Southern Exposure

In this short lesson you will learn a quick, easy procedure to use when you need to recover a badly underexposed photograph. A photograph is described as underexposed when there is not enough light in the photo, so it has a loss of shadow detail. This GIMP tutorial is based on a method described by Dave Johnson in PCWorld.

Open the image you want to make a bit more presentable.

Duplicate the background layer (right-click on the layer and select Duplicate Layer or select Duplicate Layer from the Layer menu) so that there are two identical layers in the Layers pallet.

Be certain the duplicate layer, [image name] copy, is the active layer. From the Colors menu select Hue-Saturation... . Slide the Saturation control left to reduce the saturation to -50.

Again from the Colors menu, choose Invert.

 

The top layer should now look more or less like the negative of a black-and-white photo.

In the Layers pallet, change the Mode of the duplicate layer to Overlay.

You should now have a somewhat better looking photo than you started with.

I'm going to flatten the image merging the two layers (Image > Flatten Image), and repeat the entire process once more (saturation reduced to -30 this time) to further enhance the image.

Although this isn't a great fix, it will make an underexposed photo much better for casual use, say for Twitter or Facebook, with very little time and effort.

Just Brushing Up

Did you know you can import Adobe® Photoshop® brushes into GIMP 2.4 or higher?

Simply download a brush package from any of numerous websites (myPhotoshopBrushes.com, QBrushes, BrushKing, etc) then unzip it if necessary, to get the .abr file.

Next you need to find the folder on your hard drive where GIMP stores its brushes. Open the GIMPPreferences pane, Edit > Preferences. Then expand the Folders tab, click on Brushes, and you will see the path to the brushes folder.

Next navigate to the brushes folder and drag or copy the .abr file into the brushes folder. When next you launch GIMP the new brushes should appear in the brush pallet.

It's as simple as that, but you must be using GIMP 2.4+.

GIMPing Along is now available as a book!

GIMPing Along Vol 1 includes more than 25 GIMP tutorials, how-tos, and tips from my blog.

You can view (including mobile devices), download, and print GIMPing Along Vol 1 here for free on Scribd.

This book represents very much effort and time on my part. If after viewing, you feel that a donation would be appropriate, it would be greatly appreciated. Pay what you think it's worth to you and what you can afford. Click on the PayPal button on the GIMPing Along home page.

If you feel the book is of no value to you, or you simply can't afford anything, well, that's OK, too.

By the way, I used BlogBooker, a free service, to convert my blog into a PDF book.

 

Filling Text With An Image

Filling Text With An Image

In this lesson you will learn how to use GIMP to fill text with an image as in this example ...

Among the skills used in this lesson are ...

• Creating a new image
• Creating and modifying a text layer
• Selecting by Color
• Using the Paste Into command
• Adding a drop shadow to a selection
• Anchoring a layer
• Flattening an image

Though there are a number of ways to accomplish this effect, this method is quick, simple, and flexible.

Step 1 - Create a new image
File > New Use the setting Width 420, Height 300, Fill with : Foreground Color

Step 2 - Create a text layer
Select the Text tool Using a bold, heavy font produces better results. I used Impact Condensed, Size: 85, Color: White, Justify: Centered

Step 3 - Select the text
Choose the Select by Color tool Click anywhere inside the white text and all of the white text is selected.

Step 4 - Delete the text layer
Using the Layers dialog Select the text layer and delete it. The white text will be gone but your selection will remain.

Step 5 - Open the fill image
Open the image you want to fill the text with. I found an image of fireworks to use as my fill. This image should be about the same size as your new image or a bit larger. It may be necessary to scale this image.

Step 6 - Copy the fill image
From the fill image's menu, Edit > Copy

Step 7 - Paste the fill image into the selection
From the new image's menu, Edit > Paste Into This fills the selection with the fireworks image as though the text has been cut out and and the fireworks image is behind it.

Step 8 - Adjust the position of the fill image
You may use the Move tool to slide the pasted layer around to get the best effect.

