GIMP noob

[ericw]

I just downloaded GIMP the other day. What would be the best way to remove the wrinkles in the background of this photo? I was thinking of using vignetting to maybe make them less distracting but I usually don't like that look so I was hoping for something else...

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Photo information
March 16, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/125 sec
Aperture: 2.8
Focal Length: 70mm
Flash Used: No

[wulf]

An iron? If you want a flat background, it is probably easier to iron your sheets before you hang them up as a background.

However, assuming it isn't possible to reshoot or you've just got the one picture to work on, here is what I would do:

1. Create two duplicate layers. Let's call them, from the top: "soldier", "sheet" and "original".

2. Hide the soldier layer and select the sheet layer. With the clone tool, paint a sheet like effect over the edges of the soldier. Now apply a gaussian blur (blur enough to hide the wrinkles). The cloning is to avoid creating a halo effect in the final result.

3. Reshow the soldier layer. Add a layer mask (white - full opacity). Now you can start painting black on the mask to let the blurred sheet show through. If you make a mistake, paint back in the soldier using white.

The end result should be the soldier on a much hazier background. That's probably already too much detail and I've skipped other refinements for simplicity, so ask away and I or others can fill in the gaps.

Wulf

[sybren]

If you are unable to create the background you want (for instance because you don't have an iron) put more distance between your subject and the background. That will make the seams more out of focus and less distracting.

[skipjack]

Still learning here. But would it be possible to use the healing tool and take a sample of the cloth and use it all over the picture. Will it be possible to remove all those wrinkles?
Sry if i edited your picture, wanted to show you what i meant.

[ericw]

Skipjack I think that looks really good! And Wulf thanks for the mini-instructional - I'll try it when I get home from work and post my questions.

Regarding why the background is wrinkled - this shot was taken at a b+w photo class I'm in and the instructor provided the background - I have no idea why he wouldn't have ironed his new background before having a model come in for us to photograph but...

The model was about 6 ft in front of the background I'd say? What's the norm for background - subject distance in these situations? I tried to use a big aperture but, this thing was pretty wrinkled

[sybren]

It's all about ratios - in this case the ratio between the camera-to-subject and camera-to-background distance. So if your subject is two meters (I use the metric system like most people in that small part of the world outside the US ;-) ) away from the background, and you're 30 meters away from your subject you'll probably have a very in-focus background. If on the other hand you're one meter away from your subject the background will be quite blurry.

[wulf]

It might be worth (gently) asking the instructor next time. A detail like that is easy to overlook until you get to sit and look at the photos and spot the flaws.

To be honest, even in the original, the soldier looks very sharp compared to the background. Vintage photos tend to be slightly soft (partly aging and partly because modern lenses have pushed towards greater sharpness). Therefore a touch of blur across everything might help the vintage effect AND deal with the distraction of the background.

Wulf

[ericw]

Could someone please go into more detail on how to avoid the halo effect. I did the cloning thing but when I'm painting on the mask the appearance of the halo still depends on how close I get to the soldier and if I paint over the edge of the soldier I still lose his detail as my "Sheet" layer is really blurred quite a bit.

[wulf]

Can you show us what you've got so far?

Wulf

[ericw]

Here's what I've got so far. If you check out the large version you can see the halo type thing. I think it's somewhat obvious around his hat/hair, but elsewhere I'm pretty pleased. Does this look obviously fake? It almost seems like too much blur, but you can still barely see the creases. I think I want to add some grain, then maybe it won't look so smoothed over.

I don't understand what the cloning step does, as the cloned area is not visible; I paint around the outside of the outline of the soldier (I cloned the backdrop onto the inside edge of the outline). Also, what does the base layer do? it would seem the only visible layers are the top two?

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