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Professional portrait retouching in your browser — no Lightroom needed

AI background removal, background swap, and batch export. Free, no upload.

The problem

Photoshop and Lightroom cost £30–50 a month. Cutting out complex hair is slow even with Select Subject. And most free web background removal tools mangle hair and produce halos.

The NSS solution

NSS uses BiRefNet — the same segmentation model used in commercial tools — to cut out portraits with accurate hair detail, then lets you swap or recolour the background in the Image Editor.

How to use it

  • 1

    Remove portrait backgrounds with accurate hair

    BiRefNet's Best Quality mode is specifically strong on hair, fur, and fine strands. Upload a portrait, select Best Quality, and export a clean transparent PNG.

  • 2

    Refine tricky hair edges

    Use Edge Refinement and the brush in the editor to restore fine strands and soften the hair boundary for a natural cutout.

  • 3

    Swap backgrounds on portraits

    Remove the background, open in the Image Editor, and replace with a studio gradient, a location shot, or a solid brand colour. No Photoshop selection required.

  • 4

    Batch process headshots for a client

    Upload headshots to the Background Remover's batch mode. They queue and export as PNGs or WebPs with backgrounds removed — ready for the client's LinkedIn or website.

  • 5

    Extract skin tones and colour palettes

    Use the Color Extractor on a portrait to get the dominant skin tones as hex codes — useful for brand identity, colour-matching makeup, or print production.

Step-by-step guide

  1. 1

    Upload your portrait

    Drag your photo onto the main upload zone. Select "Best Quality" for accurate hair cutouts (processes in ~10s).

  2. 2

    Refine hair edges

    Open the result in the editor. Use Feather (2–4px) in Edge Refinement to soften the hair boundary. Use the brush to restore any strands that were clipped.

  3. 3

    Choose a background

    In the editor, keep it transparent or add a solid studio colour, a gradient, or a location shot behind your subject.

  4. 4

    Composite and review

    The result composites in real time — adjust position and scale until the portrait sits naturally on the new background.

  5. 5

    Export at full resolution

    Download as PNG (transparent) or JPEG (with background). The tool processes at your original resolution — no downscaling.

Common questions

Can it handle flyaway hair?

Better than most tools. BiRefNet's Best Quality mode produces soft alpha on fine strands. For perfect results on complex windswept hair, use the Edge Refinement brush to restore missed strands.

Can I put a portrait on a new background?

Yes. Remove the background, then open the Image Editor and drop in a solid colour, gradient, or location shot behind your subject.

What's the maximum resolution?

Images up to 4096 × 4096 px are processed at full resolution. Larger images are automatically scaled down to 4096px on the longest side for inference.

Can I use the output commercially?

NSS itself places no restrictions on the output. You retain full rights to your images and the processed results.

Ready to try it?

No account. No subscription. No images uploaded to any server.

Remove a background free

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