Step 9 - Add a drop shadow
Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow ... Adding a bit of a drop shadow will enhance the effect.

Step 10 - Drop Shadow dialog settings
I used Offset X: 2, Offset Y: 2, Blur radius: 8, Color: Red, Opacity: 80 (Offset X controls the horizontal position of the shadow. Offset Y controls the vertical position.)

Step 11 - Anchor the Pasted Layer
Layer > Anchor Layer Cements the pasted layer to the background. After this step you will no longer be able to edit this layer.

Step 12 - Flatten the image, deselect, and save
Image > Flatten Image This will reduce the image to a single layer so you can save it as a jpg file.
Select > None This will remove the selection

The finished product ...

This is a basic example. You may play around with the settings and the way you have the layers stacked, and so on. I went one step further and used Filters > Light and Shadow > Sparkle ... with the default settings to get a little glitter thing.

You can use this method to fill shapes other than text, too. In this example, I filled stars with an American flag. I created the stars with a third-party brush, otherwise the procedure is identical.

I hope you found this lesson useful and that you will share it with others.

Put on a Happy Sky

In this lesson you will have the opportunity to learn a procedure to replace an overexposed sky in a photo with a more attractive sky from another image.
Before -

After -

Included in this lesson -

• Decompose HSV filter
• Threshold tool
• Quick mask
• Adjusting a selection
  
• Moving layers

Open the photo with the unattractive sky (foreground image) and the image with the good sky you want to use. It's much easier if these images are the same size, so you may want to scale one or both images before proceeding. For the time being, you may want to minimize the "sky" image to reduce clutter.

Step 1 - Decompose the background image to HSV

Filters - Colors - Decompose ...

Select HSV in the dialog. This will create a new image with the same name as your original foreground image but which has HSV appended.
Be sure the Value layer is active (white border) in the layers dialog

Step 2 - Apply the Threshold tool to the Value layer

Tools - Color Tools - Threshold ... OR Layer - Colors - Threshold ...

Push the middle slider to the right until the sky is white and the foreground is black. Use one of the Paint tools (pencil, brush) to make any adjustments needed.

Step 3 - Apply Quick Mask to the foreground image
Select your original foreground image and toggle the Quick Mask ON by clicking in the bottom left corner of the image window (Shift+Q OR Select - Toggle Quick Mask).
The entire image should now be covered by a translucent red layer.

Step 4 - Copy the Decomposed image and paste it onto the Quick Mask in the foreground image
Select the Decomposed HSV image and copy it.

Edit - Copy (Ctrl+C)

Switch to the foreground image.

Edit - Paste (Ctrl+V)

Step 5 - Define the selection
Toggle Quick Mask OFF by clicking in the bottom left corner of the image window (Shift+Q OR Select - Toggle Quick Mask).
The red layer should be gone and the "marching ants" selection border should appear.

Right now the sky is selected, but you want the foreground to be selected.

Select - Invert (Ctrl+I)
Select - Shrink ... [setting: 1 pixel]
Select - Feather ... (Ctrl+Alt+F) [setting: 2 pixels]

Step 6 - Place the foreground on a new layer of its own

Edit - Copy (Ctrl+C)
Edit - Paste (Ctrl+V)

You should see a floating selection at the top of the layers dialog.


Put this on a new layer of its own.

Layer - New Layer ... (or click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the layers dialog)

Name this layer "foreground".

Step 7 - Copy the new sky from the other image to the foreground image
Activate the image containing the sky you wish to use and copy it.

Edit - Copy (Ctrl+C)

Activate the foreground image

Edit - Paste (Ctrl+V)

Layer - New Layer ... (or click the New Layer icon at the bottom of the layers dialog)

You now have the sky image on its own layer. Name this layer "sky".

Step 8 - Reposition the sky layer
Move the "sky" layer below the "foreground" layer in the stack by either dragging it or using the down button at the bottom of the layers dialog.

Step 9 - Finish up
If you want to save your image in JPG or PNG format you'll need to flatten it to a single layer first.

