SECOND TUTORIAL WITH GIMP2

2008-03-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial I will be using a different method with GIMP2 to 'blend' these three pictures into one pic.

I will use pic C as my background pic.

I will increase the view of pic C to make it easier to edit. Click View, select Zoom, and then select Zoom in.

This is the larger view. Now we can begin.

I will now 'blend' pic B with the background pic.

In order to 'blend' the pics I will be using the Select Tools.

Use the Rectangle Select Tool for pic B. After you click the Rectangle Select tool button you will see another menu at the bottom. Use the Feather Edges and Radius in this menu box.

After you check the box next to Feather Edges you can adjust the Radius. The higher the Radius the area of the feather edges will increase. Play with this until you find the different sizes that you like best. I chose a Radius of 75 for this pic.

Now drag your mouse and select the area you want to copy. You can play with this also. If I want part of her body and arms feathered, then I would start the selection closer to her body.

Once you select the area you want, Click Edit and select Copy.

Now go to pic C and Click Edit and select Paste.

This is how pic B looks with the edges faded out. Move the pic and place it where you like on your background pic.

I moved the pic to the far left of my background pic. Through the feathered parts you can see parts of the background pic.

We'll 'blend' pic B now.

Follow the same steps as before with this exception. For this pic we'll be using the Ellipse Select Tool. I changed the Radius to 65.

When I paste it on my background pic it looks like this. It has more of an oval shape and you can still see the background pic through the feathered edges.

You can open another copy of pic C (D) and combine both pics using the Merge method I explained in my First Tutorial.

On pic D click: Filter, Combine, and Depth Merge.

The final pic will have a more translucent or ghostlike effect.

I highly recommend for you to play with the Feather Edge Select option. You will find which Radius and which area you select to copy will be the most effective for you.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

FIRST TUTORIAL WITH GIMP2

2008-02-04T15:53:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial I will be covering the following:
Cut and Paste
Black & White with a touch of color method
Merging pics
Page curl effect
Fussy border effect
Flatten Image

INTRO: The purpose of this tutorial is to show you how I did the above pic using the top 2 pics. I used GIMP2, it is a free program which you can find on the Internet. Go to Wikipedia.org type in GIMP and it will take you to the page where you will find the link to download it. It will be at the bottom of that page under 'External Links', it will say "Official GIMP Web site".

START: When you click on GIMP2 this box will appear. Click on File to get the drop down menu.

This is the drop down menu. Click on New to open your pic.

Click on each tab to find your pic. Double click to select.

Your pic will appear in a new window. You can maximize it to make it easier to work with.

When you maximize it you will need to click the GIMP tab at the bottom of your screen to be able to see the GIMP box.

CUT: Choose the select button and drag it over the area you want to keep.

After you select the area you want, click Image and click Crop to Selection

PASTE: After the pic is cropped I want to paste it on another pic.

I open a pic with a black background. This is were I'm going to paste my other pic.

SIZE IMAGE: I want to change the size of the background pic before I paste my pic on it. I want my final pic to be 800x600. Click Image and then click Scale Image.

Enter 600 for Height and click Scale. The width will automatically adjust to 800 after you click Scale.

Now that the background is the size I want. I go to my pic: Click Select, Click Edit, and choose Copy.

Go to the background pic: Click Edit and choose Paste.

After you paste the pic you can move it to any location you want on the background pic. I now want to remove the green plants showing on my pic, and I want to add more of the curtain city area to the black background.

I open my original pic and using the select button we used before, I drag it over the area I want to copy. Then I paste it on my new pic. I keep pasting until I get the effect that I want.

SAVE A PIC: Now that I finished pasting I can save my pic.

To save: Click Edit then Click Save As

The Save Image window pops up. Here you will enter the name of your pic. Click on the tabs to choose where do you want to save it. Select the file type, i.e. JPEG, PGM, etc. Then Click Save.

I chose JPEG and now the Save as JPEG window pops up. Here you choose the Quality you want your pic to be saved at. I choose 90 for my pics. Click Save

After you save your pic you can minimize it or close it. Now I open the 2nd pic I want to work on. I NEED TO SAVE 2 COPIES OF THIS PIC.

BLACK & WHITE EFFECT: I open the First Copy of my pic. This is the copy I want to change into Black and White. To change it do this: Click Colors then Click Desaturate

Another window pops up. On this window you can choose the shade of gray you want. Play with the various options until you are happy with the results. Then Click Desaturate

SPOT OF COLOR ON B&W: Credit for this part goes to my friend Leah from SimTales, who showed me how to do this effect.

Now I'm going to work on the Second Copy of my pic. This is the pic we are going to use to show the 'spot' of color on the B&W pic. It will be easier to do this if you increase the view of this pic. Click View, Click Zoom, Click Zoom In

ERASE: Now select the eraser on the GIMP box, choose the size of the eraser, and erase everything but the red rose.

Increase the View again as you get closer to the rose.

After you erased everything but the rose, your pic should look like this. Save this pic.

MERGING PICS: Now that both pics are ready we are going to Merge them. IMPORTANT: Both pics have to be the SAME SIZE or they will NOT merge!

You can do this step on either pic, I chose to do it on the B&W pic. To merge the pics: Click on Filters, Click Combine, Click Depth Merge

The Depth Merge window pops up.

Click drop down arrow on Source 1 and choose the red rose pic.

Now click the drop down arrow on Depth Map and select the red rose pic.

Slide the Overlap, Offset, Scale 1, and Scale 2 buttons until you are satisfied with the way it looks. Click OK when done.

After you click OK your pic will look like this. If you want to adjust the color of the rose do this: Click Colors, Click Hue-Saturation

Increase the Saturation level to make the color of the rose stand out more. Click OK when done.

PAGECURL EFFECT: Now both pics are ready for the next step. We are going to use the Pagecurl effect on the B&W pic, which we will now call Pic B.

Select Filters on Pic B. Click Distorts then Click Pagecurl

The Pagecurl Effect window pops up. Choose Upper Right for Curl Location. Choose Vertical for Curl Orientation. Make sure the Shade under curl is checked. Click OK when done.

Your pic should look like this now. We are ready to merge the pics. Click Filters and Depth Merge on this pic.

Sometimes this Error box pops up. I'm sorry I don't know why it does. I just close the box and go on.

To get the above result enter the following on all fields: Source 1: Pic A, Depth Map: Pagecurl layer. Source 2: Pic B, Depth map: Pic B. Overlap: 0.452; Offset: 1.000; Scale1: -1.000; Scale2: 0.0635. Click OK when done.

FUZZY BORDER EFFECT: Now that your pic looks like this we are ready to add the Fuzzy border.

Click Filters, Click Decor, Click Fussy Border

Another window pops up. On this window you can select the color, the size of the border, and you can add a shadow to your border. I chose white, size 15, and no shadow. Make sure all these are checked: Blur border, Work on copy, and Flatten image. Click OK when done.

FLATTEN IMAGE: Now we are going to save the pic. Before we do that we are going to flatten the image.

When we added the Pagecurl and the Fuzzy border to the pic it created new layers. We need to 'merge' these layers. To do that Click on Image then Click Flatten Image.

Now we can save the pic! Click File, Click Save As, and fallow the steps I gave you before about saving pics.

CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE DONE!
I hope you found this tutorial helpful!

Z-TUTORIALS

SECOND TUTORIAL WITH GIMP2

FIRST TUTORIAL WITH GIMP2