Using GIMP to Add Falling Snow to an Image

Use GIMP to Add Realistic Falling Snow to a Photo by xmath

Building a Spy Movie Banner

In this GIMP project, you will learn the basics of creating a movie banner in a style that might be used for a spy movie. You will use layer blending modes, text layers, and color manipulations, as well as other skills.

Source images you can download or use your own similar images:
Kremlin (Original photo by Yaroslav Ushakov)
Man in Suit  (Original photo by Rubén B. Todos)
Bull’s Eye

• Part 1. The Kremlin

Apply a dark, monochromatic red, slightly blurry effect to the Kremlin image.

Open the Kremlin source image. Convert it to grayscale, Colors -Desaturate..., Choose Shade of gray based on: Luminosity.



Duplicate the layer, Layer - Duplicate Layer. Set the blending Mode of the copy layer to Multiply and slide the opacity down to 70%.



Merge these layers into one, Layer - Merge Down. Name the new layer, Kremlin.

Apply a slight Gaussian blur with a radius of 5 for both Horizontal and Vertical, Filters - Blur - Gaussian Blur... .

Now, for the dark red hue. From the Colors menu, click Colorize... . Set the Hue slider to 360, Saturation 50, Lightness -15.



You can now set this image aside for a bit.

• Part 2. The Man in the Suit

Open the Man in Suit image. With the Crop Tool, remove most of the background area. Now add transparency (an alpha channel) to the image, Layer - Transparency - Add Alpha Channel.

You need to remove the remaining white background. The Select by Color Tool will do the heavy lifting here. Click and drag in the background until all that remains is to clean up the detail around the edges of the man. Toggle on Quick Mask mode, zoom in and, with the Paintbrush Tool, clean up any remaining bits of the background, especially in the hair and inside the man's right elbow. Grow the selection by 1 px, Select - Grow. Then clear the contents of the selection, Edit - Clear. Save the image and close.



You can now reopen the Kremlin background image. Open the Man in Suit image you just worked on as a new layer, File - Open as Layers... . Be sure that in the Layers pallet it is above the Kremlin layer and name it Man.Use the Move Tool to position the Man layer to the left side of the picture and down just a bit.

• Part 3. The Text

Add the movie title and some other bits of text to the banner. Select the Text Tool. For the title choose an appropriate font and size.  I used HeadlineA, 240 pt, Color white. Click in the picture and type the desired text. Position the text in a good place.



Create a selection around the text with the Select by Color Tool. Click anywhere on the white text and it will all be selected. Create a new transparent layer on top of all the others, Stroke. Reset the color swatches to the default. Apply a 4 pixel black stroke to the selection on the Stroke layer Edit - Stroke Selection... . Merge the Stroke layer down onto the text layer.



Similarly add additional text elements to the picture.

• Part 4. The Bull’s Eye

Open the Bull's Eye image as a new layer under the Spy Movie text layer. Set the blending Mode to Lighten Only. Reduce the Opacity to about 85%. Position the bull's eye where you like with the Move Tool.



You've now brought all the components together. Use this lesson as a starting point for your creative expression. Modify and experiment to your heart's delight!

Reflections

In this GIMP tutorial you will learn how to place a reflected scene in the mirrored lenses of a girl's sunglasses. This method can be adapted to inset any picture within another picture.

Some of the things you will do in this lesson:

• Duplicate a layer
• Flip an image
• Use the Fuzzy Select tool
• Add an alpha channel
• Scale a layer
• Use a layer mask

You'll need two source images, one of someone wearing sunglasses (best if the subject is looking directly at the camera) and another of the scene you want to reflect in the lenses. Use images of your own or download the ones I used:

Girl in sunglasses by Tanel Teemusk | London bus by Paulo Oliveira Santos

• Begin by opening and preparing the picture of the bus.

Crop the image to include only the essential parts of the picture which you want to appear in the reflection. The proportions of the cropped image should approximate those of the sunglasses' lenses. I cropped to a fixed aspect ratio of 1:1. Because the picture is going to be a reflection, you will need to flip the image horizontally, Image > Transform > Flip Horizontally.

• Now open and prepare the girl in the sunglasses.

Duplicate the Background layer, Layer > Duplicate Layer. Create a new layer, Black, filled with the foreground color, black, and drag it directly under the Background copy layer.

Working on the Background copy layer, you will now select the lens area of the glasses with the Fuzzy Select Tool in "Add to the current selection" mode.

See this in a video

Use Quick Mask (press Shift+Q to toggle Quick Mask) and a soft brush to clean up the selection if necessary.

Feather the selection by about 10 pixels, Select > Feather… . Add transparency to the layer, Layer > Transparency > Add Alpha Channel. Delete the selection, Edit > Clear. Deselect. The lenses should now appear to be filled with solid black, though what you are actually seeing is the Black layer showing through.

• The next task is to fill each lens with the bus picture.

Select all the bus image, Select > All, and then copy it, Edit > Copy. Make the picture of the girl active and paste the copied bus picture as a new layer, Edit > Paste as > New Layer. It will appear as a new layer in the Layers pallet, name it Bus right.

Scale the picture of the bus, Layer > Scale Layer…, to be a little larger than one lens of the sunglasses. In my example, I scaled to 165x165 pixels. With the Move Tool position the bus over the right lens. Now, in the Layers pallet, drag the Bus right layer under the Background copy layer. Adjust the position of the Bus right layer to fill the right lens of the glasses.

Duplicate the Bus right layer, Layer > Duplicate Layer, name it Bus left. Position this layer under the Background copy layer so it fills the left lens of the glasses.

• Now to add a bit of shadow at the bottoms of the lenses.

Select the Bus left layer and add a layer mask to it, Layer > Mask > Add Layer Mask…, initialized to White.

