Experimenting with Gimp: sharpening, curves,...

[TheMoons678]

I recorded a demo of me doing a basic edit with GIMP: sharpening layer, curves, vignette. As I did the curves and vignette I wasted time showing how manipulating the curve will produce different effects. I'm still very new to this so feel free to throw out any tips.



Sharpening Layer:
right click layer > duplicate layer
filters>enhance> unsharpen mask (it actually sharpens)
choose values for sharpening
adjust opacity of sharpening layer
flatten layers

After sharpening I had noticeable noise/blemishes on the face that i smoothed out with the blur (tear drop) and smudge (finger) tools.

Curves (contrast)
colors>curves
created slight sinusoidal curve to increase contrast (notice in histogram the image was over exposed with clipping to begin with)

Vignette
New layer icon (foreground color = black)
right click layer > layer mask (black)
click gradient tool (select radial from drop down box under tool options)
adjust curves of vignette layer just created

[wulf]

I think the video could do with an audio track explaining what you are doing and why, or at least some subtitles. To some extent, you give the what in the post above but what I am more interested in (and what would open up more options for suggesting alternative approaches to consider) would be why you chose each particular option.

Wulf