Practicing image manipulation with GIMP

It’s been a while since I’ve done any image manipulation, so last night I randomly decided to play with GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program, basically an open-source alternative to Photoshop, although admittedly not as powerful).

I wanted to play with a technique I’ve seen used before – dropping the saturation of the background, to make the subject of the photo stand out more. I’ve seen this used to good effect several times, so wanted to try it myself.

My result was:

Ryanair plane at Knock (after desaturating background)
Ryanair plane at Knock (after desaturating background)

For comparison, the original untouched image is:

Ryanair plane at Knock (original image)
Ryanair plane at Knock (original image)

(For both images, click them for a bigger version)

I think I’ll try to learn some more advanced manipulation techniques, to start creating more interesting images. One day soon, I’m going to get myself a half-decent DSLR and get into photography a lot more.

One thought on “Practicing image manipulation with GIMP”

  1. I’ve seen a tutorial somewhere of using GIMP to have a torn image effect on an image. I’ve never really tried using GIMP, still prefer Photoshop, especially with lots of plug ins. But I think this one’s a neat alternative to photoshop as it is a freeware.

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