Opacity

In building on the last post, which talks about the wonders of having separate layers in a photo workbook, I thought I'd also mention the fact that GIMP lets you change the opacity of each layer. This makes for some fun effects if you want a slight overlay of the same image or even an entirely different image.


Details: For the first picture, I added an overlay of an enlarged version of the same picture (of the Provo, Utah, LDS Temple) and an additional overlay of a picture of wood (which is what added the various specks throughout the sky.) On each of the second two pictures, I added an overlay of a picture of grass (which is what added the subtle blurred, antique look.) With the overlay layers, I just changed the opacity levels in GIMP until I liked the results.

2 New GIMP Articles

I'm back!! I had a nice trip but I didn't take any pictures. Tragic, I know. :) Well anyway, here are two new articles for you discussing the editing program GIMP.How to Get Started Using GIMPEvery new program requires some learning and/or adjusting. Here's a how-to on gaining exposure to and familiarity with the free, public-domain version of Adobe Photoshop.http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1660831/how_to_get_started_using_gimp.htm
What is the Liquify Tool in GIMP? How to find and use the equivalent of Adobe Photoshop's Liquify Tool in the free image-editing program GIMP.http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1670627/what_is_the_liquify_tool_in_gimp_.html

Patterns

The Bucket Fill Tool in GIMP not only lets you paint with colors but also offers like 30 or so patterns to fill an area as well. I used some to fill the face on this picture.


Details: Edited in GIMP using pattern presets.

New Tutorial: Layers in GIMP

How to Manage Layers in GIMP"Learning how to master layering in GIMP--the free, public domain version of Adobe Photoshop."

Mosaic Effect

I often play around with the Mosiac Effect in GIMP but I've never had it work out well. Probably because I'm using it on the wrong kinds of pictures. Anyway, I was editing a photograph today, and with only a minor amount of adjusting, I noticed a portion of the picture looked something like this first image. Thinking it was too good to pass up, I swirled my pic using the Liquify distortion. Then I kept playing around and added a Mosaic-ed layer. :)


Details: The Liquify and Mosaic Effects can be found in GIMP under "Filters" and then "Distortions."

ForeverSo

So, yesterday at Church, a 19-year old--who is preparing to go on a two-year mission starting next week--spoke to the congregation as well as two members who joined our Church later in life. The stories and testimonies were all so touching and it reminded me how truly blessed I am to know that Jesus is the Christ and God has restored His Church on the earth.My sister took these photographs of the Denver, Colorado Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wanted me to play around with them. No disrespect to my sister, but I don't think a photograph can capture the majesty of this building. If you're ever in the area, you should check it out for yourself. :)
Details: I made the black border overlay in GIMP and then I pieced together the photograph, overlay, and text in Microsoft PowerPoint. The font is a free download but I cannot remember what the name is. Do you really want me to go back and look it up? :) We put "Forever" on there because of our belief that, in the Temple, families can be sealed together for eternity.
The second image I did all sorts of weird stuff to. :) I combined various versions and layers of the original photograph with an Embossed version, something that can be accomplished using the GIMP tool of the same name (which can be found under the "Filters" tab in the category "Distortions").

Fill Tool (Bucket Tool) in GIMP

Fill Tool (Bucket Tool) in GIMP
So, I'm still obsessed with Gimp's Fill Tool, which looks like a bucket of paint. I edited a picture and then noticed that the background was mostly the same color, so I just filled it with some of the preset designs that come in GIMP.

Details: The Fill Tool is just located on the main toolbar in GIMP. Once you've clicked on the icon, the corresponding settings will appear at the bottom of the toolbar where you can choose what fill gradient or design to use.

Photo Editing Tutorial: Digital Cosmetic Surgery

Here it is, the article you've been waiting for: "How to Digitally Lose 10 Pounds, Rewind 10 Years, and Get the Look You've Always Wanted." :) As I say in the article, even if you're not seriously entertaining the idea of getting plastic surgery, it can still be fun to digitally alter pictures and see how your look can change. If you're interested, here's my tutorial.Photo Editing Tutorial: Digital Cosmetic Surgery"Digital Cosmetic Surgery made easy with the help of editing programs like Adobe Photoshop and GIMP. How to get the surgical results you want in your digital pictures."
In my own picture, working in GIMP and Microsoft Office Picture Manager, I used IWarp to adjust the jawline, airbrush tools to smooth skin and even out imperfections, paint tools to add false eyelashes, smudge tools to recreate the eyebrows, coloring tools to remove gray hair--you name it! :)

"Face of the Future"

http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk//Transformer/ has a "Face of the Future" transforming program that lets you upload photos and choose various effects, simulating changes of gender, race, age, etc. Some of my results were really scary and unusable, but some turned out interesting nonetheless. :) My favorite transformations were the choices to change the artistic style of the pictures.

Details: The original photograph underwent some preliminary Microsoft Office Picture Manager and GIMP editing before undergoing the subsequent "Face of the Future" transformation.

