gimp magazine issue 6 digital

8/10/2019 Gimp Magazine Issue 6 Digital

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P R E M I E R G I M P U S E R S M AG A Z I N E . I S S U E # 6 . N O V E M B E R


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P R E M I E R G I M P U S E R S M A G A ZI N E . I S S U E # 6 . N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 . V I S I T O U R W E B S I T E H T T P : / / G I M P M AG A Z I N E . O RG . F U L L S C R E E N

NEXT GEN GIMPMAGAZINE

AARON TYREEINTERVIEW

AARON TYREEMASTER CLASS

THE GIMPGALLERY


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Welcome to the new and improved GIMP Magazine! The team has had some valued time off over thesummer, but we have also been working hard to make our magazine better. We have had somechallenges but we also have a vision and a clear direction set for this magazine based directly on your

feedback.As the managing editor I have had some time to think about the future of GIMP Magazine. Some of the challenges we have had have been around production. We have a very small team to produce thismagazine four times per year. The amount of work to edit and creatively lay out a 100 page magazinefor both print and digital has been a significant effort. We conducted a short survey some time ago, andthe vast majority of our readers felt that digital was all they needed. This is important information forour team, and I have decided to discontinue the print version. While I loved the quality and feel of thehard copy magazine, this move will save us considerable time and allow for a greater range of submissions from our readers. This format change will also allow us to re-design the magazine entirelyaround the screen viewing experience, not print. This new 16:9 layout gives us an array of new creativepossibilities for presenting articles and it looks great on widescreen monitors, tablets, and phones. Iview this more as a slide presentation as opposed to a printed document, even though this will print on8.5"x14" legal size paper.

My vision has always been to eventually grow to a monthly magazine. In an effort to get closer to that

vision I have decided to try a pilot project. This means that we will be producing a monthly magazine forsix months or so starting with this issue. Ideally I would like to get to ten issues per year. Each issue willbe considerably smaller, consisting of one feature article, a related tutorial, and perhaps tips, along withcreative gallery submissions.

This new format will be much easier for our small team to produce, and it will provide moreopportunities for our GIMP artists and photographers to be featured on the cover of our magazine. Wewould like to grow our team, and as we do so, grow the content within our magazine. Perhaps somedaywe might grow to a 100 page magazine every month. We are presently looking for an editor andillustrator to join our team. Simply contact us if you are interested (http://gimpmagazine.org/contact).

During this time off, I have kept close to free software as I created an educational book along with afull video series on the subject of calligraphy and lettering (a re-emerging fine art). I have learned a greatdeal from this ebook/video project, and I feel that it is important to use these open source tools regularlywhile working for this magazine. I had huge success using these tools (GIMP, Inkscape, and Scribus) andI also plan on writing about my experience so that others can also feel comfortable using open source

software on large creative projects.We were hoping to have a GIMP 2.10 Special Edition of the magazine ready to

this has not happened. The core GIMP team has reached out to us in an effort to

communications, and we look forward to working with them in the future. TheI

would still love to do a special feature on GIMP 2.10 to share with the world all ofeatures that will be available. From what limited material I have seen so far, versoutstanding!

GIMP Magazine will continue to be absolutely free for everyone to enjoy. Andonations as they help to pay for our operating costs such as web hosting, cloudAs we move to a monthly magazine we have also made efforts to accept more rusing the popular Patreon system where you can help with the ongoing support

The team at GIMP Magazine proudly presents Issue #6. If you are not already us on Twitter, Google+, Issue, or by email subscription. Also, tell a friend about IMagazine and kindly tweet or blog about us to help spread the word.

Enjoy!

CheersSteve

http://twitter.com/steveczajkahttp://flickr.com/steveczajka

L E T T E R F R O M T H E E D I T O R


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AN INTERVIEW WITH AARONTYREE

Edited by Debi Dalio

Aaron Tyree is a commercial fashion and portrait photographer from Washington State in theU.S. He uses a variety of open source software and innovative low-cost hardware in his work.He is most well known for his images of Devon Jade which were shot using an older Canon20D with DIY reflectors and were post-processed in GIMP.


