Make an event poster from a photo to a print-ready PDF
Build an 18 × 24 inch event poster in the Editor: cut the subject out so it stands in front of the headline, tone the background down, set the details in order and export a 300 dpi PDF.
Intermediate7 min readUpdated 25 September 2026Editor · Workflow
On this page
- You will need
- Result
- 1. Start at the final size
- 2. Set margins before you place anything
- 3. Place the photo and fill the page
- 4. Cut the subject out so it can stand in front of the type
- 5. Tone the background down
- 6. Set the headline behind the subject
- 7. Add the details in a clear order
- 8. Proof it at print size
- 9. Export the PDF
- 10. Talk to the printer about bleed
- Common problems
This recipe takes one good photo and turns it into a poster you can send to a printer. You will set the size first, cut the subject out so it overlaps the headline, quieten the background, and export a one-page PDF at 300 dpi. Use it for gigs, club nights, talks and exhibitions: anything where one image and a few facts have to work from across a room.
You will need
- One strong photo of the act, speaker or venue, as large as you have. The subject should already fill most of the frame.
- The facts: event name, date and time, venue, ticket price and where to buy.
- Any sponsor or venue logos, ideally PNG or SVG with a transparent background.
- Your printer's spec sheet, if you have one. You will need it in stage 10.
Result
An 18 × 24 inch poster saved as a one-page PDF at 300 dpi, plus a smaller JPG of the same design for sharing online. The design stays editable on your device, with a saved version you can go back to.
1. Start at the final size
Pick the size before anything else. Type sizes, margins and how much you can enlarge the photo all depend on it, and changing size later means redoing all of them.
- Open the Editor. On the start screen, under What are you making?, find the Print group.
- Choose Poster 18 × 24 in. The canvas is 5400 × 7200 px, which is 18 × 24 inches at 300 pixels per inch.
2. Set margins before you place anything
Printers trim with a small tolerance, and people read posters from the middle outwards. A clear margin keeps type safe from the knife and gives the design a frame.
- Choose View > Guides > New guide layout….
- Click the Safe margins preset, then change Margin (px) to 300. At 300 dpi that is one inch on every side.
- Click Make guides. Check View > Snap is ticked (Ctrl+Shift+;) so layers settle on the guides as you drag.
3. Place the photo and fill the page
- Choose File > Place image as layer… (Ctrl+Shift+P) and pick your photo.
- Press Ctrl+T for Free transform. Drag a corner until the photo covers the whole page, then press Enter to apply.
- Double-click the layer name in the Layers panel and call it Background photo.
4. Cut the subject out so it can stand in front of the type
Putting the headline behind the subject gives a flat poster depth, and it ties the words to the person. You need two copies of the photo: the full picture at the back, and a cut-out copy on top.
- With Background photo selected, press Ctrl+J to duplicate it. Rename the copy Subject.
- With Subject selected, choose Layer > Remove background, or click Remove background in the Properties panel.
- The first time, you are asked to download the model once. It runs on your device and nothing is uploaded. For anything that is not a person, use Not a person? Use the any-subject model in Properties instead.
- The background is hidden with a mask, not deleted. To tidy an edge, click the mask thumbnail in the Layers panel and paint: Brush shows, Eraser hides.
5. Tone the background down
A busy background fights the headline. Dropping its colour, or pushing it towards one brand colour, separates the subject and gives the type a calm surface to sit on. Adjustment layers do this without touching the photo, and they affect every layer beneath them, so where they sit in the stack matters.
- Select Background photo, then choose Image > Adjustments > Black and white…. For a coloured wash instead, choose Gradient map….
- In the Layers panel, check the adjustment sits directly above Background photo and below Subject. Drag it there if not. The subject now stays in colour.
- To darken the background further, add Image > Adjustments > Curves… in the same place and pick a preset such as Darken in Properties.
6. Set the headline behind the subject
- Press T, click on the canvas and type the event name.
- Set the font in Properties. Set the size in the Character panel (Window menu), where you type a number: on a 5400 px wide page, a headline that spans the width can be larger than the 600 px the Properties size slider reaches.
- In the Layers panel, drag the text layer down so it sits between the adjustment and Subject.
- Move the headline or the subject until the word still reads at a glance. Covering part of a letter or two adds depth; covering whole letters makes people guess.
7. Add the details in a clear order
People read a poster in a fixed order: what it is, when, where, how to get in. Make each step visibly smaller than the one before, and keep one type family so the size changes do the work.
- Add a text layer each for date and time, venue, and tickets. Put them above Subject so nothing covers them.
- Shift-click the detail layers in the Layers panel, then choose Layer > Align > Left edges so they share one edge. With three or more selected, Distribute vertically evens the gaps.
- Add logos with File > Place image as layer…, or from Your logos in the Add menu if they are in your brand kit. Line them up along the bottom margin and align their bottom edges.
8. Proof it at print size
- Choose View > 100% (Ctrl+1) and hold Space to pan. Check the photo's edges and the smallest type at real pixels.
- Hold the backslash key (\) to see the design before adjustments and filters, then let go.
- Choose File > Save a version (Ctrl+Alt+S) so you can come back to this state after late changes.
9. Export the PDF
- Choose File > Export as… (Ctrl+E) and pick PDF.
- Under Size, choose 1× (5400 × 7200). Only 0.5× and 1× are offered here, because larger would pass 8192 px.
- Click Download.
- For social media, export again as JPG at 0.5× (2700 × 3600).
The PDF is one page at 18 × 24 inches with the design placed as a 300 dpi image. The Editor treats any design over 2000 px on its long side as print work. Transparent areas print as white. Every download also saves a version named Exported, so you can always find the file you sent.
10. Talk to the printer about bleed
The Editor's PDF stops exactly at the edge of the design: no bleed and no crop marks. Ask your printer whether they need bleed. If they do, you have two options.
- Add it in the Editor. Choose Image > Canvas size…, tick Relative, add 72 px to both width and height (36 px, about 3 mm at 300 dpi, on each side), keep the centre anchor and click Apply. Canvas size does not scale layers. If the photo does not reach the new edge, stretch Background photo with Ctrl+T, then delete Subject and make it again from the stretched photo (stage 4) so the two stay lined up. Export the PDF again and tell the printer it includes 3 mm bleed with no crop marks.
- Deliver it from Studio. A Studio job adds 3 mm bleed and crop marks automatically. See An A5 flyer with bleed for the printer for that route.
Common problems
- Export failed. Try a smaller size. Very large canvases can exhaust browser memory. Close other heavy tabs and try again at 1×.
- The cut-out has a halo. Click the Subject mask thumbnail and paint along the edge with Eraser at low Hardness to pull the mask in.
- Colours look duller on paper. Exports are RGB. Ask the printer to convert with their profile and send you a proof.
- The headline disappears behind the subject. Move the text layer above Subject in the Layers panel, or move the subject over.