How to Remove Background in Canva – Canva is a great tool for designing. Whether you’re working on a design for a business, website, YouTube channel, or personal project, Canva has plenty of tools at your disposal.
One of the great tools Canva offers is the option to remove the background from an image. Whether you just want to layer an image on top of another in your design or want to get creative with an app, Canva makes it really easy.
However, the function to remove the background from an image is only available for Canva Pro and Enterprise accounts. Now let’s learn how to remove a background in Canva.
Also read: How to Easily Create Outline Text in Canva
How to Remove Background in Canva
Here are the steps to take to remove photo/image backgrounds in Canva:
Add the image you want to remove the background from in the Canva editor. This can be a photo of yourself or a photo from your Canva library.
Then, select a photo element. When a photo is selected, a blue line will appear around it.
Open the toolbar that appears at the top of the design page when the image is selected and click the ‘Effects’ option from the left corner.
Notes: The photo must not be part of any group, otherwise you cannot remove the background. If the ‘Effects’ option doesn’t appear, look for the ‘Ungroup’ option on the right. Separate the elements and select the photo once again.
The Effects panel will appear on the left. Click the ‘Background Remover’ button at the top.
It will take a few seconds and the background will be removed. While Canva does a pretty good job of removing the background, you can also make manual adjustments.
Two Erase & Restore brushes, will appear in the left pane. Using the ‘Erase’ brush, you can erase parts of the background that Canva might have missed. The ‘Restore’ brush helps restore parts of images that Canva has deleted and their backgrounds. Just select the brush and drag it along the part of the image that you want to remove or restore.
Also read: How to Add Music to Canva
Some Tips Using a background remover
You can use the background remover in various ways apart from just placing a logo or cutting out unwanted elements from your photo background. Experimenting with the background remover feature can lead to some great designs in Canva.
You can get images with blurred background, gradient background, with other shapes or photos, or with out-of-bounds effects without having to switch to another app.
Overlay Photos on top of Photos & Other Shapes
This is the most common way to use the background remover tool. You can create a beautiful aesthetic by placing your photo on top of another photo or shape or both.
After removing the background from the image, add the image that you want to layer. Resizing the image because resizing it later will be difficult. Then, right-click on it and select ‘Send to Back’ to make sure the image with the removed background is on top.
The concept is simple. To layer various elements, you send the elements to the back depending on where they should be in the design. Both images will appear like an organic whole.
To add a shape or object, go to the ‘Element’ option from the toolbar and add the shape you want.
Set the position of the shape on your design. Then, right click and click ‘Send Backward’ again. This sends it back from the image with the background removed but keeps it above the previous image. If you click on ‘Send to Back’, it will make it the final layer.
Finally, group all the elements of your image together.
Blur background
Using background remover, you can blur (blur) the background of any photo. This is a pretty neat trick actually and only takes a few minutes.
Add the image that you want to blur the background to your design and resize it and position it where you want it. Then, click the ‘Duplicate’ button in the right corner of the element-only toolbar when the image is selected.
Drag and drop a copy of the first image but you should be able to drag it back into your design. If the image is already available to you, say, you added it from your upload, you can add another copy later instead of duplicating it. But if you resize the first image, the duplication prevents the hassle of getting the dimensions right with the copy.
Now, select the first image and click on the ‘Adjust’ option from the toolbar at the top.
A panel for customization will open on the left. Go to the ‘Blur’ option and drag the slider to the value you selected.
Now, go back to the duplicate image we tucked to the side and drag it back over the first image to make sure everything is aligned perfectly. While this duplicate is selected, go to the ‘Effects’ panel and click the ‘Background Remover’ button.
And voila! You have an image with a blurred background. Just select both images and click on the ‘Group’ button so that you can move them as a unit.
Adding a Fading Gradient to the background
Another fun trick that includes using Canva’s background remover involves adding a gradient effect to your background. Everyone loves gradients because they can give a subtle flash of brilliance to the object in question.
And a bit of playing around with certain gradient effects and a background remover can enhance your images. Add your image to the blank design page and adjust its position and size.
Now similar to the previous trick, you can duplicate the image and drag it for later use or add it later; it depends on you.
Go to ‘Elements’ from the toolbar on the left and look for ‘Gradients’. We’re looking for a specific gradient that fades to transparency. It’s a purple gradient that fades into what looks like a dark gray color when the Elements panel colors appear. If you can’t find it, search for ‘Gradient fading to transparency’. Add a gradient to your design.
Now, if you want to add a gradient effect on the right side of the image, we need to flip the elements. Select and click the ‘Flip’ option from the toolbar at the top and select ‘Flip horizontally’ from the options that appear. There is no need to flip if you want to fade the photo from right to left. For this guide, we added a fading effect from left to right.
You can also change the purple color to any other color. Click ‘Purple square’ from the toolbar and select a new color from the color panel. For this guide, we chose white. Leave the second box untouched because we need it to be transparent.
Resize the gradient element so that it is the same height as your image. Then, place it to the right of the image so that some parts of the gradient elements overlap the photo but not all of it.
Now, click on the ‘duplicate’ option to duplicate your gradient and move the duplicate slightly to the left of the previous element.
Duplicate the gradient element a few more times and each time, place the copy slightly to the left. You will see the fading effect occur. Duplicate the gradient until you are satisfied with the fading effect.
Now, the gradual fading effect will also take over the photo and not just the background. There’s no reason to worry. Select your original photo and click on the ‘duplicate’ icon.
Place the copy just above the original. Then, click on the ‘Background Remover’ option from the Effects panel. And your photo now has a gradient effect that fades in the background while the main subject is still in focus. In the end, select all your design elements (photo and gradient elements) and group them together.
That’s how to remove photo/image backgrounds in Canva. I hope this article helped you! Thank you for visiting and don’t forget if you find this article useful, please share it with your friends too.
