Have you returned from your last trip and have collected a string of photos that you would now like to arrange, perhaps in a collage, but cutting them in a creative way? Do you want to give a gift to your sweetheart and have you thought about printing a photo but with a particular shape? In short, if you find yourself in one of these situations or a similar situation, I’m happy to tell you that I have what’s right for you.
In this tutorial, in fact, I intend to explain how to crop a heart-shaped photo to decorate and embellish your shots, giving them that pinch of originality to make them truly magnificent! Furthermore, you won’t even have to worry about recovering a specific device, in fact I will explain how to operate both from a PC using some programs, and through a Web browser thanks to the help of free platforms that allow you to carry out similar operations, and from smartphones and tablets, being able operate directly from the palm of your hand!
How do you say? Can’t wait to get started? Fantastic! In this case, just continue reading my guide, with the recommendation to cut out – in addition to the photos – some free time to allocate to the procedures that I will illustrate in detail. I, as always, can only wish you happy reading.
Index
- How to crop a photo into a heart shape
- How to crop a photo into a heart shape with Paint
- How to crop a photo into a heart shape with Photoshop
- Other solutions to crop a heart-shaped photo
- Crop a heart-shaped photo online
- Lunapic
- Other services to crop a heart-shaped photo online
- Crop a photo into a heart shape: app
- Canva (Android/iOS/iPadOS)
- More apps to crop a photo into a heart shape
How to crop a photo into a heart shape
“How do I crop a photo into a heart shape?” , it is likely that you have asked yourself this question on Valentine’s Day, given that, in view of the lovers’ anniversary, you have decided to create a photo collage for your sweetheart.
Well, in the next paragraphs I will show you how to crop a heart-shaped photo using some PC programs, so I invite you to follow my instructions step by step to obtain the desired effect.
How to crop a photo into a heart shape with Paint
If you are operating from a device equipped with Windows , you can think about using Paint , the historic program available for free and pre-installed in the Microsoft operating system.
Although cropping a heart-shaped photo with Paint may seem a bit cumbersome, just follow my instructions to get a satisfactory result. I will use the most recent version of the utility available on Windows 11 . If you use a different version, less feature-rich, turn to other solutions illustrated in this tutorial.
The first thing you need to do is open the image you want to crop through Paint: to do this, right-click on the icon of the photo you want to crop and choose the Open with > Paint items from the context menu.
Go to the top panel and select the Layers tool : open the right sidebar with the available layers, click on the “+” symbol to create a new one from the transparent background and, by pressing on the latter, drag it under the image layer in so that it becomes the background.
Perform the same procedure, pressing on the “+” symbol in the right bar and creating a new transparent layer, this time placed above the photo layer: keep this layer selected in order to compose the heart-shaped path.
To do this, again using the upper toolbar, select the heart shape of the same name from the Shapes category and select the color you want to use to trace the heart-shaped outline from the Colors category. Click on a point at the top left of the photo and drag the cursor (still keeping the left mouse button pressed) to the bottom right, thus creating the shape of the heart.
Once you have traced the shape of the heart around the subjects you want to keep inside the shape, select the photo layer and choose the Eraser tool from the toolbar, then start manually erasing the outer edges and the background left outside of the silhouette.
Once completed, if you want to color the background, select the color from the Colors category and use the Fill tool ( bucket icon ) to fill the background: remember to select the lower layer, below the photo layer, and perform a left click to fill the background.
Now all you have to do is save the image by pressing the File > Save As menu , at the top left, and selecting the image format.
How to crop a photo into a heart shape with Photoshop
Another solution for cropping photos is Photoshop , the famous Adobe photo editing program available for Windows and macOS , which allows you to edit images to extremely professional levels of modification. Thanks to its variety of tools, Photoshop is one of the most complete programs today, so much so that it is widely used in the sector by both professionals and amateurs.
