How to Blur Your Face in a YouTube Video
(Google)
Google has lots of wonderful little Easter eggs hidden in its online tools. But in light of the nation’s current political climate, one might be particularly timely: You can fuzz out people’s faces in any YouTube video before uploading it.
The tool, which was announced more than two years ago, still proves helpful today. As the author of the company’s blog post, Victoria Grand, put it: “YouTube is proud to be a place where citizens and activists come to tell their stories — stories that may otherwise go unnoticed. … But this level of exposure can be risky to the citizens shooting the footage and the people who appear in their videos.”
So, whether you want to protect the identity of your son’s soccer team or are taking part in a heated protest, here’s a quick guide to hiding your face in video footage:
1. First, log in to YouTube as you usually would and click the Upload button.
2. After you’ve picked a video, waited for it to completely upload, and filled in any relevant title information, click Video Manager.
3. Find the video on your list of uploads (it should still be a “draft”). To the right of its thumbnail, you should see an Edit button. Click the arrow for the drop-down menu, and select Enhancements.
4. You’ll arrive at an editing page. Look for the phrase Special effects next to the top right of the video, and then click it.
5. The only selection you’ll be given is to Blur All Faces. If that’s what you want, then click Apply to the right.
6. You’ll be able to preview what the video looks like by playing it all the way through. The left half of the screen will show you the original. The right half will show you a preview of what it looks like with your changes. When you’re all done, click Save.
7. Finally, you’ll be able to publish the video.
It’s important to note that while blurring the faces of people in a clip helps protect their identity from the general public, it may not be enough to deter someone who’s determined enough to spy on the video sharing network or hack your computer. Some governments are known to do that! So exercise caution. And be safe out there.
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