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SO, AARON, HOW DO

It really depends on what or shooting. A lot of it is intuitiveattention to little things. When and how they want to be seen,Trust and friendship produce tcommercial client, it's kind of vision is. Once I see it, I throw iget there. It's a fun process.

WHO OR WHAT ARE TI

People and relationships. Thto actually look around and bethat everything is created and everything around you, it chanreally just a copy machine. Thof how things are seen by the p

As far as photographers go, Ihow he approaches photographBryce for her use of light and Artistically, I am really inspiredcolor tones are unique. Anothecommitment to doing what heinnovate.

ART OCCURS IN AND FRAMING O

ARE SEEN BYUSING THE


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HAVE YOU EVER TAKTAUGHT?

If formal means sitting in a ctaken formal lessons.

But I have spent a ridiculousworkshops. I can't say enough been able to learn from the besworkshops. I practice a lot. I grpractice was normal, so daily pingrained in how I live. With pwhen I'm not shooting, like, If Ifoot radius of where I'm sittingOr, What is one character traitbeautiful, and how would I phosome, but having spent some ygetting to do something that I dit's worth investing all of yourpowerful.

WHAT IS YOUR PROCES

Understanding what you waif it's just an emotion. If you dohard time saying anything thatI think the best images ask simDo you agree? or Do you see that. Good photographs give thown conclusions.

Understanding the light andoutside, I'll always start with liwhat I want it to do. Then I'll lonegative space, so I look for ththe subject in unexpected waythe way, I'll just focus on an emshooting. In the studio, the proI can set everything up beforeh


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continuous light in the studio to minimize anything that could draw myattention away from the person I am shooting.

After that, it's a matter of brewing some coffee, turning on SomaFM,and setting up an editing environment.

GOOD PHOTOGRAPHS GIVE THEVIEWER AN OPPORTUNITY TO

FORM THEIR OWNCONCLUSIONS.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SHOOT?

There was a shoot that I did with my stepdaughter Devon in thebackyard one day while we were barbecuing as a family. The reason itwas so significant is partly because of the events leading up to it. Onlythree months before, I had made an internal decision to seriouslypursue photography after hearing a radio interview. The interview wasabout shots seen around the world, and had several well-knownphotographers describing the amazing moments when their imageswere captured. I had the thought as I was listening that somethingdivine was happening when those shots were taken, like they werebeing given a gift. Then, as strange as it might sound, I just had thisconviction that if the gift that they were getting was not coming fromthem, then I could receive the same gift. It's a simple thought, but it was just one of those moments where you feel like the air is full of electricityand you are peeking into something beyond yourself.

For the next three months I consumed everything I could find aboutphotography. I watched hours and hours of workshops, took notes, andthen refined the notes. I did not have a camera at that point, so what Iwas doing would probably seem pretty silly to some. A photographerwithout a camera. But my wife had the same sense I did and supportedme. I was cultivating a deep vision for what I wanted to say with a


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camera when I did eventually point where I thought, OK. I caAnd I couldn't really afford oneup a prayer, and then went outvisit. Long story short, she hadlike she was supposed to give long time after that.

So, when I shot with Devon feeling. I made some reflectors

used a $5 roll-down vinyl blinbackground. Devon is a beautiI was shooting her. It's hard to in the viewfinder were significthose images online a little whanything that either one of us cthose images had been viewedbeing contacted by magazines

It has taken about a year of vsleepless nights to start seeingfirmly believe those first days when what you are doing was

Before getting into photogradevelopment. When I built my had learned. Linux is not reallenvironment by the artistic comwilling to rethink how you do it is incredibly powerful. I use a CrunchBang as a starting tempworkflow. It uses considerably systems, and allows all of the tasks. And because it is so mospecific things fairly easily withat comes prepackaged into o

