With the sudden rise in the popularity of video conferencing apps like Zoom, Microsoft has also started adding new features to their Skype app. In the last few months, they have added many new features to Skype app and Skype desktop client. Some of these features have already been present in Zoom and other similar apps. For example, in the latest update to the classic Skype for Windows desktop, they have added a new webcam effect that can be used to blur the background of your webcam, when you are on a video call with others on Skype.
The blurring of the background appears to be like the popular Bokeh effect that blurs everything in the background except the face of the person in the picture or video. This type of effects are readily available in the smartphones these days but for desktop computers, you can enable the blurring of the background in Skype in this manner:
- Launch Skype for Windows desktop, click on the menu icon (three small dots) and select Settings from the menu that appears. You can also use a shortcut key Ctrl+Comma for the same effect.
- In the settings for Skype, select Audio and Video section.
- Now you can enable the Blur my background for all calls option.
Enabling this option will make all the future video calls blurred but won’t blur your face. In the case you are in the middle of a video call, then you can simply right-click on the video icon to open a preview of your webcam. Under this small preview window, you can enable or disable the Blur my background for all calls option.
This is a great webcam effect to have in Skype, especially if you don’t want the video call to be looking at what is behind you and want to focus on the conversation.