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A Beginners Guide to Photo Processing
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2010 by Lifeblob LLC

Lifeblob is a Bangalore based startup focused on creating a

social media community for hobbyist and amateur

photographers.

Images courtesy David T

GIMP, GNU Image Manipulation Program and the Wilber logo

Copyright holder is licensing this under the

Creative Commons License, Attribution 3

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Please feel free to post this on your blog or email itto whomever you believe would benefit from

reading it. Thank you

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Contents

Introduction to GIMP

Making sense of Layers

Quick and easy Color Corrections

Add filters and photographic borders

Crop photos

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Introduction

Many digital cameras come with a utility to download photos from your camera to your

computer. Oftentimes, the photo editing software that came bundled with your camera

either falls short of being effective for post-production work flow, or you were given a trial

version of a fairly expensive software application. As an alternative, many people buy an off

the shelf photo package that may cost nearly as much as the camera itself. There is a

solution that will cost you absolutely nothing except a little bit of time with a software

application called GNU Image Manipulation Program, known more affectionately as GIMP.

You may be wondering how good could a free software package be. After all, if it were that

good, why wouldnt they charge for it? That is an excellent question and I am very glad you

asked. GIMP was originally packaged for the Unix open source environment, which means a

global effort was made by very talented programmers to build and package the application.

This was a truly altruistic effort and the package was never intended to be placed on the

commercial market.

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If you have used Photoshop in the past, then you will immediately notice how familiar

GIMP feels. The toolbox, layers, and channels are relatively in the same locations as you

are used to. A quick tour of the menu functions and you will find everything where it

belongs and very similar language. It is almost like traveling between America, the UK, and

Australia; they all speak the same language, but it takes a little bit to get used to.

The GIMP package not only feels like Photoshop, it also behaves much the same. GIMP

will suit most of your post-production editing requirements. Are you sold on GIMP yet? I

hope so, because you have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain by using this

application.

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Making sense of Layers

Imagine yourself as a scientist working on a cloning experiment. As part of your

experiment, you have a volunteer who has agreed to be cloned, but he has set a few

preconditions you are obligated to follow: You may not alter the original subject, you must

improve on the original subject, and all traces of replicated clones must be eliminated at

the end of the experiment with the exception of the improved model. Essentially, that is

what we are doing when we work with layers. By working in layers, we are able tom make

improvements to a photograph without changing the original. Let's get started.

When you load an image in GIMP, you are presented with three windows by default; the

toolbox, the layers window, and the work space. When you load an image into GIMP you

already have a layer selected. We call this the background layer. This is our original

volunteer and we have agreed not to harm him, remember? So let's make our first clone by

selecting LAYER from the menu bar, then DUPLICATE LAYER. You will see the new layer in

the layers window on your screen, which is namedBackground copyby default.

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The Layers window is divided into several regions. The upper region contains options to

control the mode and opacity. The Mode drop down box allows you to alter the character

of the layer. Most often, you will use apply the normalmode when performing basic

adjustments. The opacity slider allows you to adjust the percentage of transparency the

current layer has over a lower layer.

The layers portion of the window allows you to select and manipulate each layer

individually. You can rename each layer individually by double-clicking on the name label

and giving the layer an appropriate name, such as mask,orlevelsto reflect the action

you performed on that layer. Notice that each layer has an eye next to the layer icon. By

clicking on the eye, you are able to hide the changes made within the respective layer. This

is helpful when comparing effects between changes. The lower portion of the layers

window create new layers, change hierarchy, duplicate, or delete the layers.

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Quick and Easy Color Corrections

Quite often you will take a great shot, but the colors may appear faded or a bit too much

contrast. The problem with many of the commercial photo editing packages is that it

applies universal correction to the entire photograph. Sometimes this works well, but other

times you are left with less desirable effects after applying the correction. GIMP is very well

suited to manage this problem by using layers to apply color correction. In this tutorial we

are going to make some simple color corrections by using layers, making a selection,

adjusting colors using curves, flattening the layers, and saving a final product. Does this

sound complicated? It is actually much easier than it sounds.

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Start the GIMP application and select a photograph that you would like to make color

corrections. I am going to use a portrait taken outdoors for the purpose of this

demonstration, so it may be beneficial to find a similar photograph to work with.

We dont want to work with the original version of the photograph, so we are going to

duplicate the layer by selecting LAYER from the menu bar, then DUPLICATE LAYER.

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Select the lasso tool from the toolbox; it is the icon toward the top that looks like a rope.

We are going to create an exclusion area around my subjects face since I dont want to

alter his complexion; I only want to adjust the dark colors. With the lasso tool selected,

drag the mouse around the desired area you want to exclude from the adjustment. Try to

get as close to the edges as possible. You will need to end at the starting point in order to

complete a full path. You will know you have it right when you have a dancing ants

selection around the desired area.

