Free Blurred Backgrounds!

Those are great!

Many thanks Montse, lovely idea for theming courses.

Bruce

Really nice Montse. Great tips thanks!!

Thanks!

Thank you for sharing and being so kind.

Smiley from me!

Thanks for sharing this idea Montse. I used this effect on background pics for a course I'm designing. I shared the mock-up with the client yesterday. He loved it! 

Thank you very muck! It sure will help me a lot! 

Thanks a lot for sharing. 

Thanks for sharing!

Those are really cool; nice job. You've stumbled on to a very old photo technique that I use to use all the time when I took pictures.  On the old style SLR cameras, This effect is accomplished with a fast shutter speed and a low aperture. We all know light travels at a certain speed. When you use a fast shutter speed with a low aperture, the closer image is in focus where the background is not because the light from the background has a longer distance to travel thus causing the blurred effect.  I like this technique because the focus of the viewer is then on what's in focus.Now I'm starting to see this same technique accomplished with software and the new Camtasia 8 studio does allow you to do this and I was really impressed with it. Here's a link if you want to check it out. You should see what happens when you you have a high aperture with a slow shutter speed on water. The effects are amazing.

http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia-whats-new.html

Thank you for sharing!  As James notes, a great use of the soft-focus photographic look.  Lovely, and very useful!  

VERY NICE!! Thank you for sharing!!

I am stumped, is your Power Point version 2010 or 2007. I do not seem to have the blur option available.

David, I have PowerPoint 2010 and I see the option.

Hope that helps!

This absolutely great...You are awesome

Montse, this is great! I used a photo of our corporate office as the base image and blurred it just a little less than the example. Now I have a great background to use for our "corporate" training courses.

Thanks for sharing!

THANKS 

Thank you Montse - those are great!  I've been playing around with digital images I've intentionally taken with lots of blur, but this is a great way to do it with an existing picture!  Great Screer, too!

Thank you Montse for the background images and the tutorial. Today I've learned something new

Thanks so much for sharing Montse! This is exactly what I didn't know I was looking for to add some subtle color to a course.

Love this tutorial. Especially like the idea of creating slight transparency on the content item that is over your blurred background. Great tips, Montse, thanks!