How to Add a White Outline to Your Image in Canva
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If you’ve ever wondered how to create that trendy white outline effect that’s all over Instagram these days, you’re in the right place!
Thanks to Canva, you can now easily add a white border/outline to any of your images (no Photoshop or fancy apps required). Please keep in mind that this feature will work much more seamlessly if you’re using the desktop version of Canva.
If you’re ready to level up your Canva design skills, then read along to learn how to easily add a white outline to your photos in Canva with this new time-saving feature.
Let’s get to it!
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If you don’t have one already, make sure you sign up for a Canva account. You can create amazing designs with the free version, but I personally recommend opting for Canva Pro if you plan on batch creating graphics for your blog, social media account or business website.
Canva Pro is incredibly affordable and you get unlimited access to over a million elements, premium stock photos, graphics, the ability to upload custom fonts and other design features. The subscription cost is truly such a small price to pay for all that you get in return!
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Related: Canva Pro Review: Should you upgrade?
1. Create Your Design
Go to your Canva home page and click ‘Create a design’.
For this particular feature, it doesn’t matter which dimensions you choose for your graphic. You can either create a new post or select an existing one.
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2. Use the Canva Background Remover
If you want to add a white outline to your image, you’ll first need to remove the background of your image. Fortunately, Canva Pro offers a one-click solution for this!
Upload your image to Canva and add it to your page/template
Select your image
Go to > Effects
Select > Background Remover
Side note: if you don’t have access to Canva Pro, you can sign up for a free Canva Pro trial, or use remove.bg to remove the background of your image.
3. Apply the Glow Shadow Effect
Once the background of your image is removed, you can apply the white outline/border effect.
Select your image
Go to > Effects
Under ‘Shadow’, you will see an effect that says ‘Glow’. Apply this option and then click on the settings icon that displays
You’ll then be able to adjust the following settings: size, transparency, blur and color. These are the recommended settings for a solid white outline:
Size: personal preference, but I recommend anywhere from 8-14
Transparency: 100
Blur: 0
Color: White
And that’s it! You can now make any adjustments necessary to create your ideal white outline. This may take some practice and playing around to see what settings work best for your specific images/style.
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I hope you found this Canva tutorial helpful. If you did, feel free to save it for later by pinning any image in this article to one of your boards on Pinterest!
What’s your favorite Canva tips, tricks and hacks to save time designing? Let me know in the comments!