TOOLS IN TYREE'S WORKFLOW

CAMERAS AND EQUIPMENT: AN ASSORTMENT OF CANON

CAMERAS WITH MODIFIED MAGICLANTERN FIRMWARE

3500 WATTS OF 5500K CFLLIGHTING AND A VARIETY OFMODIFIERS

4 LED MINI-PANELS 2 CREE HIGH INTENSITY LED SPOTS 1 DIY 600 RGB LED PANEL WITH

REMOTE 1 MULTI-CHANNEL REMOTE

SHUTTER RELEASE NEXUS 7 WITH DSLR REMOTE

SOFTWARE: DEBIAN GNU/LINUX IMAGEMAGICK UFRAW-BATCH AFTERSHOT PRO GIMP DROPBOX OWNCLOUD


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DO YOU SHOOT IN RAW MYOU USE TO PROCESS

I always shoot in RAW. Theinvaluable. I have done a lot ofavailable for Linux. My currenis the fastest and most stable Rruns on Linux. The plugin framwere open source, but I don't t

WHY DID YOU CHOOSEYOU USE THE MOST?

I won't lie. I started using GIMBut at this point, I prefer GIMPare willing to put in the time tofreedom, and it has very few lidifferent feel. Lots of people uPhotoshop actions pack. Theyresults. GIMP produces a diffe

As far as which features I usePaint and layer modes are dreawith clever use of layer masks

WHICH FEATURES WOUPCOMING VERSIONS OF

As far as I know, both of the version 2.10. These are higherwe are dreaming big, I would gGIMP instance from a remote location of configuration files.


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IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIMGIVE YOURSELF?

You are loved. Failure is a persfear, do it anyway.

WHAT ARE YOUR FUTUR

Keep learning. Keep dreamingI'm in this for the long haul.

FIND AARON TYREE IN THE F

Personal website: http://aarontyFacebook: https://www.facebooGoogle+:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/1043500px.com: http://500px.com/aDeviantArt: http://aarontyree.deTumblr: http://aar0ntyree.tumb

ONLINE INSPIRATION AND RESOZACH ARIAS: HTTP://ZACKARIAS.COM/SUE BRYCE: HTTP://SUEBRCAMILLA KRANS: HTTP://WCHASE JARVIS: HTTP://WWW.CHISCREATIVELIVE: HTTP://WWW.CRIVELIV


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FOLLOW DAVE LEPEK ON TWITTER @A

WE LOVE PIE AT GIMP MAGAZINE, SO MUCH SO THAT WE AREDEDICATING AN ENTIRE ISSUE (SPRING 2015) TO PIE. WE AREASKING EVERYONE TO SUBMIT THEIR FAVORITE PIE PHOTOS(MACRO, FOCUS BLUR, ANY PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUE YOU LIKE),PIE GRAPHIC DESIGNS, AND EVEN PIE STORIES OF WHY YOU LOVEPIE.

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M e e t T h e G I M

A V i d e o p o d c a s t

a b o u t

F r e e a n d O p e n S o u r c e G

S o f t w a r e

h t t p : / / m e e t t h e g i m
http://meetthegimp.org/


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FOLLOW DEBI DALIO AT HTTP://PORTRAITS-NATURALLY.BLOGSPO


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GERATitleDescwher

be crsophfromthis. happThis KyoiIt appgreysplugiblurrmanufield in facbeyoPortfhttp:/


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JAN-TitleDescphotosince I pictuprocePortfhttp:/


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SEAN MCLEANTitle: Point Reyes Description: I'm an am

technology dude frfeel a personal comsoftware, especialleverything for me with GIMP and usuaMint or Xubuntu.This image is a favLighthouse at Poinbefore sunset. I shot it 17-50mm lens. Proand RawTherapeeworkflow includedand dark ranges fomask.Portfolio:http://www.flickr.c


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JEREMY GOOCHTitle: Zero-K MechDescription: I work professionally as an interfacedesigner, and I do freelance illustration as well. Ienjoy working in a variety of mediums, but lately Ihave been working primarily in the digital realm. I'vebeen using GIMP since 2008 and I've made it apersonal mission to switch to entirely free software tocreate my artwork, so using GIMP was a naturaltransition for me. This artwork was created usingGIMP 2.6 on Linux Mint 11.Blog: http://jeremygooch.blogspot.com/

