Download the Video! (31.0 MB, 16:18)
Download the Video for mobile devices! (29.8 MB, 16:18)
Download the Torrent!
Download the Companion File!

This week I have a challenge for you. Do my homework and edit my shot from our Samba Carneval. You’ll find the JPEG and the NEF (RAW image by a Nikon D200) of a shot I did from my window. It is not a good photograph but catches a beautiful moment. Improve the image, store it somewhere on the Internet and post a link to it in the comments. You can embed a small version of it in a comment, just copy the HTML code from 23, flickr or other sites. It should be there in a box to cut and paste.

Then I’ll tell you why you always shall set your camera settings to a defined standard state before you put your camera in the bag or cupboard. I didn’t and it has ruined a whole series of shots from this occasion.

Have you ever wondered how to make a selection with a zig-zag border? Well, if you have, I have the answer. (Stolen from Saul Goode, BTW ) I was reminded that a Quickmask is an image and so can be editied much better than a selection. Making waves and sawteeth into it then is “elementary”.

And finally I reveal how I built a dust free blackboard and chalk with GIMP. The blackboard from the “Basics” series looses its mystery.

I made a TOC and forgot to save it.

Tags: blackboard, chalk, challenge, editing a selection, quickmask, selection
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial | 14 Comments »

Download the Video! (58.1 MB, 30:32)
Download the Video for iPods etc (37.1 MB, 30:32)
Download the Torrent! (likely broken)

The results of the Book Challenge have been so interesting that I have made two shows out of them. This is the second part.

If you want to buy Akkana Peck’s book from amazon.com in the US, go to her website and use her link. She gets a bit more money out of it and you pay the same.

The TOC

00:50 Threshold tool revisited
02:40 Ityker’s image
04:00 Selective decolorisation
05:00 Layer mask for selective decolorisation
05:00 Layer mask shortcuts
06:00 Duotone
08:45 Sample points
10:00 Preventing tonal change of the colorisation layer
11:10 Sharpening layer
12:50 Fake view cam cassete shadow
14:30 Mathias’ image
15:50 Image sources
17:00 Layers for ressources
18:40 Combining different exposures
19:25 Healing spots and bra straps
20:30 Layers for sculpting the hair
22:40 The sky – overlay mode
23:50 The sign
24:00 Layer groups
25:00 Dodge and burn on a layer in soft light mode
26:00 Unsharp mask for enhancing local and global contrast
27:20 The John Arnold Style Vignette(R)

Meet the GIMP Video Podcast by Rolf Steinort and Philippe Demartin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://meetthegimp.org.

Tags: challenge, layers
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial | 6 Comments »

Download the Video! (48.0 MB, 25:16)
Download the Video for iPods etc (35.1 MB, 25:16)
Download the Torrent! (likely broken)

The results of the Book Challenge have been so interesting that I have made two shows out of them. This is the first part.

If you want to buy Akkana Peck’s book from amazon.com in the US, go to her website and use her link. She get’s a bit more money out of it and you pay the same.

It’s worth to keep an eye on John Arnold’s Photowalkthrough, perhaps something special is coming up there.

The TOC

03:30 Kevin’s image
04:00 Bracketing
05:30 Darkening parts of the image with curves and layer mask
06:30 Combining different images from the bracketed shots
09:00 image composition
10:00 Spray paint
10:10 Notes in a separate layer
12:00 jd24w9’s image
12:00 Combining background and foreground from different shots
12:50 Don’t merge your layers – keep them!
13:45 Better use a different shot for the sky – fake but easier
14:25 Ted’s image
14:40 Tab toggles the toolbox on and off the screen
15:00 Divide the image in several parts and process them differently
16:30 Overlay Mode for enhancing brickwork
17:15 Making a surreal sky with multiply mode
18:45 Gimpel’s image
20:00 Threshold tool for black and white
21:15 painting over the image
22:00 Wrapping up
22:35 Server problems and PCN

Meet the GIMP Video Podcast by Rolf Steinort and Philippe Demartin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://meetthegimp.org.

