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.

Make GIMP the Default External Editor in iPhoto

 

Apple's iPhoto has some really good editing tools, but sometimes you need the far more powerful tools available in GIMP. You can easily make GIMP the default editor for iPhoto images.

Open the iPhoto Preferences window and you'll see an option "Edit photo:".

The current selection is probably "In main window".

Click the arrow button and choose "In application…".

Choose GIMP in the Open dialog.

Now GIMP is the default editor for your iPhoto images. When you select a photo and click the Edit icon in the iPhoto tool bar, the image will be opened in GIMP.

If, like me, you don't want to launch GIMP for minor editing and adjustments, you can reset iPhoto to default to its internal editor when you click the Edit icon. Simply go back to the Preferences window and reset the "Edit photo:" option to "In main window".

However, if you Cmd-click or right-click on the photo to display its contextual menu, choosing "Edit in external editor" will still open the image in GIMP, giving you the best of both worlds!

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

 

Quick and Easy Zoom Effect

In this tutorial you’ll create the effect of having zoomed in on a portion of a screenshot to emphasize something in that area.

This lesson was inspired by Jessica Cam Wong's very good tutorial on this effect. In this exercise your product may be be less elegant, but you'll achieve what I believe is a satisfactory and pleasing result a bit more easily and quickly.

A portion of this procedure includes using the GIMP Layer Effects plugin. If you don't have the Layer Effects plugin installed, you can get it here at the GIMP Plugin Registry.

Some of the skills you will use in this exercise:

• Create a new layer from a pasted selection
• Expand a new layer to the size of the image
• Resize (scale) a layer
• Create a selection using Alpha to Selection
• Grow a selection
• Apply the Drop Shadow filter
• Hide, merge, and reveal layers

You will, of course, need a screenshot on which to work. You can capture a screenshot in GIMP using File > Create > Screenshot… . Capture an approximately 700-800 pixel square screenshot using whatever method you prefer.

Begin by using the Ellipse Select tool to define the "zoomed in" area.

Then copy and immediately paste this selection (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V). It looks as though nothing has happened, but in the Layers pallet you should notice a "Floating Selection".

Create a new layer (Layer > New Layer…) which will turn this floating selection into a new layer, name it Zoom. Expand this layer to the full image size, Layer > Layer to Image Size.

In the Layers pallet, select the Background layer. Scale this layer down to the desired size, Layer > Scale Layer… . I made the Background layer 400 pixels wide.

Position the Zoom layer over the Background layer as desired.

Right-click the Zoom layer in the Layer pallet and select Alpha to Selection. This creates a selection from the zoomed in area.

Grow the selection by 2 pixels, Select > Grow… .

Create a new layer, Border, and use the Bucket Fill tool to fill the selection on the Border layer with black, the foreground color.

In the Layers pallet drag the Border layer below the Zoom layer.

Apply the Inner Shadow script from the Layer Effects plugin, Script-Fu > Layer Effects > Inner Shadow… with the default settings. You can skip this step and still get a fairly nice effect if you don't want to install the plugin.

Remove the current selection, Ctrl+Shft+A. Now apply a Drop Shadow to the Zoom layer, Filters > Light and Shadow > Drop Shadow… . Use the default settings.

The next step is to merge the Drop Shadow, Border, and Zoom layers. In the Layers pallet, click the eye icon for the Background layer to hide it temporarily. Right-click any of the visible layers and select Merge Visible Layers…, then click the Merge button.

Make the Background layer visible again (click where the eye should be) and select that layer.

From here, I'm going to present two different ways to finish this effect.

Background Blur
Blur the Background layer just a bit, Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur… , set the Blur Radius at 2 for both Horizontal and Vertical.

Background Dim
Create a new layer, named Dim, in the Foreground Color (black). Set the Dim layer's opacity to about 25%.

Finally, crop out the transparent region around the perimeter, flatten the image, and save it as a JPG or PNG for web use.

Experiment with different settings, filters, and colors to get an effect you like. As always, I’ve tried to use one or two less familiar tools or techniques. Hope you learned something and are inspired to try something new.