PICTURE
PERFECT
range between the lighter and darker
areas. The Hue-Saturation panel will
let you alter the hue of primitive colors
within your image—turning green
grass to blue, for instance. It’s also use-
ful for emphasizing the color of the sky
or the intense blue of a swimming pool.
For technical alterations, the Curves
window adds a fi ne degree of control
over each color channel in an image.
It displays an intensity graph for the
chosen channel, and you can expand
or decrease the levels of intensity by
adding points to a curve that stretches
across the graph.
As with most other eff ects, the
image updates in real time. Even aft er
you’ve clicked OK, you can easily
reverse the process using Undo. This
means you don’t need to understand
the eff ects to be able to give them a
try, and even trial and error will yield
useful results.LAYERED EFFECTS
Using layers and fi lters together gets
you the best of both worlds. Layers can
be quickly duplicated, leaving you free
to experiment with a new eff ect on the
new layer without fear of ruining your
overall image. A new layer can then be
blended into other layers, placed above
or below other layers, or even disabled
with a single click on the Eye icon.
Filters will also work over the edges of
a layer, creating a more natural blend
than applying the eff ect to a hard selec-
tion. When applying one eff ect aft er
another to a single layer, you quickly
lose track of what it is you’ve done.
Using a new layer for each eff ect solves
this problem and gives you a more fl ex-
ible solution in the process. But the best
thing about all of this is that you don’t
need any particular skill to give it a go.
Just try one eff ect aft er another to see
what each one does.EXPERT ADVICEUsing Layer Masks
STEP BY STEPThree Fantastic Effects
Despite sounding more like a technology from a 1970s science-
fi ction fi lm, layer masks are relatively easy to understand. A layer
mask is a grayscale image attached to a layer. The darker the areas
in the mask, the more of the original image is allowed to show
through. It’s a special layer that defi nes how opaque the image is
going to be at any point. The best way to understand how to use
a layer mask is to try it out. The perfect example is the artifi cial
creation of a false focal point within an image. Load your image into
GIMP and duplicate the original layer. Select the new layer and apply
the Gaussian effect from the Filters > Blur menu. It needs to be
dramatically blurred to the extent you can no longer make out the
details in the original image.
Now create a layer mask on this layer by right-clicking it and
selecting Add Layer Mask. You’ll see its thumbnail image appear
to the right of the blurred image. Edit Layer Mask in the right-click
menu will also be selected and that means that any editing you do
in the main window will draw onto the layer mask. Make sure your
foreground and background pen colors are black and white, then
select the Blend tool. This creates color gradients, and if you drag a
line across the layer mask it’ll draw a white-black gradient and, in
the process, let some of the original (focused) image through. For
best results, try the Radial shape in the Tool Options dialog.- OLD PHOTO
What would GIMP be if it didn’t offer a sepia effect? It can
be found in Filters > Decor and uses blur and a mottled
surface effect, as well as sepia tones, to create that “just
found in the attic” effect. - IWARP
There are many distortion effects to choose from and they
can all be found in Filters > Distorts, but our favorite is the
iWarp effect. This enables you to drag a magic cursor across
the preview panel to suck and grow bits of your image! - LIGHTING
The lens fl are effect may have become something of a cli-
ché, but there are other light effects that still look good. The
Lighting Effects fi lter bundles the best of them by letting you
add up to six different light sources into your scene.
58 | MAXIMUMPC | DEC 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com