Welcome to TheCredence.com - You may like to subscribe to our RSS feed to stay updated.
The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an open source graphics software available for a variety of platforms including Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. Unlike many closed source programs such as Photoshop and Pant Shop Pro, the GIMP is completely free of charge, and anyone wanting to can contribute to the development. GIMP is a perfect tool for people like me who are not power users in graphics and feels photoshop is overkill of their requirements and are too costly.
Despite its low price tag, the GIMP is a powerful tool featuring many features needed for the graphics artist, and can be used for drawings and photographs and more. For using GIMP on windows you have to download GTK libraries as well but it is very simple as they come in Single Click installation file. Download your GIMP right Now!
So lets Start our Beginners Tutorial for GIMP on Manipulating Photos
When a user starts the GIMP the first time, it performs the user installation. During this step, the GIMP creates directories where the user can store custom brushes, scripts, gradients, and more.
Figure 1 - Gimp main window
Afterwards, the main toolbox window and a couple other panels are shown as in Figure 1. These panels include the image layers, brushes, patterns, palettes, gradients, and more. Located underneath the toolbox are the tool options. The options shown depend on the selected tool and control how that tool works with the image.
Loading the Image in GIMP
To load an image, click on the File menu and choose Open. Alternatively, an image may be dragged and dropped onto the toolbox and will be opened. After the image is loaded, it will be displayed in a new image window. This window, shown in Figure 2, has a menu bar, ruler, status bar, and more. All of these items can be turned on or off under the View menu. In addition, the menu may be accessed by right-clicking in the image window.
Figure 2 - Loading Image in Gimp
Basic manipulation: Image Resizing in Gimp
Resizing an image is an easy task to do, and there are several ways to do it. The scale tool (SHIFT+T) allows you to visually scale a layer or selection. After selecting the scale tool, click and drag on the image to resize the image, as shown in Figure 3.
However, this only resizes the layer, in order for the image to be clipped, you must then use the Image->Fit Canvas to Layers menu item to set the image size to the size of the layer. An alternative to is to use the Image->Scale Image or Layer->Scale Layer menu items. Image->Scale Image will resize the entire image, while Layer->Resize Layer will only resize the layer and keep the image the same size.
Figure 3 - Resizing a Layer in Gimp
Basic manipulation: Image Rotating in Gimp
Rotating an image is just as easy, and can also be performed visually. The rotate tool (SHIFT+R) works just like the scale, tool, except that it rotates the layer by an arbitrary angle, as shown in Figure 4. There are also alternatives to this tool located under the menus Image->Transform->Rotate and Layer->Transform->Rotate. A side effect of rotating the layer is that the layer may be larger than the image, and may need to be cropped.
Figure 4 - Rotating a Layer in Gimp
Basic manipulation: Image Cropping in Gimp
Cropping an image is a bit different from resizing or rotating. To crop an image, first a selection must be made and then the image cropped to the selection. This is done with the menu item Image->Crop Image or Layer->Crop Layer. The image in Figure 5 shows the previous image cropped to a smaller size after it was rotated.
Figure 5 - Cropped Image
Color manipulation in Gimp
One of the purposes of any good graphics program such as the GIMP is retouch photos and perform color corrections. Figure 6 shows a photo that was finally printed after being on film for many years. Using the tools provided by the GIMP, this photo can be fixed a little bit, as shown by Figure 7, to get some of the original color back.
This article did not even scratch the surface of what the GIMP is capable of. It can be used not only for photos and retouching, but for drawing artistic images, creating icons, and more. Support for input devices such as drawing tablets permits the user to draw naturally instead of using the mouse all the time. And since it is all open source, it is always being improved by developers around the world, and anyone can pitch in to add a feature or develop a plugin they may want. I hope this article have helped you in understanding how easy it is to use GIMP. In the future, I will try to write much more advanced article on gimp. All non-spam comments are as usual invited 
(3 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
Loading ...Links you may find interesting -