Choose the Blend Tool with a black-to-white gradient selected in the Tool options pallet. Drag a gradient up from the bottom of the Bus left layer to about 1/5 of the lens to add a bit of dark shading to the lower part of the lens. Repeat this for the right lens of the sunglasses.

That's it! You might extend the project by brightening the tops of the lenses in a manner similar to that used to darken the bottoms.

Stick It To Me: Create an adhesive bandage from scratch

In this three-part tutorial you'll learn how to use GIMP to create a realistic looking adhesive bandage.

Some of the things you will do in this exercise:

• Change layer mode
• Merge layers
• Open an image as a new layer
• Crop a layer to a selection
• Apply layer effects*

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PART 1Create the main body of the bandage.

Before beginning, in the Preferences panel (Edit > Preferences), set the default grid spacing to 20 pixels.

Create a new file, File > New... 800x400, and display the grid, View > Show Grid.

From the left ruler, drag out vertical guides to 60 and 740 pixels. From the top, drag down horizontal guides to 240 and 100 pixels.

Rectangle Select Tool select a rectangle about 680 x 140 pixels bounded by the guides. With the Ellipse Select Tool in "Add to the current selection mode" add curves to the ends of the rectangular selection.

See a video showing how to do this

 

Add a new transparent layer, Main. Set the FG color to something like a flesh tone, I used f4cc85, and fill the selection on the Main layer using the Bucket Fill Tool.

Add a new transparent layer, Main Shadow, reset the default colors, and fill the selection on this layer with black. Remove the selection. Blur this layer, Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur…‚ with a Blur Radius of 20. In the Layers pallet drag the Main Shadow layer under the Main layer. With the Move Tool, reposition this layer down and to the right for a shadow effect. Turn the opacity down to about 50.

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PART 2Make the pad portion of the bandage.

Using the Move Tool, drag the vertical guides to 280 and 520 pixels. Drag the horizontal guides to 110 and 230 pixels.

Choose the Rectangle Select Tool and in the tool settings check Rounded corners with a radius of 10. Now using the guides make the selection for the pad.

Make a new layer, Pad, on top of all the other layers. Choose a slightly lighter flesh tone to fill the selection on the Pad layer. I used f5d39b.

Next, give the pad area a raised effect using Script-Fu > Layer Effects > Bevel and Emboss…‚ set the Shadow Color to a darker flesh tone, my choice was c2a77b, and keep the other default settings.

Remove the selection. Merge the Pad-highlight and Pad-shadow layers and apply a Gaussian Blur with radius 5.

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PART 3Apply the perforations.

You will need to download this image of dots on a transparent background or find one of your own.

Move your vertical guides to 60 and 260 and use them to make a rectangular selection on the left end of the bandage.

Open the downloaded file wpolka-dots.png as a new layer, File > Open as Layers… . Position the dots layer to fill the rectangular selection. Then crop the layer to the selection, Layer > Crop to Selection. (NOTE: Moving the dots layers can be a little tricky as you have to precisely grab one of the dots in the image.)

Duplicate this layer and drag the copy to the right end of the bandage. Next, select a rectangle that covers the pad area and again open the wpolka-dots.png as a new layer, position it, and crop it to the selection as done earlier.

Remove all selections and  drag off all the guides. Merge all the polka dot layers into a single layer.

Be sure that's the active layer. Change the Layer Mode to Grain Extract.

And you should be right here ...

*If you do not have the Layer Effects plug-in installed, go here.

How many times you'll ever need to create an adhesive bandage from scratch, I can't guess. However, I hope is that you learned a few new skills and how to apply them in other image work.

Create a Watermark and Place it in a Photo

In this two-part exercise, you will learn how to make a simple watermark image and place it in a photo.

Among the skills used in this lesson:

• Setting and switching the default colors
  
• Using Guides
  
• Using the Text tool
  
• Merging layers
  
• Using the Select by Color tool
  
• Resizing a selection

I. Creating a watermark image

Set the color swatches to the default colors (Click on the small black and white icon next to the swatches.). Create a new image, 600 x 600 pixels. In Advanced Options choose Fill with: Foreground color.

You should now have a black square. Drag guides out from the rulers to both the horizontal and vertical centers.

Select the Text tool (Settings: Sans Bold, 48 pt, white).

Click in the image and type the text for your watermark in the pop-up text box, click Close. With the Move tool, center the text layer.

Right-click the text layer in the Layers pallet and choose Layer to Image Size.

Set guides at 75 pixels from the left and right edges, 150 pixels from the top and bottom.

With the Ellipse Select tool select an oval inside the rectangle (Tip: Use a corner of the box as the starting point.).

Add a new layer, Oval. Switch the foreground and background colors by clicking the two-headed arrow next to the swatches (foreground color is white). Fill the selection with white using the Bucket Fill tool.

Shrink the selection by 10-15 pixels, Select > Shrink… Then delete the selected area, use the Delete key or Edit > Clear and deselect, Select > None, or Ctrl+Shft+A.

Merge the Oval layer down onto the Text layer. Right-click the Oval layer, choose Merge Down. You can drag off the guides now with the Move tool.

With the Select by Color tool, click anywhere in the black color.

In the Layers pallet, select and delete the original layer, Background, with the Trash Can icon. Deselect and you now have a white watermark image on a transparent background.

Save the image as a PNG file to retain the transparent background, File - Save as....

II. Watermarking an image

Open the image you want to watermark. Open the watermark image you created as a new layer, File > Open as Layers....

Adjust the opacity of the watermark layer to about 30-40%.

You may want to reposition or resize the watermark layer to suit your needs. Merge the watermark layer down into the Background layer and you have successfully placed a watermark in your photo.