Who else uses GIMP? Some C&C please.

dancingsphinx22

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The other night I downloaded the GIMP program and decided to try it out. Well, it was very intimidating! I'm just not used to having so many options. ;)

Below is my first attempt at using the program to PP. Its not a great shot to begin with, I wasn't really trying, so I'm not asking for critique on that. But I would like some opinions on the final edit, and perhaps what you might have done differently or what you would do to it now.

To be honest, I'm not really happy with the result...my original plan was to desaturate everything except the eyes, but I couldn't figure out how to do that. Also, I think I may have cropped it too much, and should've lightened the yellow background?

Below is the original picture and the final edit. Please comment on the second picture. Thanks.

1. THE ORIGINAL PICTURE
erl5li.jpg


2. FINAL EDIT
znxac8.jpg
 
Too much crop for my taste...i would have left a little bit more on the left and right
 
I agree wit Hybrid, the crop is just a little too tight. I would also use the "colors" function to take down the exposure a little. Your faces are washed out. Doing this will bring out the flesh tones better, and make you look like a human not white ghosts. :sexywink:
 
I totally agree with the crop and wash out.

What I did was desat one layer, and added it to the original layer. After the struggle I had, just doing that felt like an achievement to me haha! :blushing:

One problem I had was with using the blur/sharpen tool. I couldn't seem to make it work...I know that sounds dumb. I wanted to blur the background more, but couldn't do it, so I took the easy road and cropped it. I'm definitatley hitting the "help topics' tonight...
 
Gimp can be frustrating at times, but it's kinda like opening a Christmas present when you figure out how to do a new trick. LOL I haven't used the blur feature much so I really can't help you there. Post some more shots once you figure it out.
 
The other night I downloaded the GIMP program and decided to try it out. Well, it was very intimidating! I'm just not used to having so many options. ;)
Grokking The GIMP is a on-line GIMP users manual of sorts. It'll help you get more familiar with GIMP.

And check out YouTube for video tutorials as well.
 
Here is another manual from GIMP.org

Samanax said it. Youtube can be your friend. I have found a lot of information there.

One last one... gimp-tutorials.net

I personally haven't used Photo Shop. I've been Gimping for about 6 months and really like it. I think I will stick to Gimp until I have a reason to change. I've been enjoying the challenge.

Good luck! More importantly...Have fun!
 
Took a stab, hope you don't mind:

abc.jpg
 
frommrstomommy - WOW...just WOW! Now that I like!

Did you use GIMP? And, well, can you tell me the process you used? How did you make it look cleaner, and less muted? :blushing:

Thanks to everyone for the links! (tis a good thing I love reading!) And I never even considered checking on Youtube. Thanks again!
 
No, I use photoshop cs2. I am really not familiar with gimp but I have friends who use it and it seems to be a pretty capable program!

I adjust levels a little
did a little with curves
got rid of the water bottle (just selected wall color and painted over)
blurred the background a bit with the blur tool
I used the dodge tool to lighten around the nose and under eye circles for both you and the little one
Sharpened the eyes with the sharpen tool, just a once over with a size big enough to cover the size of the eye
I also used the dodge tool on the eyes a little to make them pop
I then used the burn tool on the eyes to gloss them and also get rid of the red it made little ones eyes slightly turn
Used burn tool on your lips to give them a little more color
I used the blur tool at different sizes to blend the skin on both you and little one

and I may have done a slight contrast on it, I can't remember.

and of course the crop.
 
Oh, and if you do the blur thing, just try to stay away from any creases on the faces, otherwise it won't look right. Thats why I use different sizes, so I can get in the little crevices without touching say the outline of the nose like? Hope that makes sense.
 
I have a question for you though lol what camera are you using? My Nikon D3000 should be on the way soon :) My first DSLR :) :) :)
 
I use Canon's RAW conversion software, but all edits after are in Gimp. It's a very powerful tool that stacks up well against Photoshop. Sure, some other programs are easier to learn, but generally it's because they can't do as much.
 
Thanks frommrstomommy for that break down! It really, really helps.
2u8xzew.gif


And no, thats not me in the pic, its my best friend and her son. She's agreed to let me practice on her and this was the first shot I took of them with my camera, which is a NikonD80. The lens I have is a Tiffen 18-135mm. I think I had my polarizer filter on too, left from taking scenic winter shots. I will not subject you all to those...yet. =)

I got some more shots from the same night, of just the baby bouncing on the bed. I'm going take all this advice, read up, and see what I can do with those pics...Thanks everyone!
 

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