BEHINDR

How to put text behind a person in a photo or video

The effect where a word sits behind someone — their shoulder or their hair crossing in front of the letters — used to mean masking the subject by hand in Photoshop, or filming against a green screen. It does not any more.

Try it free in your browser →

No sign-up. Nothing is uploaded — the cutout runs on your own device.

Doing it in a photo

  1. Open your photo. Pick anything with a reasonably clear subject.
  2. Type your words. The text lands on the picture and is behind the subject straight away.
  3. Move it where it reads. Drag, pinch to resize, twist to rotate. The place that sells the effect is where the letters pass behind a shoulder or a jaw, so overlap on purpose.
  4. Style it. A heavy condensed face at a large size reads best — thin type disappears behind a subject instead of looking tucked behind it.
  5. Save it. You get a full-resolution picture with no watermark burned into it.

Doing it in a video

This is the part most tools get wrong. A lot of video editors do the effect with a chroma key, which means you need a green screen or at least a plain wall behind you. Others ask you to duplicate the clip and roto the subject frame by frame.

Neither is necessary. The subject is found by a segmentation model rather than by colour, so it follows a person through an ordinary clip filmed anywhere, and the text stays behind them as they move. Add your words the same way and export a short clip. There is more on that here: text behind a subject in a video, without a green screen.

Why it is not uploading your pictures. The model that finds the subject runs inside your browser, on your own machine. That is unusual for a web tool and it is the reason there is no account, no upload step and no queue — and also why the first visit spends a few seconds fetching the model before it can start.

Getting a clean cutout

Common questions

How do I put text behind a person in a photo?

Open the photo in Behindr, type your words, and it separates the person from the background and slides the text between the two. You can drag, resize and rotate the text, and switch it between behind and in front at any time.

Can you put text behind a subject in a video?

Yes. Behindr follows the subject through the clip so the text stays behind them as they move. It does not need a green screen or a plain background, which is what most video editors ask for.

Do I need a green screen or a plain background?

No. The subject is found by an AI segmentation model rather than by colour, so an ordinary photo taken anywhere works.

Are my photos uploaded anywhere?

No. The model runs in your browser on your own device, and your photos and videos never leave it. There are no accounts and no tracking that follows you around.

Is it free, and is there a watermark?

The browser version is free and needs no account, and there is no watermark burned into the picture you save.

What makes a photo work well?

A clear subject with some space around them. Where the text crosses the subject is where the effect reads, so pictures with a person roughly centred and a simple background behind the words work best.

Try it

It opens in the browser — nothing to install, and nothing leaves your device.

Open Behindr →

There is also an iPhone app if you would rather have it on your camera roll.