Re: [Gimp-user] Need help repairing image

[Steve Kinney <admin pilobilus net>]

On 12/27/2011 09:28 PM, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:

[ ...a whole bunch of stuff that I mostly left out of this reply, and:]

> I just don't know how to look at two or more layers on my screen
> all at once, you in separate display windows.  [...] I would feel
> more comfortable if I could see the thing I am cloning from _and_
> the thing I am cloning to, all at once, in two windows on the same
> screen...

In the Layers dialog, click and drag the layer that will be your
"source" for cloning onto the button field on your main toolbox. 
Boom, a new image opens that IS that layer, only.  Select your
cloning origin normally by ctrl-clicking on the new image, go to the
original image window and start painting with copied pixels.  Done? 
Select the temporary window and close it.

> P.S.  How does one just simply merge two images?  I'd really like
> to see what my img001-inverted.jpg and img001-inverted2.jpg would
> look like if they were smashed together.  (And actually, maybe the
> combination of those two is the thing that I really want to be
> cloning from.)

Put the two images on two layers, and whichever is on top, dial back
that layer's opacity some via the slider in the Layers dialog in the
dock where it lives.  If you end up looking at a finished image you
like but needs some more work, do "copy visible" (a.k.a.
ctrl+shift+c) and "paste" (a.k.a. ctrl-v), click the "new layer"
button to make the floating selection a "real" layer, and what you
saw is what you get as a single layer - without destroying the
layers you were blending together.

Note that you can do filters and corrections on a copy of a layer,
"overdo" it a bit on purpose, then adjust the opacity of the altered
layer to "dial back" the effect on the finished image until it looks
"just right". 

You can also apply a filter that you only want to use "here and
there" on an image to a whole duplicate layer, add a black layer
mask to it, select the black mask, and start to paint on the image
with white.  This amounts to "painting with" the filter you applied,
just as and where you want it to be applied.  Overshot your mark? 
Try painting over the excess white with black, to sharpen the
corners or make the edges go exactly where you want.  "Undo" is one
black brush stroke away no matter how many steps back the "error" in
"applying the filter to the image" was made.

> kind-of reminds me of my old days, 40 years ago, back in the
> darkroom when I used to play around with "solarizing" prints. 
> What fun!

Yup, I loves me some electric darkroom action. Not to mention the
bargain price for all that electric film!

:o)

Steve

P.S. I should not do this, because you might have too much fun:

http://registry.gimp.org/node/13469

Download the version for your OS, extract it from the archive, and
drop it into the plug-ins directory wherever your GIMP program files
live.  Then start the GIMP, open some image or other, and go to
Filters > G'MIC...  280 filters, nice big preview pane, expect
multiple OMFG moments.