GUSTAVO DEVEZE


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GUSTAVO DEVEZETitle: Urban scene... (escena urbana...)Description: I am a visual artist living in BuenoArgentina. In my work the theme arises from thI suggest as a reaction to some day-to-dayhappenings, which can be an insistent idea phrase heard when passing by. In this way I begin towork, starting from the spots, looking for th(from the abstract I go towards the formation), anusing the techniques of drawing and paintinimages are also occasionally accompanied btext.For this image, I used GIMP 2.6 with a graphics ta(6x8 inches). This image is composed of onwith the black (lines, planes, and textures), layer containing the color in Multiply modethird layer with small retouches in Soft lighBlog: http://jeneverito.blogspot.comBobolobo: http://bobolobo.blogspot.comWebsite: http://www.deveze.com.ar

LUCIANO FREITAS


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LUCIANO FREITASTitle: Prometheu, freeDescription: I'm an enthusiast of open source andfree graphic software. As a student of cinema andaudio/visual arts, I'm able to do drawings and takephotographs, which is very important and useful forme. That's where GIMP, Inkscape, and Blender comeinto the picture. I used MakeHuman to create andmodel the human figure, then iluminated andrendered it in Blender, where I made the additional

objects (chain and goggles). Afterwards I used GIMPwith G'MIC filters and effects.


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STEVE CZAJKATitle: OktoberfestDescription: This was authentically hand letteredusing a Pilot Parallel calligraphy pen. It was scanned,and post processed using both GIMP and Inkscape.GIMP was used for cropping, curves, backgroundremoval, while Inkscape was used for colourization,and a ridges filter.Website: http://flickr.com/steveczajka


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STEVE CZAJKATitle: Literary Connection Book Cover ProposalDescription: This was authentically hand letteredusing a Pilot Parallel calligraphy pen. The digitaltypeface was completely processed using GIMP. Thebook cover design options were created usingInkscape, an amazing layout tool.Website: http://flickr.com/steveczajka


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http://gimpmagazine.org/courses/


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USING GIMP FOR PORTRAI


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USING GIMP FOR PORTRAIFASHION PHOTOGRAPHY

A Master Class by Aaron Tyree, Edited by Debi

In the process of learning effective photo editing techniques, I healot of ways to edit photos, but if you want to achieve professionaand such' software. Through trial and error I've come to the conccases, it is most often not true. It greatly depends on your goal. If massive billboards, you will need very specific software. On the

great photographs for yourself or for clients, your software selecstarted pursuing photography professionally, it was suggested to was somehow restrictive in its photo editing capability. This is sa result of not having access to good information on how to intertools that GIMP contains.

This tutorial is an attempt to provide a base system , so to speak,is a result of studying the editing techniques of many photographcommonly used into my GIMP workflow. I use GIMP on the majornot to go into great detail with each filter, tool, or technique by cinstead, be focusing more on what I seem to use most often.

This tutorial assumes two things:1. That you know how to get a good exposure in camera.2. That, if you shoot RAW, you can use the RAW editor of your image to GIMP.

We will start at the point of having imported an image into GIMP.

I will be covering the following in GIMP 2.8: iWarp Wavelet Decompose Cloning and Healing Spotlighting Curves Unsharp MaskBEFORE AFTER

IWARPiW i f l h ll

defines the radius, in pixels, of the filter action circle filter in GIMP is a great way to avoid this. Wavelet


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iWarp is a transform tool that allows you to move,shrink, grow, and otherwise bend the pixels within animage to your will. There is no shortage of controversysurrounding the use of this tool thanks to its overuse infashion magazines. For me, the purpose of iWarp is tomake subtle adjustments to perspective anomalies inan image, not to make every woman look like JessicaRabbit. iWarp should be used sparingly, as it is quiteobvious when it's used too liberally.

You can find this filter through Filters > Distorts > IWarp.

Figure 1.

The filter settings I use most frequently are the DeformModes shown in box 1. They are Move, Grow, andShrink, which allow you to stretch, expand, and shrinkparts of the image by dragging the mouse on thepreview image.

The variable settings shown in box 2 adjust how theDeform Mode affects the image. The Deform radius

around the pixel pointed to by the mouse. The Deformamount sets limits on how much the area can bedeformed in relation to surrounding pixels. The Bilinearoption improves the relationship between affectedpixels, resulting in a smoother appearance of theaffected area. For this particular adjustment, I haveselected a deform radius of 72, and have left all theother settings at their defaults. The deform radius is theprimary adjustment that I find myself using, oftenleaving all others in their default state.

