Post Processing with the GIMP

Summary notes and links for my talk last night. I’ll expand a little on this as I find time over the next day or so.

Get the GIMP from gimp.org. It’s a free download. The Windows version weighs in at around 16MB, but it also runs on Mac OS X and Linux. (On Mac OS X you’ll have to install the X11 package too)

Essential GIMP tools for photographers:

1. Curves

2. Levels

3. Crop

4. Resize

5. Unsharp Mark

Layers are a very important part of the post processing experience. Learn to use them along with layer masks and modes.

A handy way of creating a polarizer effect on a blue sky is by creating a new transparent layer, set the mode to overlay, and then select the gradient tool. Make sure it’s set to FG->transparent and the foreground colour is black. Draw from the top of your image. Hey Presto!

Dodge/Burn functions do exactly what they do in the darkroom. They brighten and darken areas of the image you apply them to. Remember to apply gently, not like I did last night!

2008-02-11 Update – GIMP For Photographers: Levels covers the basics of using the levels tool!