GIMP DISCUSSIONS

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Horus
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

Nice one Grandad, I see you have been keeping busy over the holiday, this type of thing is very subjective and the frame is really up to you, but often a bit of perspective adds to the effect, although it's not always required. I have not done any myself for a while and cannot remember which ones I posted so have not uploaded any examples with this post as I may have already shown them to you all.

Kiya the correct term is OOB or "Out Of Bounds" and sometimes called OOF or "Out of Frame"
I see that you have already got my tutorials planned out for the New Year :lol: :lol:
I will start you off with something new shortly, at the moment I am trying to explain IR (Infra Red) photography using Photshop to someone. :tk

I hope you have all been having fun with your new Ellements programme. :up


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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Grandad »

Horus wrote:Nice one Grandad, I see you have been keeping busy over the holiday, this type of thing is very subjective and the frame is really up to you, but often a bit of perspective adds to the effect, although it's not always required.
I hope you have all been having fun with your new Elements programme. :up
The thing I most like about OOB Horus is the 3D effect that it can create. I also like part of an image coming out of the frame as if to come alive.

I am liking Elements 11 for a number of reasons. The desktop is a much nicer layout. It is a lighter grey that I didn't like at first but am happy with it now. There are convenient buttons at the bottom of screen to switch on and off such things as layers panel and tool options. PSE11 now includes a number of 'paths' options that will come into their own when you have shown us more about 'smart text' when we will be able to run it along shapes or curves of our choosing.

The tools, filters, and menus are basically the same as PSE7 but the whole program is now much more intuitive.

Having said that, there is very little that cannot be done with Gimp and the transition shoud not be difficult.

I WISH EVERYONE A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THAT ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE IN 2013. :d1:
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

Oh I reckon you should always have stuff sticking up or outside of the frame to give a good effect, people or animals are usually good subjects especially if you can make them walk out of the frame. Of course the same technique can be used with buildings, vehicles or pretty well anything that you can set your mind to using and giving the frame a perspective towards the action will help to emphasise it better.

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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Kiya »

Nice one Horus :)

Looking forward to all the new tutorials next year : :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE

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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

And "long may your own chimney smoke" Kiya ;) and a very happy New Year to you all. :up

My own clan tartan
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Kiya »

And a very nice tartan it is :) :)
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

Thank you Kiya, do you know which one it is?
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Kiya »

Nope sorry I don't :( ......out of thousands of tartans I cant say I have seen this one , perhaps you will enlighten me :?: :)
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

I will give you a clue:
Look for two castles in your own area. ;)
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Grandad »

I don't know anything about tartans but saw this as a bit of a challenge. The nearest I could get Horus was Sinclair of Ulbster, and Thurso Castle in Caithness???

Happy New Year.

Edit: Just noticed my out of date avatar....just off to change it. :lol:

Edit, Edit: That's done. If you see this on any other site with a variety of usernames it will be me. :lol:
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Kiya »

I think it is the Clan Gordon Tartan..............and it could be Huntly Castle or Aboyn Castle.
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

;) @ kiya :lol: :lol:
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Kiya »

HUNTLY CASTLE

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And do you remember this one, it seems a long time ago now

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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

I remember it well Kiya, I see the clan have let it go a bit :lol: :lol:
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Kiya »

:lol: :lol: they have indeed!!
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Grandad »

Not much of a day here today and it's feeling colder so some time to look through the albums for any final sorting. I was reminded that on a thread about a year ago (I can't find the post in question) I said that I was going to take a series of pictures of the old railway embankment that runs immediately behind my house. I think i referred to it as My Tunnel.

I only ended up with three images because the seasonal changes were not too evident. However, I have mentioned this here because I wanted to crop the three pictures so that they appear to have been taken from the same point. I opened a 'new' blank file and set the size about 50% larger in each direction than the picture sizes.

I opened the three pictures as separate layers then by working with two open at a time I was able to reduce the opacity of the top layer and move it until the detail was approximately coincident with the layer beneath.

I then switched off the top layer and opened the third picture as a new top layer and adjusted it as above. This meant that I had three images all appearing to be taken from the same point. All I needed to do was make them visible and crop to get the largest frame which contained all three pictures.

My original 'new' blank needed to be larger to enable me to move images around on it and not loose and detail.

