Old Blue Eyes

Using GIMP's Filter Pack it's easy to change someone's eye color to almost anything you like. In this exercise you'll change the girl's green eyes to a bright blue.

In this lesson ...

• Use the Free Select Tool
• Subtract from/add to the current selection
• Use the Filter Pack

Download the original image I used from stock.xchng

Zoom in to the girl's right eye. Using the Free Select Tool (Lasso) select the outer perimeter of the iris.

IMPORTANT:  In the Toolbox, click on the Subtract from the current selection icon.

Again, using the Free Select Tool, draw a selection around the pupil. This cuts that region out of the selection. Feather the selection by 1 or 2 pixels, Select > Feather...

The selected region should only be the colored iris.

Now use the Filter Pack to modify the color of the iris, Colors > Filter Pack… You'll see the original selection and the modified selection which, at this time, are the same. Check Hue under Windows.

The Hue Variations window opens showing six possible changes to the iris. Click on Blue.

The Hue Variations window now shows six new possible hues for the iris. Choose the Cyan variation.

This is the color you're looking for, so click OK in the Filter Pack Simulation window to see the new eye color applied in the image.

I've only modified one eye for illustration purposes. You would obviously want to apply this method to both eyes. Use the Add to/Subtract from the current selection options to select the irises of both eyes.

The Filter Pack can be a fun tool with which to play and experiment. You can use it to alter the color of anything without affecting the light and shadows.

Moon Shadow

"I'm being followed by a moon shadow

moon shadow-moon shadow
leaping and hopping on a moon shadow
moon shadow-moon shadow"
- Cat Stevens

I had a request to show how an extracted image can be placed on a plain background with a realistic shadow. As always, there are different ways to accomplish this. This, I think, is a relatively simple and straight-forward method.

Skills used in this lesson…

• Paste as new layer
• Using the Move tool
• Scale the layer to the image size
• Using Guides
• Feathering a selection
• Using the Blend tool
• Rearranging layers

Download the source image here or use one of your own.

Selecting and copying the moon from the source image are not a part of this tutorial. Assume you are ready to paste the copied selection into a new image.

So, you'll need to create a new image larger than the object you're going to paste. In this example, the new image is 900 by 900 pixels with a default white background.

Paste the moon into your new image as a new layer named "moon", Edit > Paste as… > New layer
Use the Move Tool to position the object so that it is about horizontally centered and a bit above the vertical center.

Scale the size of this layer to match the overall size of the image, Layer > Layer to image size

Drag in vertical guides to mark the left and right edges of the moon. Place horizontal guides to mark the bottom and middle of the moon.

The guides form a rectangular box containing the bottom half of the moon. Use the Ellipse Select Tool to make a selection bounded by that rectangle.

See how to do this in a short video


Feather the selection by about 50 pixels, Select > Feather…

Create a new transparent layer named "shadow".

Set the Background color to a dark gray. I used 626262.

Be sure the "shadow" layer is active, highlighted in the Layers palette.

Choose the Blend Tool, settings FG to BG, linear gradient. Drag the Blend Tool from the top left corner to the bottom right corner of the rectangle formed by the guides.

See how to do this in a short video


You can remove the selection and the guides now.

With the Move Tool, drag the "shadow" layer down and to the right a bit.

Right now the "shadow" layer should be the top layer in the Layers palette. Drag it down so that it is under the "moon" layer (but above the background layer).

To finish, I cropped the image, then filled the background layer with a light blue color (95c0f1). Flatten the image if you want to save it as a .jpg or .png file.

The basic techniques of this procedure are presented here without regard for the finer aesthetic points. Refining the image for its best, most realistic appearance is left to you.

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Responding to Comments

Some of you have posted comments in which you have asked questions about the tutorials. I have not responded to these because I had not been aware of them. Though I have very little time to devote to this blog, I plan to try to do a better job with this.

I have made some changes to the commenting and comment notification procedures that I hope will help in this. Please bear with me.

I appreciate those of you who visit here whether regularly or just occasionally. I'd love to do more tutorials. Good tutorials take a lot of time, and I just can't fit them in very often. I have many notes on tutorials for the future. Ahh, maybe someday.