Figure 2.

In this example image, iWarp has been used to remove

the bulging of the arm where it is pressed against theleg and the bulging of the upper arm where it ispressed against the rear wall. The adjustments aresubtle, which is the goal.

For a more in-depth description of iWarp's controls, visithttp://docs.gimp.org/en/plug-in-iwarp.html.

WAVELET DECOMPOSEOne of my very least liked things in fashion and portraitimages is over-edited skin where the result lookssomething like polished latex. The Wavelet Decompose

Decompose losslessly decomposes a layer of an imageinto layers of wavelet scales. Or, more simply put, itseparates the detail of an image into multiple editablelayers with detail levels progressing from fine to coarse.This allows you to remove coarse detail while leavingfine detail undisturbed.

I use Wavelet Decompose primarily for skin retouching.The benefit is that pores and other common skindetails are contained in the finer detail layers, whereaslarger blemishes are contained in the larger grain detaillayers. This means you can erase imperfections whileleaving pores and fine textures unchanged.

To use Wavelet Decompose, you must first download itfrom the GIMP Plugin Registry athttp://registry.gimp.org/node/11742 and install it inyour GIMP 2/lib/gimp/2.0/plug-ins folder. If you areusing Windows and would prefer to use a tool thathelps you install plugins (plus provides a wide variety of plugins), you can download the GIMP Extensions Packfor Windows from http://registry.gimp.org/node/27656.For Mac users, Simone Karin Lehmann does some greatbuilds for Mac with many extra filters and plugins

compiled in. You can find her work athttp://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/News/News.html. Oncethe Wavelet Decompose plugin is installed, you can findit through Filters > Generic > Wavelet decompose.

Figure 3.

Wavelet Decomwhen you seledetail layers arthe currently adetail, with laythe most coarsthat's left over.

The majority owill desire to rscales 4 and 5.remove unwaneraser's opacitythe method tha

I like to create scale 5 and se

A bonus of using Wavelet Decompose is that you can tools, I rarely use anything other than a circular 50%

h d b h Y ll i b hi h


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Figure 4.

I initialize the Layer Mask to White (full opacity) .

Figure 5.

Painting on the layer mask with black will reduce detailbased on the opacity of the paintbrush.

g p yalso use it to sharpen areas of an image.

You will notice that under the Wavelet scale layers is alayer called Wavelet residual . Since all of the detail of the image is contained in the Wavelet scale layers, theresidual layer is essentially not detail . By erasing partsof this layer, you are effectively removing not detail

and leaving only detail. This means you can easilysharpen selected areas, such as eyes, or bring out linedetails by tracing along them. You can control the

amount of sharpening by adjusting the opacity of theeraser tool. More opacity equals more sharpening, lessopacity equals less sharpening.

Experimentation is the best way to learn how to usethis filter, and, with some familiarization, the end resultcan look like the right-hand side of this before and afterimage:

Figure 6.

CLONING AND HEALINGIf you do portrait and/or fashion photography, youllfind that the Clone and Healing tools are your friends.For removing little blemishes from skin, the Healing toolis the way to go. And for lightening circles under theeyes, the Clone tool is hard to beat. When using these

hardness brush. You can get all intense about whichbrush to use for which situation, but, in practice, I findthat its rare for me to change my brush selection. But,of course, you should develop your own style.

THE CLONE TOOL

Figure 7.

The Clone tool uses a brush to copy from one area of an image and paint over another area. This tool has amultitude of uses. You can remove people from thebackground of an image, remove stray hairs, and soforth. This example demonstrates one method of usingthe Clone tool to lighten dark circles under the eyes.

Figure 8.

You can see by the square in the first image the areathat I wish to lighten In the next image the first circle is

and lighting in an image. Essentially it consists of creating a transparent layer creating a radial gradient


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that I wish to lighten. In the next image, the first circle isthe selection area that I will be cloning from. Thesecond circle is the area where I will be cloning to. Thelast image is the end result.

The Clone tool looks like a rubber stamp with a handle(Shortcut: C). You mark the area you wish to clone fromby holding down the Ctrl key and left-clicking on theimage at a point that you want to copy. In this case, Iselected a skin area that is light compared to the darkarea I wanted to lighten. For a more subtle lighteningeffect, I changed the Clone tools opacity to 10%. Once Ihad selected an appropriate brush, all that remainedwas to paint over the destination area.

THE HEALING TOOL

The Healing tool is similar to the Clone tool, but withone significant difference. While the Clone tool copiespixels from one area and replaces the pixels in another,the Healing tool copies pixels from one area, thenblends them with the pixels in another. The result of healing can be smoother in appearance than that of cloning, and is usually the best way to removeblemishes from skin.

Figure 9.

In the above image, box 1 is the Healing tool icon, whichlooks like crossed bandages (Shortcut: H). Circle 2 is thesample area and circle 3 is the area I want to heal. I setthe opacity much higher with the Healing tool that withthe Clone tool because of how it blends with thesurrounding pixels.

Before and after:

Figure 10.

SPOTLIGHTINGThis is more of a technique than a tool, but I have foundmyself using it more and more to enhance the feeling

creating a transparent layer, creating a radial gradienton the new transparent layer over a specific area of animage that you want to lighten, then changing the layermode to Soft light. From there you can change thelayers opacity to adjust the intensity of the light . Usingthis method, you can enhance existing lighting or evensimulate another light source in some cases. Ill walkthrough the steps.

1. Create a new layer and, when prompted, selectTransparency for the layer type.

2. Select the Blend tool. (Shortcut: L)

Figure 11.

3. In the Tool Options dialog for the Blend tool, set theBlend Mode to Normal, set the Gradient to FG toTransparent , and set the Shape to Radial.

Figure 12.

4. Make sure yon the newly cwhere you wouwith your moudirection until like the light to

result should l

There is another way that I use this technique regularly. colors, darken


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Figure 13.

5. Now, using the drop-down Mode menu at the top of the Layers dialog, change the mode of the layer fromNormal to Soft light. Use the layer Opacity slider toadjust the amount and intensity of the light.

Before and after:

Figure 14.

Figure 15.

Rather than using the Dodge tool to lighten eyes, Icreate a transparent layer, select a round 50%hardness brush, and reduce the size of the brush sothat I can paint with white directly over the whites of theeyes.

Figure 16.

By changing the layer mode of this transparent layer toSoft light, I can control the lightness of the eyes byadjusting the layer's opacity. I prefer this to dodgingand burning since a soft light adjustment from the layerabove seems to leave the pixels of the image lookingmore natural.

These are just two uses for the technique of painting orlaying color on a transparent layer and changing thelayer mode. By experimenting with gradient shapes andvarious colors you can come up with interesting effects.You can simulate light flares, change and augment

CURVESIn the photo wInstagram, the Photoshop actitrend. What yofilters are just Contrast, coloradjustments catopic could tak

attempt to offe

Select Colors >

Figure 17.

Click on the Channel drop-down menu and you will seefive options:

to adjust a color in the highlights, move the curve up ordown on the top right where the curve affects the

this, but it is wsharpening me


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five options:

1. Value2. Red3. Green4. Blue5. Alpha

We will focus on Value, Red, Green, and Blue.

The Value curve is fairly straight forward. If you were toconvert your image to black and white, every pixel in theimage would be some value between black and white.The Value curve adjusts the blacks and whites of yourimage, plus all of the greys in between. By selecting anypoint on the line, you can move that point up or down,and make it more white or more black.

On the left, the point at the bottom represents blackand affects the darkest parts of your image. On theright, the point at the top represents white and affectsthe lightest parts of your image. By moving the blackpoint on the bottom left upward, you will be lighteningshadows. By moving the white point at the topdownward, you will be darkening the highlights. Soagain, by selecting any point on the diagonal line, andmoving it up or down, you will lighten or darken thatValue in the image.

Color curves are similar, but operate slightly differently.To understand how they work, think not only of red,green, and blue, but also their opposites. When youlook at colors on a color wheel, red is opposite cyan,green is opposite magenta, and yellow is opposite blue.