Image - Flatten Image

Understand, this is NOT the ONLY way to do this. It works well for me and gives you an opportunity to use some functions of the GIMP which may be less familiar to you. The techniques used can be applied in other tasks as well. I hope you find this useful and instructive. Comments and/or donations appreciated.

How to delete saved settings from Levels, etc.

This information applies to Mac OS X, GIMP 2.2

Sometimes while working on a project you may want to save the settings you used in a Levels or other dialog to use on other images in the project. When that project ends, you will probably want to delete those saved settings.

I found myself in this situation recently, but I was unable to find any documentation explaining how to delete these saved Levels settings. I was eventually able to determine these settings were stored in a folder in /home/.gimp-2.2. I then learned that since this folder name begins with a dot, it is hidden by OS X.

Next, I had to figure out how to access this hidden folder. I found the following scripts which run from the Terminal. Type this in the Terminal to show all hidden folders and files,

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

killall Finder

Then, open Finder from the Dock and navigate to the .gimp-2.2 folder. Open it and delete the saved profiles.

You'll likely want to restore file/folder hiding. Run the following,

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder

A note of warning, be careful when modifying hidden things. Backup first.

Hopefully, future versions of GIMP will have a simpler way to delete these no longer needed files.

Crop Tool Quick Tip

I had never understood how to use the Fixed aspect ratio option of the Crop tool correctly to retain the image's proportions. I learned this procedure from Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional, Akkana Peck, Apress, 2006.

1. Select the Crop tool and click in the image to open the Crop dialog.
2. Click on From selection to set the crop rectangle to the entire image.
3. Next check Fixed aspect ratio. Now you can drag on one of the resize handles (upper-left or lower-right) to change the size of the crop rectangle while the proportions remain the same.
4. Then you can use one of the move handles to position the crop rectangle as desired.
   

Blending Two Images with GIMP

Included in this tutorial -

• Resizing a Canvas
• Creating a new transparent layer
• Anchor a floating layer
• Using a layer mask
• Using the gradient tool
• Flattening an image

• Open both pictures you intend to blend

Activate the one you intend to use as the base image

Increase the canvas size of this image to accommodate pasting the overlapping image

• Image - Canvas Size

• Break the Width/Height link by clicking on the chain icon

• If the two images are the same size you need to nearly double the width

Create a new transparent layer

Layer - New Layer ... (or click the new layer icon in the layers dialog)

• Name the new layer 'Overlay layer'

• Select Transparency as Layer Fill Type

Activate the second image which will be the overlay layer and copy it

• Edit - Copy (or Ctrl+C)

Activate the base image and paste the copy of the second image onto it

• Edit - Paste (or Ctrl+V)

Anchor the floating pasted layer to the transparent Overlay layer

• Layer - Anchor Layer (or Ctrl+H, or click the anchor icon in the layers dialog)

Use the Move tool to position the Overlay layer so that it overlaps the base layer as much as you like

• Note that it's helpful to slide the Overlay layer down a little so you can see how much overlap you've got

Add a layer mask to the Overlay layer

• In the layer dialog, right-click the Overlay layer

• Add Layer Mask ...

• Select White (full opacity)

Paint a black-to-white gradient on the layer mask

Select the Gradient tool with the options shown

• Draw a straight line (use Ctrl to constrain your line if necessary) from the left edge of the Overlap layer to the right edge of the base image

• The two images should now be blended together as shown

Even up the tops of the two images

• In the layers dialog activate the overlay image by clicking on it (look for the white border)

• Use the Move tool to drag it up so the tops of the two images are aligned

Finishing up

Flatten the blended image into a single layer

• Image - Flatten Image

• Use the Crop tool to remove the unwanted portions of the image

This tutorial was adapted from a Photoshop® tutorial. There may be different and/or better ways to do some of these things. Some of the methods I used were developed from trial-and-error. I try, too, to include some less frequently used techniques if I can. I hope you find this tutorial useful and instructive. - tab