Photoshop is not a free program, in fact it is possible to obtain it by subscribing to Adobe Creative Cloud starting from 12.19 euros , however it is possible to take advantage of a free trial period to test the software without obligation to renew. More info here .
Once the program is installed and launched, you are ready to import and edit your photo. Press Open and select the photo you want to edit, pressing Open again . Inside the editor screen, go to the right bar and, under the Layers section , press on the square with the “+” symbol inside, thus creating a new Layer. Then, double-click on the Background layer (which is the one of your photo) to unlock it, press OK . Next, drag the created Layer 1 with transparent background below the previous Background Layer , i.e. the one with your photo.
Select the Layer with your photo again and go to the side toolbar on the left. Hover over the Rectangle Tool and right-click , then select the Custom Shape Tool . Hover the cursor over the photo and right-click in any corner of the image, accessing the shapes menu: then select the heart-shaped shape .
The shapes that can be used in Photoshop can also be imported as long as they are files in .CSH format , so if you have other shapes (even different heart shapes) and you want to import them, just right click , click on the wheel and choose Import shapes , then select the file and import it. This is a good method to use if, for example, for some reason you don’t have the heart shape among the available shapes.
After selecting your shape, click in the top left corner and hold down the mouse button, thus dragging the shape until it extends to your liking. You will then create the heart shape in a new layer above your photo.
After you have recreated the heart shape you want on your photo, hold down Ctrl+left-click on the Layer with the shape to create the heart-shaped selection, then go to the Selection menu and choose Inverse . Once this is done, select the photo Layer and choose the Eraser tool , starting to erase everything inside the selection.
Once this is done, select the Layer with the shape and press the trash can icon to delete it: and you have your photo cropped into a heart shape! To save it, go to the File > Save As menu , rename your file, choose the format and destination folder and press Save again .
Other solutions to crop a heart-shaped photo
If you are looking for other solutions to crop a heart-shaped photo , especially free ones , you may consider using the following programs.
- GIMP( Windows/macOS/Linux ) — considered by many to be the free alternative to Photoshop, GIMP is a multiplatform and open source program which with its tools allows many users to develop and create their own graphic projects. GIMP, similarly to Photoshop, also allows you to crop a photo into a heart shape, so if you are interested in using this program, I suggest you take a look at my guide on how to download GIMP and my article on how to use GIMP .
- Krita( Windows/macOS/Linux ) — it is a professional, open source and free drawing program with a wide range of tools suitable for digital artists who need good software for drawing. It has many useful functions for photo editing and the possibility of installing packages to obtain a version that is always up to date.
- Word( Windows / macOS ) — although it may seem unconventional, the famous word processing software is ideal for cutting out an image — or rather, inserting it into a heart shape — quickly and easily. To do this, just select the Insert menu , select Shapes and choose the heart shape. Subsequently, by right-clicking on the shape, choose Format shape and go to Fill , then select Image or texture fill , choose Insert and select the photo to insert inside the heart shape. More info here .
Crop a heart-shaped photo online
In addition to the more demanding PC solutions that involve a software download and installation, there are some web browser solutions that can allow you to crop a heart-shaped photo online without spending anything and in just a few clicks, ideal for you who don’t you consider yourself particularly technological. In the next paragraphs I will show you some very valid ones.
Lunapic
The first online solution I want to show you is Lunapic . It is an online image editor that allows you to edit photos for free without having to install any software on your PC or even having to register: on Lunapic it is not necessary to have an account to get your photo cropped.
With Lunapic you can edit your images effortlessly and in a practical and fast way, so much so that there is a feature that allows you to automatically cut the image according to the shape you want.
In this case, I want to show you how to crop a heart-shaped photo with Lunapic. The first thing you need to do, of course, is to connect to the official Lunapic website: the tool you are looking for is located in the Draw > Cutout Shape section which you can quickly reach by clicking here .
Now, you can select Choose file to find a file directly from your PC’s save location or use the URL if you want to crop an image found online.
