How do I use layers ?

[Robbie]

As a broke student, i've recently dowloaded 'The Gimp', as it was recommended by a few people here :thumbup: Thankyou.

But...How do I actually use layers ? I know it sounds like a silly question. I'm unsure what i'm creating when I 'create' a new layer. I know absolutely nothing about photography software.

Any help would be fantastic, thanks :mrgreen:

 

[ksmattfish]

Layers are stacked on top of your original photo. They can be adjustment layers, where they just affect one aspect of the photo such as color, or contrast, or sharpness. By having each edit done on it's own layer it's easy to go back and manipulate just that aspect. Or you can stack the same photo or different photos in layers, and then remove parts of each layer, so that the layer below shows through. For instance I can make a dark and light version of the same photo, stack the light layer on top of the dark layer, then erase the sky in the light layer. This gives me the darker, more saturated sky of the darker layer, and the brighter, more detailed foreground of the lighter layer. There are many more ways to use layers. People are constantly coming up with new techniques. Start googling and you'll find lots of GIMP tutorial pages. I don't know how good this one is, but it's a start.

http://mozillaquest.com/OpenSource04/Gimp-Photo-Edit-Tutorial-02_Story01.html

 

[Robbie]

Thanks a lot :mrgreen: