Circular Image in Bree Photo
Note: Screenshots in this tutorial may show GIMP branding, but all menus, tool names, and keyboard shortcuts are identical in Bree Photo and the steps can be followed directly.
Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a “circular image”—all images are rectangular. However, we can make the four corners transparent so that only a circle remains visible.
Adding an Alpha Channel
First make sure the layer has an alpha channel:
Layer → Transparency → Add Alpha Channel
If this option is grayed out, the layer already has an alpha channel.
Creating a Circular Selection
Select the Ellipse Select Tool (the second tool in the toolbox), or press E.
In the Tool Options, check Fixed, choose Aspect ratio, and enter 1:1 so you can draw a perfect circle.
- Default diagonal mode: click at one corner and drag to the opposite corner before releasing.
- Center-out mode: check Expand from center in the Tool Options, then drag from the center outward.
If the selection position or size is not ideal, drag the center of the selection to move it, or drag the edges or handles to resize it.
Inverting and Deleting
Once the selection is set, choose Select → Invert (or press Ctrl+I) to invert the selection so that everything outside the circle is selected.
Then choose Edit → Clear (or press Delete) to delete. The circular area remains, and the surrounding area shows the checkerboard pattern indicating transparency.
Cropping to Content
To reduce the transparent area, choose Image → Crop to Content to automatically crop the canvas to the smallest size.
Exporting
When saving, choose a format that supports transparency, such as PNG. JPEG does not support transparency; transparent areas will be filled with white.
If you need to continue editing later, save in XCF format (Bree Photo’s native format).
Source & License
This tutorial is adapted from Ofnuts’ Making a Circle-Shaped Image, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.