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Inserting Pictures

Now that we have the template completed. The following steps can be repeated to create different inserts for our frame, based on the tempate.

• Load up the tempate file (FrameTemplate.xcf) and immediately do a “Save As…” so that we can begin to populate the frame. I’m calling this one “SpacePictures.xcf” This is so that I don’t accidentally modify the template.
• Use File -> Open to load the photo you want to paste in the frame. Select the entire picture (Edit->Select All) or just the part you want, and copy it to the clipboard (Edit -> Copy.)
• Close the image and switch back to your frame image. Select the layer of the first hole you want to populate (click on the image portion, not the mask) and paste it (Edit -> Paste.) This creates a “Floating Selection” at the top of your layer stack. At first, you may not see your image, because it may be hiden behind the mask. You will however see a selected outline. Use the Move tool to move the pasted image into place. Once you get it over the desired hole, the image will be come visible.

• Now you can also resize the image with the scale tool. Click on the scale icon in the toolbar to activate it. When using the scale tool, you will likely want to turn on the Keep aspect constraint located at the bottom of the Gimp window.

  To help with placing the image, you can temporarily lower the opacity using the slider on the Layers Window. Once the image is in place, right click on the Floating Selection and select Anchor Layer. This makes the pasted image part of the selected layer.

• Now, repeat this process for each photo you want to place in the frame. Open the image, copy it to the clipboard, select the destination layer, paste, move and resize then anchor.

When you’re finished, you will probably want to save your work in the navitve Gimp format (xcf). Print out your collage and try it out in your frame. If you need to tweak it, you can just modify the proper layer. You can also delete and redo layers individually.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 19th, 2005 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Digital Photography, The Gimp. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.