Change Background for Product Shots and Portraits
How do you change the background of a photo online?
Replace a photo background with a solid color, gradient or another image. Adjust the subject’s position and scale, then choose how the background fills the canvas. Check the cutout edges and the balance between subject and background before export. A PNG or WebP output can preserve transparency where the chosen background leaves transparent areas.
Cost: Free options are available. Pro options or use beyond the free allowance may require credits; see the guide below.
How to change a photo background
Upload the subject photo
Click Upload or drop a JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, TIFF, AVIF, HEIC or HEIF image of up to 200 MB. The most recent upload becomes the subject. You can switch to an earlier file under Files.
Choose the new background
In the Background card, pick Gradient (the default), Color or Blur, or turn on Photo background to put the subject into another picture, which you pick in the Background image card.
Pick the cutout quality
Standard works without an account. Pro needs you to be signed in and uses 1 credit per finished cutout.
Scale and place the subject
Leave Subject scale at 100% to keep the subject exactly where it was in your photo. Lower it and use the position menu below it to move the subject toward an edge.
Apply, check, download
Click Apply background and check hair and edges with the Original / New background compare slider. Download saves the image as a PNG.
Background and subject settings
The replacement background is drawn at the pixel size of your subject photo, so the result always has the same width and height as that photo.
- Gradient
- Blends Start (
#20d6cf) into End (#6ee7b7). The direction menu offers Diagonal (top left to bottom right, the default), Left to right, Top to bottom and Radial. Radial puts the Start color in the center and reaches the End color at half the image's longer side, so the corners are solid End color. - Color
- One flat color. The default
#f8fafcis a very light blue-gray, not pure white. Set the swatch to#ffffffwhen a shop or catalog asks for a white background. - Blur
- Uses a blurred copy of your own photo, with a radius from 1 to 60 px (default 18 px). The preview shows the softness the downloaded image will have. The blurred copy still contains the subject: keep Subject scale at 100% so the sharp cutout covers it exactly, otherwise a soft double shows behind the subject.
- Photo background
- Uses another image from your files, chosen in the Choose background menu of the Background image card. cover (the default) fills the whole frame and crops whatever sticks out. contain shows the entire background photo; areas it does not reach stay transparent in the PNG.
- Cutout quality
- Standard (default) runs the BiRefNet lite segmentation model. Pro runs the full BiRefNet model, which usually traces hair, fur and fine outlines more closely. Pro requires sign-in and 1 credit, charged only when the cutout finishes.
- Subject scale
- 25% to 160%, default 100%. Sets the width of the cutout layer as a percentage of the image width. Above 100% the subject is enlarged and anything beyond the image edges is cut off.
- Position
- The menu below Subject scale: Center (default), Top, Bottom, Left or Right. It aligns the scaled layer flush with that edge. At 100% the layer fills the whole image, so the position has no visible effect.
Worked example: where the subject ends up
The cutout is not trimmed to the subject's outline. It keeps the full frame of your original photo, with everything except the subject made transparent. Subject scale resizes that frame, and the position menu aligns the frame, not the subject itself.
Take a 3000 × 2000 px product photo. At 60% the cutout layer is 1800 × 1200 px. With Bottom it is placed at x 600 px, y 800 px, so its lower edge sits on the bottom of the 3000 × 2000 px result. Top places it at y 0 px, Left at x 0 px and y 400 px, Right at x 1200 px and y 400 px.
Empty space around the subject scales along with it. A bottle that stood 200 px above the bottom edge of the photo stands 120 px above it at 60% with Bottom, so it will not rest exactly on the edge.
If the background photo should set the size of the result, or you want to nudge the subject by exact pixel offsets, make a transparent cutout with Remove Background and place it on the photo with Overlay Image.
Formats and limits
- Input formats
- JPG, PNG, WebP, BMP, TIFF, AVIF, HEIC, HEIF. GIF is not accepted. Animated WebP and AVIF files are treated as still images.
- Output format
- PNG only, with the pixel dimensions of your subject photo
- Maximum file size
- 200 MB per image
- Files per job
- 1 subject photo, plus 1 background image when you use Photo background
- Processing
- The cutout and the final composite run on our servers. Your browser draws the gradient, color, blur or photo background at full size and uploads it with the job.
- Metadata
- Camera data and GPS location from your photo are not copied into the result.
- Account
- Not needed for Standard. Pro requires sign-in and 1 credit per finished cutout.
- Watermark
- None
- Storage
- Uploads and results are deleted automatically after 48 hours for guests and after 30 days for free accounts. Paid plans can keep files longer.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the new image larger than my original photo?
The result is always a PNG. PNG stores photo pixels without lossy compression and can be larger than the compressed JPG from a camera or phone. The actual size depends on the image, so compare the downloaded file with your original. For a smaller file, convert the result to WebP or JPG with Convert Image; JPG drops any transparent areas.
Can I use a transparent PNG I already cut out?
It will be cut out again, because this tool always runs its own background removal on the subject image. To place an existing cutout unchanged, use Overlay Image with your background photo as the base.
Why do the edges show a light or dark fringe?
Semi-transparent edge pixels, especially in hair, keep some color of the old background. They blend best into a new background of similar brightness; a subject shot against white shows a light fringe on a dark scene. Pro usually gives cleaner outlines. For manual edge control, make the cutout in Remove Background, which has Edge smoothing and Detection threshold sliders, then place it with Overlay Image.
Do I need an account, and what does Pro cost?
No account is needed for Standard. Pro asks you to sign in and uses 1 credit per cutout, charged only when the cutout finishes.
Is my photo sent to an outside AI service?
No. The cutout models run on our own processing machines, not at a third-party AI provider. The background is drawn in your browser and uploaded with the job. Your photo, the intermediate files and the result are deleted on the schedule listed under Storage.