This weekend I learned how to do something I'd been wanting to learn for a while. I know you've seen those gorgeous pictures that are black and white with a splash or two of color. Well, I wanted to know how to do that with my pictures so I went looking. Most of the links I found pointed me towards Adobe Photoshop (way to damned expensive) or Picasa (free but I don't like the way it wants to create its own folders for everything). Then I found a page talking about creating images like this with a program called GIMP. I know, its a really strange name for a program but GIMP actually stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. This program is 100% free. It doesn't try to create its own photo storage files when I already have mine in place. And, it will do almost everything Adobe Photoshop does. Yeah, you read that right. All that power and NO out of pocket cost. In short, it is perfect for my purposes. For just a little time an a little effort, I was able to use a picture I took to create this...
Download GIMP 2.6.6 – Installer for Windows 2000 and above
GimpGuru - tutorials for all the GIMP wonders. B&W with selective colorization is under advanced tutorials but is easy to follow.
Getting to do what I want and getting to do it for free definitely qualifies for a perfect moment in my book.
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PS...the only thing the selective colorization tutorial doesn't cover is the saving step and this is what worked for me....
click on layer
- click on merge down
- click on save as
- select folder to save it in
- click on save
- click on export
- click on save
15 comments:
That is the coolest flippin' thing ever. My sister just installed Photoshop on my home computer, but 1.) I haven't had the chance to play around with it yet and 2.) I already know that it's complicated as all get out until you've gone through some painstaking tutorials. Thanks for this link; I'm sure I'll be having some fun with it on the zoo pictures I took this weekend!
wow~! Thanks for letting us know. I have always wanted to manipulate my photos but the software is outrageous! I will give GIMP a try! Great photo BTW!!
Thats awesome! Thanks for the link, I am going to have to try and download it today!
OOOOHHHH pretty! You did a great job AND it's free! A perfect Monday moment, for sure!
Love it! Great job and a lovely pic too! I love doing that to photos!
What a great tip! I hope to experiment with this over the summer.
Can I also say that every time I come her, I just love the feel and color of your blog? It makes me want to melt into it.
That's great. Thanks for sharing. I am going to check it out!
HA! I LOVE the GIMP. People always laugh at me for that... but it's free and it's all sorts of awesomeness.
Rock on with the editing you did. Nice.
Beautiful! I need to go try GIMP, too. Thanks!
Beautiful! I'll have to bookmark this for a later date! :-)
I've used Adobe before, but it takes some time to figure it out. I may have to try this program out, and play with some kiddo pics. Thanks for posting something that is free, because you know a mom has to have some of the perks without having to pay for them, right?
OK that's amazing. Thanks for ht tip. I would love to be able to create something that beautiful.
OMFG! You are an absolute legend!! I downloaded the software, bookmarked the page and attempted my own photo. It turned out great if you ask me! Thanks so much! You have no idea how much and for how long I've wanted to be able to do this for, and now I can!! I'm gonna be posting it on my blog for others to see and you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm going to be giving you the credit for enabling to me do this!
This is gonna be GREAT for my scrapbooking as well! So thanks again.
BTW, love your photo too. And the blog!
That photo is lovely, thanks for sharing the link.
Here via Intricately Complex. I'll be back.
Kristin that is so good ,I like just that little splash of color, I've downloaded it and will try it out today.
thanks for sharing the link !!
see you in January.
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