Figure 18.

With color curves, moving a point on a curve up willincrease that color. Moving a point on the curve downwill increase its opposite. For example, with the Redcurve selected, if you want more red in the image, dragthe curve up. If you want more cyan in the image, dragthe red curve down. For the green curve, up meansmore green, down means more magenta. And for theblue curve, up means more blue, and down meansmore yellow.

That is reasonably simple. But you need to put bothconcepts together to understand how to use curveswell. Simply put, when using a Red, Green, or Bluecurve, if you want to adjust a color in the shadows, thenmove the curve up or down near the bottom left wherethe curves affect the darkest part of the image. Themiddle of the curve will adjust the midtones. If you want

down on the top right, where the curve affects thelightest part of the image.

Figure 19

In this image you can see that I lightened the shadows alittle using the Value curve, added some blue to theshadows using the Blue curve, added magenta to themidtones by pulling the Green curve down, and finishedby adding a little red to both the shadows andmidtones.

This will, of course, require experimentation, but as yougrasp how the various curves work, you will realize thata whole lot of the editing that is commonly done to animage can all be accomplished in the Curves dialog.

UNSHARP MASKI often wait until the end of an editing session tosharpen an image, and only sharpen when the image isat its final resolution. There are differing opinions on

sharpening meUnsharp Mask

Unsharp Maskand color invegives the imagsharpening meall editing techsubjective, butMask to most o

The Unsharp Mfunctional. Yo

Filters > Enha

You will be pr

Figure 20.

There are three primary options for this filter: Radius,Amount, and Threshold. Amount is fairly self-

technically more to it, but this generalization will giveyou a practical working understanding of how to use it.


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Amount, and Threshold. Amount is fairly selfexplanatory. It indicates how much emphasis is to beused on borders. I'll focus here on the Radius andThreshold sliders.

The simplest way to understand Radius is to firstunderstand what is meant by a border. Borders arenoticeable color and value transitions in an image.Simply put, the edge of a dress, or the transition fromiris to pupil in an eye, is a border. Since Unsharp Maskemphasizes borders, Radius is essentially how many

pixels away from the border you want that emphasis tobe noticeable.

Figure 21.

As a visual example, you can see how the border of thegrey bars will be emphasized in white.This is with a fairly low radius.

Figure 22.

You can see here that the grey bars now have a whitegradient around their borders that extends further thanin the first image because the Unsharp Mask filterradius has been increased.

So, by adjusting the radius of the unsharp mask, you willincrease or decrease how far away from the border theemphasis extends.

Threshold is a bit simpler. In practical terms, Thresholdcontrols the filters sensitivity to borders. So if you wantto emphasize the borders of the eyes or the lips, forexample, but dont want to emphasize the borders of subtle transitions in the skin, then raising the thresholdwill decrease the filter's sensitivity to border transitionsin an image. If you want detail emphasized in every littlepixel, then lowering the Threshold will increase thefilters sensitivity to border transitions. There is

you a practical working understanding of how to use it.If you would like to dig deeper, you can find a technicaldescription here: http://docs.gimp.org/en/plug-in-unsharp-mask.html.

The default slider settings for Unsharp Mask are veryusable in most instances, but experimentation is alwaysrecommended.

Here is one final recommendation when using UnsharpMask. Before using it, separate your image into HSV

layers (hue, saturation, and value), and apply theUnsharp Mask to the Value layer. The value layersimplifies all of the borders in an image by getting colorout of the way. The edges seem a little sharper, andthere seems to be less noise in the final image.

To separate an image into HSV layers, choose Colors >Components > Decompose, change the Color model toHSV, and click OK. A new window will open with yourimage separated into Hue, Saturation, and Value layers.Make sure the Value layer is selected, then apply theUnsharp Mask filter to it. After sharpening, chooseColors > Components > Recompose and GIMP willrecompose the three layers back onto the layer fromwhich you did the decompose.

So there it is. For better or for worse. I hope that withsome experimentation you will find using these imageadjustment steps helpful, and will be pleased with theresults you get.

Happy editing!


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