Background

Choose a background

The editor opens on the Background tab in the inspector on the right. The Background section has five tabs:

• Wallpaper: the wallpapers on your Mac. Pick random wallpaper tries one for you.
• Gradient: ready-made gradients, including soft mesh gradients. Even gradient blends the colors evenly, without a gray or muddy middle. Change the Angle and each color (Color 1, Color 2…), or press Pick random gradient.
• Color: twelve swatches, a Custom color picker and a Hex field. The eyedropper next to it picks a color from anywhere on your screen, such as your brand color on your website.
• Image: your own picture. Click the box to choose a file, drop an image on it, or copy one and press ⌘V while the pointer is over the box.
• Photos: free photos you can search. See below.

Wallpaper and Image have a Blur slider that softens the picture so your recording stands out. Opening Image or Photos doesn’t change anything until you pick a picture.

With a wallpaper, an image or a photo, Blur background when zoomed in softens the background as a zoom comes in: the further it zooms, the softer it gets.

New recordings have Even gradient and Blur background when zoomed in on. Older projects keep their look until you switch them on.

Use a free photo

1. Open Photos and type in Search free photos, or click a suggestion such as Nature or City.
2. Click a photo to use it. The ↻ button shows other photos, and More photos loads more.
3. Set Background blur if you want it softer.

Photos come from Openverse, which finds them in the StockSnap, WordPress and Nappy collections. They’re free to use, also commercially. To search Unsplash instead, paste a free key in Settings › General › Unsplash Access Key.

The photographer is named under the chosen photo. Some licenses ask you to credit them where your video is shown: Copy credit copies the line, ready for your video’s description.