Gimp 3

This is another installment in my series of blog posts on how to use Gimp. In this lesson I am going to look at layers. These are produced choosing layer / new layer and unless it is a background you will usually choose the transparency option. To select an object you will usually select the area around it and then choose invert. You can use layers in photo editing where you will select different components of various photos and put them into one photo on separate layers. To drop an object into a photo or picture use the copy and paste commands. These can simply be control + c & control + v. There is also scissor & path features both of these remove portions of a picture to help with editing and will often be used with the quick mask. The quick mask as its name suggests changes the colour temporarily of a portion of an image so you can edit the rest of it. Amazing effects can be achieved in this way. The scissor feature allows you to remove part of a layer quite simply. The path feature is more complex and applies control points which are applied as you click different parts usually close together. Paths are for more complex shapes and the control points can be moved or stretched sometimes to create amazing effects. You will normally use the zoom feature with either paths or scissors. You will sometimes you the paintbrush with a quick mask and again can create quite striking images in this way. Normally you will save your work but if it all goes wrong just close the image without saving it and reload it. If you cut a piece out of an image with one of these tools the clear feature usually removes it. When you copy something like an object from one photo to another use the feather feature so the edges are blurred. In extreme cases apply a slight gaussian blur to feather the edges. Don't forget of cause that Gimp is open source and free so you have no excuse not to try it. You can search for the site in google if you enter gimp in the search box.