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.

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.

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").

"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. :)

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. :)

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.

Football Photo Shoot! :)

So, I wanted a picture to accompany an article I wrote about where to find cheap NFL merchandise online. Since I couldn't find one that really worked, I went ahead and pulled out a few football things and had a shoot of my own. Hehe.


The tricky part was that I'm not really supposed to use copyright images and logos, so I tried to work around the telling parts of the items I was working with. And then I did a little bit of airbrushing in GIMP over some parts I couldn't avoid in real life. I don't know, maybe I should have edited out more. :)

Some Nature Edits

Chris Chris sent me some photographs ages ago but I never got around to playing with them until now. Sorry! :)



Details: Edited in GIMP. I used some of the digital scrapbook paper I've recently made for the backgrounds and overlays in these three shots while playing around with various opacity levels and recoloring tools.

More Landscapes

Original photographs courtesy of ChrisChris. Edited in GIMP. My results were nothing special, but ChrisChris gets ancy if I don't post my playing around. Haha. :)

I hesitate to post this, since it's really weird (even for me). But to prove I played with more than one pic . . . :)

Beast of a Photo Shoot :)

I had a serirous makeup photo shoot this weekend. Not that the pictures turned out that great, but I just don't have anything else to post. :) You can read the corresponding fall makeup article here if you're interested.I mostly edited the photographs in Microsoft Office Picture Manager and I created the model "sketches" in GIMP.