I have posted this here because I think it is an illustration of another use for layers. Here is a collage showing winter, spring and summer. Look for the twisted bough, upper centre, which I used as my marker. I have added the second picture because the girl came along on her bike and made a pleasing picture IMO. :)

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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

Excellent use of what you’ve already learned about using layers Grandad, it really emphasises what I always say to people about learning to use some sort of editing software. You really don’t have to be into creating fancy images or artwork to use it to good effect in your everyday photography as you have certainly done here, it is all a case of just applying what you learn to any given task. Smashing montage by the way and once we get past the middle image we should be on our way again, roll on Spring and Summer, I hardly used my camera last year it was so dismal most of the time. At least now we have all year to look forwards to and to quote a dear old lady I knew who would always say to me “Well I have made it up May Bank for another year” this was a reference to a very steep local hill and the fact that at her age she had made it through the Winter into another year. Alas she is no longer with us, but her little phrase remains my inspiration at the prospect of another year to come. :)
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Kiya »

Very nice Grandad :) ...............................still don't trust myself with layer's but I do try sometimes ;)
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Grandad »

I have just worked through those two 'paths' tutorials Horus and it is such a good job that I have printed everything because I am not remembering all the moves from previous tutorials too well, and the reference is invaluable. :up

I am becoming very comfortable working with layers but I can imagine that if we were working on quite a complex picture with several layers and then added more 'paths' layers, the layers panel could become quite crowded. I suppose the secret is to, when possible, merge layers down to reduce the number in use.

On another matter, I have been wondering if a graphics tablet would be a good investment and give more precise control than a mouse. Do you have any comment on that and if so what important features should a tablet possess and what affordable tablet (say under £100) would you recommend?

Thanks :up
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Re: GIMP DISCUSSIONS

Post by Horus »

Taking each point in turn Grandad.
1. You are not alone in not remembering things from previous tutorials, my head is like a sieve these days so I wouldn't worry on that account. I may seem like a fount of knowledge to you, but rest assured that I often have to go over something again and refresh my knowledge before teaching it to you guys and then I probably forget most of it if I don't use it for a while. That is why I keep banging on about practicing what you know as usually the repetition makes it stick in your head a bit better. ;)

2. Yes it can become crowded and yes it is advisable to merge layers when you are sure they are no longer needed, but it is often just as easy to switch them off instead. Alternatively you can 'park up' some unused layers at the bottom in a close stack and switch them all off, that way you can always fish one back out again and move it to the correct place if you needed it. In reality you will not be using Paths a great deal and when you do so they are usually in 'created' type images, so you don't often have many picture image layers to deal with at the same time. Also remember that a PATH does not always have to occupy a seperate layer all to itself, that is only required when constructing 'created' images, more often than not a PATH can be added to an existing picture layer and would only be visible IF you were to go into the PATHS tab and turn the visibility ON. So in essence you should not have many additional layers in your list even if you do add some PATHS for whatever reason. :up

3. This is a difficult one for me as I do actually own one and have done for many years, but I rarely if ever use it. I suppose I should say at this point that I am pretty fast with a mouse as I used to do CAD design an could whizz around doing engineering drawings with just a mouse so never really have a problem. The original pen tablets used to have lots of icons that were specifically set up for CAD type drawing so they were very handy as you only had to touch the pen to select various tools and I reckon they will still be very good when used for a dedicated programme. There is really only one make to look at as far as I am concerned and that is the WACOM range and they do some very good ones and you could get a good one for under £100.
Take a look at this link for Amazon:
This would be a very good value entry level tablet and do most of what you would need from it and you could decide if or not it was the thing for you, many people just cannot get to grips with using a pen as you do need a different skill set to use one. They are never quite as they claim and on a personal note I can draw freehand with a mouse better than with one of these.

The other thing is the workspace size, the more expensive ones are larger, but don't be too put of by this. Imagine that the small area of the pen tablet workspace is say only A5 and your monitor is a 24" then it will all be relative, so you do not have to reposition your mouse to move around, rather you lift your pen and place it or touch the same position on your smaller pad and it translates to the same position on your larger screen (if that makes sense)
You can normally apply pen pressure that will relate to a heavier or lighter flow of ink or colour in Editing and Painting programmes and on some models (more expensive) they will also have the ability to be reversed and the end used as an eraser.
Here is a better version of the same sort of tablet, but you really need to read all the blurb and the comments to get a feel for the differences.


So in essence Grandad I do own one, but hardly use it, they are in my opinion like Marmite, you either love or hate them. They can be used on other programmes instead of a mouse and some people swear by them and others wish they had never bought one. So my advice would not be against you buying one as you may love it, rather to not spend a lot of money until you have tried one out. They may still have them on demo in PC World (but don't buy from them, too expensive) and you could try one out.
The last thing to consider, but this may or may not be a problem, but I have heard of people having a conflict with 'some' editing software when using one.
Sorry not to have been more positive or helpfull, but it really is one of those personal choice things. :)

EDIT: Grandad take a look at the Flash Video option just below the product image and it will give you a better idea of the differences and the uses of both types. Worth noting that they both keep plugging that pretty useless feature of writing with a pen rather than what other practical benefits there are of actually using one over a mouse. :(
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