Blur part of the background of a picture in PPT 2013

To blur the background of a picture in PPT you need to use a workaround.

To do that you have to put two photos on top of each other. Blur the first photo completely, then  remove the background of the photo on top so that only the focus point remains.

This is the original photo.

Now copy that photo and put it on top of the original. Go to Picture tools, Format tab, click the Remove background button.

Make the necessary changes and finally click the Keeps changes button.

If you want more information on how to remove a background click the following link: Remove background of a picture

Now select the original photo and go to Picture tools, Format tab and choose the Artistic effects button, select the fade option.

By default you will get a 10% blur, to increase the percentage right-click the photo and choose Format picture. In the task pane increase the radius.

This is the end result:

Of course you can use other artistic effects: