Our New Home

We have a new home, come join us at WeAreSMRT (We Are Skeptical Minds & Rational Thinkers)

The Forum

Monday, September 22, 2008

GIMP Tutorial - Swap a face

Given the amount of photo editing going on with the Raytractors lately, I thought it would be a good idea to do a GIMP tutorial to show how to do some fun photo editing.

So first, we need a base image and a victi... volunteer to swap faces.



Yes, yes, these two will do nicely.

Step 1 - Scale the images. The strawman image is way too big compared to Ray's face. We need to scale it down. Go to Image -> Scale Image.



Step 2 - Make a new layer for the strawman image. Set the background to a solid color. We are going to be "poking holes" through the strawman image. Go to Layer -> New Layer. Copy and past the background. Use the fill tool on the background to set it to a solid color.



Step 3 - Create a mask for the strawman image. A mask is like a transparancy channel where white is opaque and black is transparent. We're going to make a fully opaque mask. Right click on the layer to add a mask.



Step 4 - Take a paintbrush and start drawing black over the mask layer. It will reveal the background. Use a brush with a "fuzzy" edge. It will help the edges blend better with the background.



Step 5 - Zoom in with and use a smaller brush where you have to.



Step 6 - Crease a new layer (Layer -> New Layer) above the background and below the strawman image. Copy and paste the image of our vict... err... volunteer.



Step 7 - Use the layer zoom and rotation tools to fit the image of the volunteer onto the body of the strawman.



Step 8 - Edit the mask layer as needed to fix any spots that need a little more transparency.



Step 9 - Use the Effects -> Light & Shadow -> Drop Shadow filter on the strawman image to have it cast a shadow on Ray's face. Use the Effects -> Light & Shadow -> Lighting Effects on the victi... volunteer's face to help match the lighting with the original image. Adjust the contract and brightness on the volunteer's face to help it blend in with the strawman image (Colors -> Brightness Contrast).


(Note: The image above only has the drop shadow added.)

And... We're done!

13 comments:

  1. Wonderful! Thank you, Kaitlyn. I will try this as soon as I find some time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The tutorial isn't as precise as I would have liked since print-screen didn't let me take a screenshot of the menus.

    Let me know if you run into any troubles.

    ReplyDelete
  3. But if you already understand the concept of layers and transparency, you should be fine.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, maybe I'll come back to that. I've already worked with photoshop, but you mentioned some things, I haven't heard before.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A GIMP Tutorial? I think I'm in love...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Kaitlyn!

    I hope to get a chance to try that out sometime. I have some other photos I'd like to work with also.

    I hope you're doing well and I like your blog. I hope you'll have time to explore some other areas.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Jinx McHue

    I'm sorry you didn't enjoy my tutorial. It was supposed to be fun and relevant.

    If you don't mind my asking, what exactly was so immature about it? It's a pretty standard comical photo edit.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You've inspired me to take another look at GIMP!

    Thanks Kaitlyn!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I haven't worked with GIMP much, but I have used it more than enough to realize that this is a very nice tutorial. You put a lot of effort into this, Thanks Kaitlyn.

    BTW, what OS are you using? Its linux of some form, but I'm only familiar with Ubuntu... and this doesn't look much like it... yet its still vaguely familiar.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It actually is Ubuntu with a standard Gnome desktop.

    I use the "Glow Cinder" GTK theme with "Shiki Colors Brave" emerald skin.

    I'm using the Dropline Neu! icons.

    ReplyDelete
  11. GIMP also works on mac.

    G.E.

    ReplyDelete

Unlike Ray we don't censor our comments, so as long as it's on topic and not spam, fire away.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.