Gimp Software and Editing Help in General

[sister822]

Hello all,

I'm a beginner photographer, so at this time I'm using the free Gimp software. I'm not in the position to drop money on Photoshop. I use Gimp for very basic photo editing, mostly because I don't understand what all the features and functions are. Anyone have suggestions on how I can learn what everything means? I never see any tutorials on this site for using Gimp software. I don't find the Gimp online tutorials very helpful.

One main thing I'm trying to learn about in Gimp is what Layers are and how they can be used.

Thanks in advance!

Alex

[tjphoto]

Don't knock it, haven't you heard the best things in life are free!If you go back to the GNU site you can down load a manual with all tuts on using GIMP.Not to mention anything you can or want to do in photo shop you can do in gimp,Give it ago, you will be surprised!It has the same functions just in another but simular spot.(same bucket different sh*t)only the name them alittle different too.Colour adjust VS Hue & Sat.
best thing I learnt at first ctrl c = copy ctrl v= Paste & crrl t = transform this works for most programes.

[naeno]

Want to learn more than you ever thought possible about GIMP? Go to http://docs.gimp.org/en/ . It has a WEALTH of information. It's also available in other languages.

A lot of times, if I'm trying to figure out how to do something, and can't quite make it work, I just google it including GIMP in my search. Generally I find exactly what I'm looking for within just a few clicks.

FYI, Layers are a very powerful tool, as is masking. Layers will allow you to work with specific elements in a photo rather than the whole picture itself. The photo below is an example of what you can do when working with many layers and masking. It was taken for the jump assignment. (Did you know that only a knight can jump on a chess board? I didn't until know).

[cphoniball]

If you're still looking for help, the best resource I've found for just starting GIMP is meetthegimp.org

It's a video pod-cast based series of explanations of different post-production techniques using GIMP. I would just go through and find episodes based on techniques you want to learn - in the beginning it'll be kind of tough to figure out what's going on, but it gets a lot easier once you figure out your way around the program and understand what layers, masks, and so on do. And, for me at least, seeing it in video was the best way to learn.

Hope it helps.

[Bevlyn22]

I'm such a novice with all this editing and trying to understand how to use Gimp, so am very thankful to find helpful advice like this. Maybe now I'll finially get somewhere.Thank You.

[BenfromGermany]

Hey there, I'm new to digital photography and using the Gimp 2.6.6 (latest release) is totally freaking me out.
I have been installing it three times now but whenever I open a new picture and try to work on it, the program crshes (I'm using Windows Vista)
Has anyone had the same problems as me and, perhaps, already a clue how to solve that?

Thanks for the help.

[oldwolf]

There are lots of tutorials online for GIMP but if you're looking for a hard copy of a book then try this one.

Amazon.com: Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition (Beginning from Novice to Professional) (9781430210702): Akkana Peck: Books

These other two have good recommendations but I don't have experience with them.

Amazon.com: GIMP 2 for Photographers: Image Editing with Open Source Software (9781933952031): Klaus Goelker: Books

Amazon.com: The Artist's Guide to GIMP Effects: Creative Techniques for Photographers, Artists, and Designers (9781593271213): Michael J. Hammel: Books

[a0x808080]

Originally Posted by BenfromGermany

Gimp 2.6.6 (latest release) is totally freaking me out.
I have been installing it three times now but whenever I open a new picture and try to work on it, the program crshes (I'm using Windows Vista)

There have been a lot of problems with the 2.6.6 version on Windows. Not sure if there's any fix yet beyond uninstalling it and then installing the 2.6.5 version which you can download here: Download GTK+ and The GIMP installers for Windows from SourceForge.net