How to do the red silhouette photo trend for TikTok and Instagram

Choose a photo in Photo filters, open the Trends tab and tap Red silhouette. The person becomes a solid dark shape with a red rim against a glowing red background. For a cold version, use Blue silhouette; for an evening sky, Sunset silhouette, both under the Person tab.

Steps

1. Open Photo filters and choose a photo with one person standing clear of the background. A full-length or half-length pose shows the outline better than a close-up face.
2. Tap Trends, then Red silhouette. The first time, your browser downloads the models that find the person, from this site, and a progress bar shows while they load.
3. When the person is found, the silhouette appears. Set the Strength under Applied looks; at 100% the shape is solid black.
4. Open Adjust on the look to change Glow, Crush to black (raise it for deeper black), Dark corners or Grain.
5. Download. Save as PNG if you will edit the picture again, or JPG for a smaller file to post.

Three silhouettes compared

All three also read the depth of the photo, so the glow is stronger on rounded edges and along the subject's own inner edges, such as a jaw over the neck. That keeps the shape from looking like a flat cut-out.

Poses that read well as a silhouette

A silhouette shows only an outline, so the pose carries the whole picture.

• Turn sideways, or put your hands on your hips or above your head, so there is light between your arms and body.
• Keep hair loose or tied high; a clear profile of the nose and chin reads better than a face turned square to the camera.
• Stand against a plain wall if you can. The page finds people well on most backgrounds, but a cluttered room with another person in it can blur where one person ends.
• Leave space above the head. The glow needs somewhere to go.

The original colours are gone from the file

This trend raised a fair worry: people asked whether someone could take the red filter off a photo to see what is underneath. The red look on this page replaces the colours in the pixels themselves. The file you save holds only the filtered picture. The original colours are not hidden in a layer or in the metadata, so they cannot be recovered from that file. Saving also leaves out most hidden data, such as the GPS position from your phone.

That applies to the file you download here. Keep your original photo private if you do not want it seen.

If no person is found

The silhouettes need a person. When none is found, they darken by brightness instead: dark areas go black and bright ones glow. On a backlit photo, such as someone in front of a window, that can still look right. For a pet or an object, choose Background, then Tap to pick, and tap it; the person looks use whatever you picked.

Making a video cover or a story

Silhouette posts are usually vertical. After downloading, make a 9:16 copy with the social media image resizer using its Story or reel size, or Video cover for TikTok. Keep the figure in the middle of the frame, where the app's buttons and captions do not cover it.

The same looks run live in the camera with filters if you would rather pose while you watch the silhouette form.

Questions

Can someone remove the red filter from my photo?

Not from the file this page saves. The red replaces the colours in the pixels, and the original colours are not kept anywhere in that file.

Why is part of my arm missing from the silhouette?

The person was cut a little short at that spot. Try a photo where the arm stands clear of the body and the background, or one taken in brighter light.

Is the photo uploaded to find the person?

No. The person is found on your device. Only the models are downloaded, once, from this site.