Put the word behind you: the text behind subject look, built as three layers
To put text behind a subject, you stack three layers: the photo at the bottom, the text in the middle, and a cut-out of the same subject on top, lined up exactly over the photo. Wherever the person overlaps the word, the cut-out hides it, so they appear to stand in front of the text.
The idea is simple; what decides whether it reads as depth or as a sticker is which part overlaps the word and how clean that edge is. This guide covers those decisions, then the shortcut in dump: depth templates that cut your photo out the moment you drop it in, so one photo becomes both layers.
Depth templates (cut-out frames): free with an account. Exports are never watermarked.
How the text behind subject effect actually works
Think of it as a sandwich. The bottom slice is the untouched photo. The filling is the text, or any graphic that should read as behind the person. The top slice is the person again, cut out and placed pixel for pixel over the original. Where the cut-out covers the text, the text vanishes; everywhere else it sits on the background as normal. Nothing is masked by hand.
Because the top slice is a copy, the two photo layers must stay locked together. Move one by a few pixels and you get a ghost edge: a sliver of the original person peeking out beside the cut-out.
What goes behind and what stays in front
The overlap is the design. The word has to stay readable, so the subject should cover part of one or two letters, not half the word: a head crossing the second letter, a shoulder clipping the last one. Cover too little and nobody notices; cover the middle three letters and the word is gone.
Size the text so the overlap is possible at all. On a 1080 by 1440 post, one word around 300 px tall and spanning most of the width gives the subject something to stand in front of, placed behind the head or upper body where the background is usually plain. Four to seven letters read instantly even with a chunk missing. The middle layer does not have to be text: a chat bar, an alert or a calendar card works the same way and often reads as more playful.
Why hair and hands make or break it
The cut-out edge is only visible where the subject crosses the text, which is exactly where the eye goes. A clean edge against bright letters looks real. A frizzy one shows the cut-out's limits: a pale halo, lost flyaways, strands of background still attached. So plan the overlap around clean silhouettes, like a shoulder, a hat, a sleeve or a held object, not loose hair against a busy background.
Hands are the other make-or-break spot. A hand holding something in front of the middle layer is the strongest depth cue there is: the Emoji bar template has a hand and an iced coffee crossing the bar, and it reads as a scene, not a collage. The catch is the gaps between fingers. Spread fingers against a patterned floor leave islands of background that may stay in the cut-out; a closed grip on a cup is safer than an open palm.
- Best photos: subject against a plain wall, sky or floor, with clear space above the head.
- Good overlaps: head, shoulder, hat, cup, sleeve, bag strap.
- Risky overlaps: flyaway hair, spread fingers, lace, fur against a similar colour.
- Never on the face: letters crossing the eyes make the person look cut in half.
The shortcut: depth templates that cut the photo out on drop
Depth templates in dump are that sandwich already built: photo frame, middle layer and an empty subject layer. Drop one photo into the frame and it is cut out automatically; the subject layer takes the result and lines itself up. Pan, zoom, rotate or crop the photo and the cut-out follows on every move, so the ghost edge cannot happen. Clicking the subject selects the photo, because there is only one photo to edit. Drop a video in instead and the subject layer hides.
Three depth templates are free: Behind the word (a big white word, sunday by default, retyped like any text), Emoji bar (a reaction bar behind the subject) and AirDrop split (an alert that the person sits through). Now playing wrist, Now playing card, Calendar day and Calendar icon are premium and need Creator. On a desktop the cut-out runs in your browser and on a phone on dump's servers; either way it spends 10 credits from the monthly Magic allowance.
How to put text behind someone by hand
For your own layout, build the sandwich yourself. The cut-out is Remove background in the Magic panel on desktop, Cut out on a phone; every cut-out costs 10 credits, from 100 a month on a free account, 1000 on Creator and 3000 on Studio. Cut out before you crop: the cutout reads the whole photo, not the crop window. And Duplicate drops the copy 24 px down and to the right, so move it back first.
- 1Place the photo uncropped
Full photo on the canvas, sized and placed. Crop later, or not at all.
- 2Duplicate it and put the copy back in place
Give the copy the same position as the original so the two match exactly.
- 3Cut out the top copy
Run Remove background on the copy. The person stays, exactly over the original.
- 4Add the word and move it between the two
One short word, big; in Layers drag it below the cut-out and above the photo.
- 5Group and export
Group the three layers so they move as one, check the edge at feed size, export. No watermark on any plan.
Cut out (background removal): free with an account. Exports are never watermarked.
Frequently asked questions
Stack three layers: the original photo, the text above it, and a cut-out of the person on top, placed exactly over the original, so the cut-out hides the text wherever the person overlaps it. In dump, depth templates do this automatically when you drop one photo into the frame.
Usually the overlap lands on a messy edge, like flyaway hair or spread fingers, so the cut-out shows a halo, or the cut-out has shifted and a ghost edge appears. Overlap a clean silhouette such as a shoulder or a held cup, and keep the cut-out locked over the photo.
Yes. In dump the Behind the word, Emoji bar and AirDrop split depth templates are free, and a free account's 100 monthly credits cover about 10 cut-outs at 10 credits each, whether the template cuts the photo out or you build it by hand with Cut out. Exports carry no watermark on any plan.
Big enough that the subject can cover part of one or two letters while the word stays readable. On a 1080 by 1440 post, one short word around 300 px tall and spanning most of the width works well, placed behind the head or upper body.
Part of photo effects, filters and cutouts. Start from the main guide: Photo effects for Instagram posts: pick the one that fixes the photo, not the one that looks cool