"Photo Fun"

One of the funniest photo websites I've found is http://photofunia.com/. The site's technology is remarkable in that you can upload a personal image and have it inserted into one of their 70 pre-made images. Some of their pre-made images included billboards, newspapers, galleries, and so on. Mind you, not all of the pre-made images are appropriate and I would advise adverting your eyes where applicable. (It's just the conservative in me giving a warning.) :)

Details: The photos I uploaded were edited in my usual programs such as GIMP and Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Inverting ColorsI

I was playing around with inverting the colors of certain sections of the documents I was working on one day. It started out with simply making some simple borders. And then it progressed to full on craziness. So while I was already at it . . . :)

Details: I used Microsoft Office Picture Manager for some initial lighting changes and GIMP for the remainder of the project. GIMP gives you the option of inverting colors and inverting color values. It was really fun to play around with both of these effects.

Links RecapIn

In some previous posts, I have mentioned some of my favorite online resources for photo editing and digital craziness. Instead of having to skim through all of the past posts, I thought I'd try to compile some helpful links together in one post for your one-stop-shopping pleasure. :)
Here are my favorites:
Google's Picasa: http://picasa.com/
LunaPic: http://www.lunapic.com/
BeFunky: http://www.befunky.com/
Instyle Hair Makeover: http://www.instyle.com/instyle/makeover/
Face of the Future Transformer: http://morph.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk//Transformer/
And here's a new one I just found. I've never tried the perfume, but I liked the pictures. :)
Pop Art Yourself: http://www.christina-aguilera-perfumes.com/us/inspire

Details: Before using the software provided online in the above perfume link, I edited the photo in Microsoft Office Picture Manager and in GIMP.

"Photo Fun" Got an Upgrade

I previously have discussed the joys of Photo Fun, the fun and classic way to upload photos and insert them into pre-made classics such as billboards, books, museums, and more. Photo Fun has some new and great pre-made images to choose from so I'd definitely recommend returning to the site. And my previous warning still applies: some of the pictures are offensive so avert your eyes. Without further ado: http://photofunia.com/. :)(And you can check out my first Photo Fun post here.)

Details: I edited the original photograph in GIMP. I relied heavily on the Iwarp tool--one of the best inventions of our day! And I've also become obsessed with airbrushing, but you probably already know that. :)

"Beauty and the Beast"

I was just reading about the Disney classic on Wikipedia and learned that Beauty and the Beast "is the only full-length animated feature film to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture." Crazy! Anyway, this little girl wanted to be a Disney princess so we made her dreams come true and stuck her head on some Belle in a parade. Do you have a dream too? :) Details: I edited this photograph in GIMP. (The original photograph I simply found on the internet. Using copyrighted materials to create parodies falls under fair use in America, thankfully!) :) When blending two images (in this case, the face with the background), I find it very helpful to keep the two layers separate while working so that towards the end you can recolor the layers to better match one another. I like the "Curves" tool best for this kind of recoloring.

RedKid.Net

I was introduced to this cool photo site over the weekend. I don't know about the other capabilities yet, but the site has a sign generator with over 40 images to choose from, allowing you to insert a limited amount of text in each. Some are really fun, some are just so-so. But I certainly enjoyed myself overall. :) Red Kid Sign Generator

"Be Funky" Part 2

BeFunky got an upgrade! :) Upload your photos and edit away with their cool new effects and updated software.

"Bread Art"

This cool website lets you "toast" an uploaded photo, which creates some interesting bread art. $1 will be donated to feeding America for every piece of bread art created. It's sponsored by some company. (I'm really good at details, can't you tell? He he.) http://breadartproject.com/Mine didn't turn out so well, as you can see, but the site's gallery is pretty cool. :) Details: The picture I uploaded to the site is an edited version of a photograph I took of the Provo, Utah Temple, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And while I'm thinking about it, you should visit this site. There are 124 images of beautiful Temples around the world. Neat stuff. :)

Photofunia Revisited

Photofunia got another upgrade. :)


Details: I simply uploaded my edited pictures into some of the provided settings by Photofunia. As always, here's your Photofunia warning: not all the provided backgrounds are suitable for conservative consumption. If you're like me, you'll want to occasionally avert your eyes. :)

I Couldn't Resist! :)

I know I just did a Photofunia post, but they got a new background and it was too good to pass up. "How could I refuse?" He he, that's a song in the movie "Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper." What's your favorite Barbie movie? :)

(For me, I think it's a tie between "Barbie in the Nutcracker" and "Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses." And while we're sharing insights into my life that you neither need nor care about, I think I have only seen 4 non-Barbie movies in the last, oh, year-and-a-half. And if we were to exclude this past month, I could say I have seen no non-Barbie movies in the last 15 months. So cool! He he.)
Details: I uploaded my GIMP-edited picture into a Photofunia background. (And then I cropped it.)

Wordle.net

So I think I may have just come across the coolest wordart site ever created for lazy people! :) It's called Wordle.

You can insert your own words or a url to extract text from. The design is automatically computer generated and you can play around with the format to customize it to your likings. I entered this site's url and here are some of the designs. Not bad for three seconds of effort each. He he.

