A Guide to the GIMP Image Editor for Photographers Timothy A. Gonsalves IIT Mandi Himachal, India 24th February 2018 Table of Contents 1 Preamble...............................................................................................................................1 2 Quick Start............................................................................................................................1 2.1 Useful Tips....................................................................................................................3 3 Common Tasks – How To....................................................................................................3 3.1 Crop an Image...............................................................................................................3 3.2 Scale or resize an image................................................................................................4 3.3 Automatic exposure and colour....................................................................................5 3.4 Correct the exposure of an image.................................................................................5 3.4.1 Quick Method........................................................................................................5 3.4.2 Fine control by colour...........................................................................................5 3.4.3 Backlit subject.......................................................................................................6 3.5 Correct the white-balance of an image.........................................................................6 3.6 Convert to black-and-white...........................................................................................7 3.7 Combine 2 or more images side-by-side.......................................................................7 3.7.1 Make a collage......................................................................................................8 3.8 Blend 2 images..............................................................................................................8 3.9 Correct perspective of tall buildings.............................................................................9 4 Layers...................................................................................................................................9 4.1 Example use of layers.................................................................................................10 4.2 Layer mask..................................................................................................................10 5 Delving Deeper...................................................................................................................11 5.1 Special effects.............................................................................................................11 5.2 Channels......................................................................................................................11 5.2.1 Colour Channels..................................................................................................11 5.2.2 Selection Masks...................................................................................................11 5.3 Paths............................................................................................................................11 5.4 Batch processing.........................................................................................................12 5.5 Scripting......................................................................................................................12 5.6 Customising GIMP.....................................................................................................12 Fig. 1: GIMP windows 1 Preamble The GIMP is a very powerful tool for image editing and manipulation. It is useful for digital art, photography and a variety of other purposes. It has a bewildering array of features, which can result in a steep learning curve. GIMP is free, open-source software. You can download in on Linux, Windows or Mac OS X and use it for any purposes at zero cost. This Guide is intended to give a quick introduction to GIMP for common tasks that today's digital photographer needs to do. The Guide starts with a “Quick Start” to familiarise you with basics of the GIMP user-interface. This is followed by a “How to” section that gives step-by-step solutions to common needs of a photographer. Subsequent sections delve into some of the depths of GIMP, to entice you to become an expert in GIMP. 2 Quick Start A GIMP image consists of 1 or more Layers on a Canvas. Each Layer can be edited inde- pendently, made (in)visible, various degrees of transparency, etc. The final image is pro- duced by flattening the layers. GIMP features can generally be accessed in any of several ways (Fig. 1). These include: • The Menu bar at the top • The Toolbox, usually at the left • The Tool Dialogs, usually at the right • <Right-click> context menu inside an image • <Right-click> context menu inside a Dialog • Keyboard shortcuts Note: Use <Ctrl> on Linux and Windows, <Cmd> on MacOS X. 24th February 2018 GIMP Guide for Photographers 1 We now outline a few of the common menus and tools. This list does not include many ad- vanced features. Undo History GIMP saves all edits in the History. This is a powerful feature that allows you to freely ex- periment without worrying that you may do lasting damage to an important image. You can undo the last edit with <Ctrl-z> or Edit→Undo. You can directly select any previ- ous edit from the History Dialog. <Ctrl-y> or Edit→Redo moves forward in the edit His- tory. Thus you can go back and forth between edits freely, until you overwrite the image with File→Save. Note: the History is lost when you exit from GIMP. View Menu Zoom in with + out with - Zoom→Fit Image in Window makes the whole image visible Zoom→1:1(100%) shows every pixel, useful for very fine editing Image <Right-click> Context Menu View Exif: camera and exposure information Image Properties: canvas size in pixels, file type, number of layers, etc. Transform: Rotate, Flip Tools: Toolbox <Ctrl-b>: selection, editing and other tools for quick access. Hover the mouse over a tool to see its name. Dialogs: A set of tabs such as Layers, Channels, Brushes, etc . Each tab with options, lists, etc. Click and drag a tab outside the Dialog to undock it. Click on the <left-arrow> icon at the right, then <Add Tab> to add a tab. To get docked toolboxes: <Right-click>→Windows→Dockable Dialogs <TAB> in image window: hide/show all docks <Double-click> on a tool icon to open the tool options dialog tab Manage Toolbox: You can customise the toolbox by adding/removing tools from it using Drag-and-drop. Or use menu Preferences→Toolbox Presets: Many tools allow settings to be saved as presets and applied later. To apply a preset, click on the <Preset> listbox at the top of the tool dialog. To save the current settings as a new preset, click on the <+> icon. Tip: If you have just used one of the Color tools, clicking on the image will reopen the Dialog for that tool. 24th February 2018 GIMP Guide for Photographers 2 Selection GIMP has a variety of ways of selecting part of an image. This selection is used by many tools. Tools for selection include constrained rectangular and elliptical regions, as well as freehand drawing. The edges of the selection can be feathered to take care of fuzzy borders of an object. Rectangle, ellipse, lasso (freehand), colour (magic wand). Intelligent scissors is very useful for selecting irregular shapes. <Shift-click> to add to current selection <Ctrl-click> to subtract from current selection <Shift-Ctrl-click> for intersection Rectangle, ellipse: if has resize handles, resize or move selection outline Without handles, move or copy the selected area Quick Mask <Shift-q>: makes only current selection visible, useful for fine tuning the se- lection. Add or subtract from selection with any paint tool: Black subtracts, White adds. Press <Shift-q> when done. Copy selection: <Shift-Opt click-drag> on MacOS X to copy the selected are of the im- age. Note that a new “floating selection layer” is created. Move or edit the floating layer. When satisfied, click on the image to merge (anchor) the floating layer to the image, or press <Ctrl-h>. Key combination may vary on other systems, try <Ctrl-Alt>, <Shift-Ctrl>, etc. Move selection: <Shift-Opt-Cmd click-drag> on MacOS X to move the selected area of the image. Note that a new “floating selection layer” is created. Key combination may vary on other systems, try <Shift-Ctrl-Alt>, <Shift-Alt>, etc. Copy/Move – alternate method: Sometimes the key-combinations above do not work. Copy/Move the selection using: 1. Copy/Cut the selection <Ctrl-c>/<Ctrl-x> 2. Clear the selection Select→None 3. Paste the selection <Ctrl-v>. This creates a floating layer. 4. Use the Move tool to move the selection to the desired position. 5. Anchor the selection using <Ctrl-h> or Layer→Anchor Layer 2.1 Useful Tips This section contains tips that apply across many tools and features of GIMP. They will help you become a more efficient and effective GIMPer. 1. Many tools operate on the current selection if it exists. If there is no selection, the tool operates on the active layer. This can be confusing. You may be able to con- trol this behaviour using check boxes in the Tool Options. Or, remove the selec- tion using Select→None or <Shift-Ctrl-a>. 2. The Move tool