Once the photo is imported, select the heart shape under the Select the shape to cut out item : once done, you will get your photo cropped into a heart shape. To save it by downloading it directly to your PC’s download folder, select the Download Now item located at the top right.
Other services to crop a heart-shaped photo online
There are also other services for cropping a heart-shaped photo online that are easy to use, immediate and above all free . Here are some.
- Loonapix— this free platform allows you, without registering, to edit your photos by applying effects and frames, but also by accessing the editor tools. The site also has a section dedicated to cropping heart-shaped photos, so you just need to select the photo and wait for Loonapix to do everything automatically.
- Photokako— simple and intuitive, Photokako’s tools are designed to edit, retouch but also illustrate your images. In addition to adding effects, blurs, frames, it is possible to modify the temperatures of the photos, the hues, the saturation, the brightness but also – and above all – crop the images as you prefer. In particular, Photokako has a tool dedicated to cropping heart-shaped photos that you can use for free .
- IMGonline– another platform that allows you to crop photos into different shapes is IMGonline. Once you go to the site, by pressing Show 100 different shapes on this page you can view the Love, hearts category . Once you have spotted the number of the heart shape you want to use (I suggest 117 to get a classic heart shape), scroll down, select your image and enter the number 117 under Number of the desired shape . Press OK and Download the processed image to get your image cropped into a heart shape.
Crop a photo into a heart shape: app
If you need a solution to crop a heart-shaped photo via your mobile device, you can consider looking at some apps that allow you to crop or insert your photo into heart-shaped frames in a practical and fast way. In the next paragraphs I will show you some of them.
Canva (Android/iOS/iPadOS)
Canva is a free application , available both for Android on the Play Store and alternative stores , and for iOS/iPadOS obtainable from the App Store . Thanks to its intuitive and captivating interface, it has become a point of reference for the graphics sector, so much so that it is also often used for the creation of graphic projects intended for social media and presentations. With its many templates and a truly wide variety of tools, with Canva it is practically possible not to find the right inspiration!
As mentioned, the application is free so you can download it at no cost to your device, however it also has a paid version starting from 11.99 euros/month which allows you to unlock new features, models and much more. More info here .
In order to use Canva you need to register, so after downloading the app from the respective stores and launching it, select the method with which you would like to register and log in and follow the on-screen procedure to create an account . Once you log in, you’re ready to use Canva to crop your photo into a heart shape.
Press the “+” symbol at the bottom center and select a type of size from those available (alternatively use Custom Size to set the size you want). Once this is done, press the “+” symbol at the bottom left and tap on Elements . In the Frames section , tap Show All . Under Basic Shapes , press Show All and select the heart shape that you can find by scrolling down.
Once you have imported the heart-shaped frame into the editor, use the white dots at the vertices to adjust its size, then select Replace and — after providing the relevant consent to access the photos — select the image you intend to crop. This way you will have an image cropped into a heart shape. To save your photo, press the down arrow icon and wait for the saving to finish.
More apps to crop a photo into a heart shape
Would you like to try other apps to crop a heart-shaped photo ? No problem, below you can find a list of valid alternatives to use mostly for free .
- VistaCreate( Android / iOS/iPadOS ) — not so dissimilar to Canva, VistaCreate also allows you to cut out a heart-shaped image by inserting it into a shape and then adjusting its size as desired. VistaCreate is a practical free image editor which, through its many templates and tools, allows users to obtain professional graphic results with minimal effort. It has a paid PRO version starting from99 euros /month .
- Adobe Express( Android / iOS/iPadOS ) — another free application that, through its shapes and frames, allows you to crop a heart-shaped image by inserting it directly into the aforementioned shape. The application also has many graphic models and tools to give vent to your creativity in any way possible. It has a paid version starting from 99 euros/month .
- Pixlr( Android / iOS / iPadOS ) — application with a simple and intuitive interface, downloadable for free, allows you to add frames to photos including a heart-shaped frame: to do so, however, you need to use the paid Premium version starting from 99 euros/month .