Tags: challenge
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial | 4 Comments »

Download the Video! (100.0 MB, 52:38)
Download the Video for iPods etc (61.9 MB, 52:38)
Download the Torrent! (likely broken)
Download the Companion File!

This week you’ll get both hosts of the show in one package. Philippe (southern France) and I (northern Germany) discuss the results of the Double Book Challenge in the “From Scratch” section. We use Skype and the connection is not as good as we were used to it between Chile and Germany.  So expect some funny noises added to the accents.

At the end of the show we both come up with a random number and calculate in a highly scientific way who wins the two books. I’ll give you all a chance to find out in the video if you have won and contact the winners later next week. And IF YOU have won, send me your contact data so that I can forward them to APRESS, who sponsor the prizes.

All the images we talked about are in the companion file.

Tags: challenge, gimp book
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial, meetthegimp | 15 Comments »

 

 Podcast Video (63.1 MB): [42:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 Torrent: Download
 The image as XCF file: Download

Someone in Russia with the IP 23.142.32.11 is constantly downloading this file. More than 10000 times today. I have pulled the video off the server until the situation returns to normal. PLEASE KEEP AN EYE AT YOUR DOWNLOAD DAEMONS! (Download Master in this case).

In this first Epsiode of the second year of Meet the GiMP! I return to Cakovec, Croatia with an image from the old castle. For celebrations I made a double length show. And to celebrate the Croatian style weather here (30+C), I had the windows open and you get some street noises. Our weather is mostly so cold that only bigger shops have an AC.

Before Croatia there is an update on the Old Ink Challenge from the last show. You can download the new set of images and try your knowledge of GiMP (or any other free software program) on that. Please send the results to info@meetthegimp.org.

Of course the new Forum gets a place too in this show. Have a look!

Then I reveal the secret of painting without gaps or overlaps – to answer a question from Luis in Buenos Aires.

In Cakovec I take you with me while I shoot the image to postprocess and tell you a secret of a lot of better photographers than me: MOVE!

The postprocessing involves mostly stuff I had already covered. New is an enhancement of the sky with a masked layer in multiply mode.

A team of highly trained Penguins in the MTG-Labs invented a new TLA, the TOC. And here it is:

The Old Ink Challenge 0:40
The new forum 7:00
Painting without overlap or gaps 10:50
How to shoot a castle 15:20
Postprocessing the castle image 18:20
Rotate 18:50
Crop 20:30
Clone a powerline out 24:20
Boosting the colours with curves 31:10
Enhance the sky with a masked layer in multiply mode 33:00

Now you can skip the parts of the video you don’t like.

Edit: With an audience like you a podcaster can be lazy:

The image I mentioned in the podcast and two links found by Andrew.

And another goodie found by Mathias in the Netzzeitung

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany License.

Tags: challenge, cloe tool, clone, crop, enhance sky, multiply mode, rotate
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial | 11 Comments »

 Podcast Video (34.3 MB): [22:50m]: Download
 Torrent: Download

I have to do some corrections on last weeks episode. As I wrote in the update, I had made a blunder with the last layer.
Then we have another video from Andrew A. Gill, the guy who enlightened us about CYMK. He takes on the Comic style from episode 50 and tries to copy a style used by Soviet propaganda and today by Shepard Fairey. +Link +Link
The image on top of this post has been made by Andrew. It’s not exactly Soviet Propaganda.
Then I have a challenge for you. I got set of images from Ted. He is researching family history. So he has to work a lot with reproductions of old documents. The rules are easy: You are happy about what you get and you don’t complain about quality. Here is a set of images (11MB) for you to cut your teeth in. The goal is to enhance readability. Please document your steps. Next week I’ll tell you how to report about your results.

Finally there are some news about GiMP 2.5.2.

