the changes and you have edited the image to your liking. With just a few clicks and adjustments, you have anonymized the faces and ensured data protection. You will surely be satisfied with the result, and now you can apply this technique again whenever needed.

Summary – Pixelating Many Faces Quickly and Easily in Photoshop

Pixelating faces in Photoshop can be done quickly and effectively when you know the right steps. With the help of smart objects, the mosaic effect, and a little skill in brush control, you can protect the privacy of the people depicted in a short amount of time.