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If we were to make any adjustments now, the only area that would be altered would be the

selected area we drew. Since we want to make adjustments to everything exceptour

selection, we must invert our selection. We do this by selecting SELECT from the menu bar,

then INVERT.. Now we can make changes and the subjects face wont be altered.

Open the curves tool by selecting COLORS from the menu bar, then CURVES. Now, select

tow or three points on the graph and move the points up and down until you are satisfied

with the results. Select OK when you are happy with your corrections.

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We can now deselect our previous selection by choosing SELECT from the menu bar, then

NONE. Now we canflattenour layers so we can save our final product (you cannot save a

layered image to a transportable file, such as .JPG when there are active layers). Select

IMAGE from the menu, then FLATTEN IMAGE.

We can now save the file by selecting FILE, then SAVE AS (you may want to save the

image to a new file rather than saving over the original file). You will be given an option to

select the quality of the file you want to save. Naturally, the higher quality will be a larger

file. Make your choice, then select SAVE.

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Add Filters and Photographic Borders

For this exercise, I am going to use a photograph of a llama I took at Lion Country Safari,

located in West Palm Beach, Florida. You first want to duplicate your original photograph in

a newlayer.as explained in an earlier tutorial.

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Next, we will add a border to our photograph. With the old photograph window active,

select FILTER, then DECOR and ADD BORDER. Choose the size of the x (width) and y

(length) of your border; I went with 50 pixels for my border. You may also change the

color of your border by clicking in the color box. This will open the color picker dialogue

window. Select your color of choice the click the OK button on the color dialogue window

and the border dialogue window. We are almost finished!

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Lets put some finishing touches on our photo by creating a 3-d effect. With our border

window active, click on SELECT from the menu bar, then ALL. Next, click on SELECT again,

then BORDER. I will use 25 pixels in my photograph. Select the paint bucket from the

toolbox, making sure you have a desired color (I am going with black). Click within the

border area indicated by marching antson both, the left and right sides. This will create

the 3-d effect we want.

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Crop Photos

Quite often you will take a great shot, but there may be unwanted elements in the

photograph, or you want to focus on a smaller area. GIMP is very well suited to edit your

photos. In this tutorial we are going to make some simple crops by using layers. It is quite

easy and you will find your photographs will show a marked improvement.

For the purpose of this demo, I am going to use a photograph I took in the Blue Ridge

Mountains of Virginia. As mentioned in the previous lesson; open the file in GIMP and make

a Duplicate layer (Shift+Ctrl+D)

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Select the Rectangle Selection tool from the toolbox. With the tool selected, drag the

mouse around the desired area you want to retain. Try to get as close to the edges as

possible. You will need to end at the starting point in order to complete a full path. You will

know you have it right when you have adancing antsselection around the desired area.

In this case, I want to simulate a panoramic shot by eliminating much of the vertical area. I

have no desire to retain the trees in the foreground and I feel the shot will be more

dramatic with a wide view. From the menu bar, select IMAGE and CROP TO SELECTION.

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Now that the image has been cropped, lets add a quick border to our photograph. To do

this, first add a new layer from the menu bar. This is done through the same manner as

duplicating a layer above, but select NEW LAYER instead of DUPLICATE LAYER. Next,

choose SELECT from the menu bar, then BORDER. Lets give out photo a 15 pixel border.

Select FEATHER BORDER box and de-select the LOCK SELECTION TO IMAGE EDGES box

and click OK.

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Now, select the paint bucket from the toolbox and fill the gap between the selection area.

Now we can flatten our layers so we can save our final product (you cannot save a

layered image to a transportable file, such as .JPG when there are active layers). Select

IMAGE from the menu, then FLATTEN IMAGE.

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Conclusion

This tutorial gives you an insight into how GIMP can be used for simple tasks. But make no

mistake. GIMP is a powerhouse and allows one to perform complex image manipulation

operations with ease. There is also a large community of GIMP users and several tutorial

and discussion sites.

Some of them are given below:

Official GIMP website

Gimper.net, a large community forum

gimpusers.com, a GIMP community site

gimptalk.com, a large community of GIMP users

GIMP Forums

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About Lifeblob

Lifeblob is a social photosharing service that helps you connect with your friends

and family through photos. For every photo you upload, lifeblob discovers photos

that are related to it in some manner and shows it next to your photo.

Lifeblob currently hosts over 4 million photos and has a thriving community where

amateur photographers improve their skills by interacting with experts.

Check out http://www.lifeblob.com

Become a fan here: http://www.facebook.com/lifeblob

Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/lifeblob

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