Remove the background from a portrait

Cut a person out of a photo for a profile picture, a CV or a team page, with tips for hair and edges. Free, full-size PNG, and your photo is never uploaded.

Before you start

A cut-out of a person is handy for a profile picture, a CV, a team page or a slide. This page opens the background remover. The AI finds the person and makes everything else see-through, and you get a full-size PNG, up to 12 megapixels. It runs on your own device, so the photo is never uploaded.

Hair is the hardest part, so the tips below are mostly about hair and edges. For a passport or visa photo, use the passport photo maker instead: it applies each country's rules, and those photos need a plain background, not a see-through one.

Tips

Take the photo against a plain wall that is a different colour from your hair and clothes. Dark hair in front of a dark wall is hard to cut out, and so is light hair in front of a light one.

Tidy loose hair before the photo. Single strands against a busy background are the hardest part of all, so check them closely.

Check the result on White and on Black, then press "Full size" and look along the hair, the ears and the gaps between the arms and the body. Glasses are see-through, so check the lenses too.

How to take a portrait that cuts out cleanly

If you can take the photo again, a few minutes of setting up save a lot of checking afterwards.

Stand one or two steps in front of a plain wall, so your shadow does not fall on the wall right behind you.

Choose a wall that is a different colour from your hair and your clothes.

Face a window, so the light on your face is soft and even.

Keep your whole head and shoulders in the photo, with space above your hair. A head cut off by the edge of the photo leaves a straight edge in the cut-out.

Tidy loose strands of hair, and make sure the photo is sharp and in focus. A blurry outline gives a blurry edge.

Questions and answers

Will it keep my hair?

Hair is the hardest part, together with fur, glass and smoke, so check it every time. Look at the edges on White and on Black. If strands are missing, or the old background shows between them, a photo taken against a plainer wall usually helps.

Can I use it for a passport or visa photo?

Use the passport photo maker for that. It applies each country's rules for the size, the pixels and the file size, and shows a guide for the head size and the background. This tool only makes a see-through PNG, which is not what passport and visa forms ask for.

Does it work on a group photo?

It can, but in a big group photo people at the edges can be missed. Check that everyone is still there before you download, or use a photo of one person.

Can I put the person on a new background?

Not in this tool. It gives a PNG with a see-through background. Place that PNG over another picture or a colour in a slide, document or design app, and the person sits on top.