Obviously, this has a lot of potential if you want to do specific themes, like religion, or father's day or whatever. The site asks you to always cite them, but they even give permission for commercial use of the designs. And that's pretty incredible.

One tip: a url must have an associated feed in order to work. So when I tried Lds.org and Mormon.org, it didn't work. But when I tried LDS Newsroom, it worked just fine. So keep that in mind if you're like me and can't fathom actually coming up with a whole list or words. :)

Fun, Free Dingbat Fonts!

Best Free Dingbat (Symbol) Fonts for Digital Scrapbooking & Crafts: Hearts, Animals, & More!
"Great and easy to use in digital scrapbooking and other projects, dingbat fonts are full of premade-shapes and graphics that can be inserted just like text and customized to any size. Here are some nice, free alternatives to clipart."

Tutorial: How to Create Your Own Word Art

Do you want cute and customized text for digital scrapbooking, but you're not quite sure where to start? Here's a how-to in creating your own word art designs."

Details:
(1) The "Smile" is in the free font Scriptina and is filled with a gradient fill pattern in GIMP.
(2) The "David & Sara" is in the free font Beyond Wonderland and is filled with the same edited photograph that I used to make this blog's background.
(3) The "Best Friends" is in the free font Love Letters and another free font that I downloaded from 1001Fonts.com, but I can't seem to recall it's name. If it comes to me, I'll let you know. :) "Friends" is filled with a GIMP preset pattern--I think called water. I did this one a while ago, can you tell? Hehe.

Blessings of Libert

With thoughts taken from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, here are a few patriotic word art images in honor of July 4."

Details: Made in GIMP with the background originating from a photograph of a piece of wood. Font downloaded from 1001Fonts.com. And a shout out to Catherine for exposing me to this kind of stuff. :)

Original Blog BackgroundsI

I finally broke down and wrote an article about creating your own blog background. :)Do-It-Yourself Blog Background Ideas: How to Create Your Own!"Want a personalized blog background but not quite sure what to create or how to go about it? Here's a tutorial on how to create your own blog background."You can see my latest blog background here at Guide to Denver. I know it's really simple, but I only have html coding experience from an introductory college class so I was pretty pleased. :) I don't like how my blog backgrounds don't scroll up and down along with text, and this latest background kind of disguises that. Good stuff. Hehe.

No New News

I've actually worked on taking and editing some pictures lately, but none of them have turned out. And since you know I often have sub-par posts, you can guess at how bad these ones of late really are. :)



Today I took some more but haven't looked at them yet. Maybe there's hope for another day. Hehe. In the mean time, I dug this old edit up.

Details: Edited in GIMP, adding a striped design to the background and a partially-opaque layer to the foreground. I, of course, beautified the image before all that as well. :) I don't know if this turned out, or is just really weird. Maybe I'll never know. Hehe.

Abstract EditingI

I already posted some of the pictures on this blog, but if you want more and with full descriptions, here you go. :)
Do You See What I See? Abstract Photographs Edited"Using various digital editing transformations, here are a few graphics constructed using ordinary photographs."

Recipe Cards

In conjunction with posting my mom's chicken enchilada recipe, I wanted to find a picture to go with it. I couldn't find anything that really worked, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. :) And I'll go ahead and post the recipe link for if you're interested.
Easy Recipe: Chicken & Green Chili Enchiladas (Gluten Free)"Want a chicken enchiladas recipe that will feed gluten and gluten free eaters alike? Look no further: your gluten free chicken, cheese, and green chili enchiladas recipe is here!" Details: I edited my note cards photograph in GIMP, adding a black overlay to the edges and using the free font Dear Joe for the lettering. Dear Joe is my current go-to font; I just love it! You can download it from 1001Fonts.com.

Mystery Party Game on Ebay! :)

So, I decided to sell a mystery party game I wrote on ebay: Clean "Murder" Mystery Party Game for 8: Missing Jewels. Since I needed a picture to go with it, I whipped out my old jewelry photo shoot and found one that I thought would be okay. I used the free Scriptina and Journal fonts and designed the graphic in GIMP. And you can see the cute screenshot. :)

Love One AnotherSo

So I made this, but I realize it looks really tiny on the blog. Although not amazing, it really does look better as the .jpg itself. :)

Playing around with various textures in the editing program GIMP, I inserted one of the classic Bible scriptures from John to make a WordArt. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35).

I used three free downloadable fonts in the image: "Journal" for the main text, "Beyond Wonderland" for the word "LOVE," and a self-edited version of "Scriptina" for the shape of the background hearts

Making Your Own Scrapbook Supplies

Digital Scrapbooking: How to Make Your Own Frames, Borders & Other Embellishments "A how-to in creating your own embellishments for digital scrapbooking and other computer-based crafts. Whether you can't find what you want, or you just want something uniquely yours, knowing how to create your own supplies is a great skill to have."

I've been working on a lot of random scrapbooking stuff lately in GIMP. Good times. :)