Gimp/Photoshop tutorial

Hello everyone,

I think I am supposed to post an online tutorial for the workshop I'm doing tomorrow, so here is a helpful video I found. I am working with GIMP, because it is free, but the process should be extremely similar in photoshop. See you in class!

Theresa

Apparently I am also supposed to do a step by step, so here it is.

1. Open two images, one for the subject and another for the background.

2. If you want, adjust the opacity bar for the background image.

3. Right-click on background image. Go to Layer - New Layer. Choose White for the layer fill type. Now you have a transparent background image on a white background. You could make the background a color other than white using the paint bucket tool.

4. In your subject image, click on the paths tool in the toolbox.

5. Click around your subject to create a path selection. If you make a mistake, click the backspace button or drag the points into place. If you come to a difficult to select area, like hair, just make a wide path around it. We can fix this using the eraser tool later.

6. Ctrl click to connect the first dot to the last to complete your selection.

7. Right click, go to Selection, and click "From Path." The selection should turn into flashing dashes.

8. Right click - Edit - Copy

9. Go back to your background image and go to Edit - Paste as - new layer. Your subject should now appear as a new layer in front of your background. To manage which layer is on top, drag them in order in the layer window. Click on the eyeballs next to layers to make them appear/disappear.

10. Resize your subject layer if needed using the scale tool in the toolbox. If you don't want your image to be distorted, make sure you click on the chain picture in the window that pops up. Drag your subject into the size you want, and then click the "Scale" button in the pop up window.

11. Use the eraser tool to clean up any rough edges. You can use the zoom tool to zoom in, and change the size and hardness of the eraser in the toolbox window to handle small details.

12. When saving your image, make sure the file extension is compatible with Premiere, like .jpeg or .png