The TOC

00:22 Update to episode 52 – copy visible
04:09 Burn mode – Gimp documentation
05:53 The old shows
06:00 Video from Andrew A. Gill
06:27 – Poster Art
07:00 – Start image – chopped into pieces
08:00 – Posterizing with more control
08:50 – Colouring
10:17 – Saving in indexed mode
13:00 Make your own video for Meet The Gimp
14:20 Comparing the results of poster art
16:23 The Old Ink Challenge
18:30 Extras
18:53 Gimp 2.5 features
22:50 The End
TOC made by paynekj

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany License.

Tags: 2.5, 2.5.2, challenge, comic
Posted in Gimp video tutorial | 18 Comments »

 

 Podcast Video (49.2 MB) [33:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 The companion files: Download

In this show John Arnold from Photowalkthrough draws the winner of the triptych contest. Before that we talk about why you should also listen to his podcast and about a really nice workshop. I have to work at that time (May 5th to 7th), but otherwise I would have shelled out the money and gone there.

Then I’ll show you a new way to make a frame around an image or to do a triptych. It works with layer masks. The tip to do it that way was sent by Jason from New York.

Finally you’ll see all the triptychs made by you in a slideshow to the full lenth “Surreal in Vienna” by _Ghost – the music I use in the intro. More from _Ghost at ccmixter.

The TOC

00:23 Welcome
00:34 Gimp 2.4
01:30 Meet The Gimp web site
03:28 Interview with John Arnold from Photowalkthrough
11:07 Alternative triptych method
13:00 – create a canvas
13:44 – add the images as layers
15:20 – scale the layers
19:50 – add a layer mask
20:40 – make the edges ragged
24:20 (Tip for guides)
25:05 – Change the composition by moving a layer
28:27 Triptych contest entries
33:12 The End
TOC made by paynekj

Get the files!

The files from this episode.

Contact me!

You can leave your comments on this blog or write me a mail.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany License.

Tags: border, challenge, frame, layer mask, layers, triptych
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial | 5 Comments »

 

 Podcast Video (76.9 MB) [51:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 The companion files: Download

Triptychs – and nearly one hour of them. In this episode I’ll show you how to combine three images to one good looking set and get some frames and borders around them. Again a layer mask is used to partially edit a picture with the curves tool.

The idea to this show came from this thread at the Tips from the Top Floor forum.

More about triptychs can be found at the Wikipedia here and here. More triptychs can be found here at google.

And I have a challenge for you. Make a triptych and put it online at the photogroup “meetthegimp.org” at 23. (23 is a friendly danish image hoster. I am their customer since flickr.com decided to censor my access to images because I am living in Germany.) I’ll show all the images in show 16 – so you have time up to October 16 or so to upload your stuff. I have asked a potential sponsor 23 to donate a bit - so it is possible that I have something as a price for you. (No, it’s not a license for the full version of the Gimp….. ) – and they have given me some codes for getting a year of full service at 23. I’ll choose the winner (if there is a price…) by random – so equal chances for all.

The TOC

00:24 Welcome to triptychs
04:44 The source images
07:46 Resizing the images
09:25 Make the background
12:40 Placing the images on separate layers
16:36 Set the background colour
17:10 Frame each image using layers
20:45 Frame the triptych by stroking selection
24:50 Fine-tune the images
25:00 Use curves to get part of the image right
28:38 Use layer-mask to isolate other part of image
36:52 Add a caption using the text tool
40:00 Save the file
40:40 Resize for the web
41:05 Sharpen the individual images
43:00 Re-do the caption
44:16 Re-save as JPEG
44:53 23hq.com
46:15 – mtg-triptych tag
47:55 – Add image to Meet The Gimp group
51:42 The End
TOC made by paynekj

Get the files used!

The files from this episode.

Contact me!

You can leave your comments on this blog or write me a mail.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany License.

Tags: border, challenge, curves tool, frame, layer mask, layers, triptych
Posted in Gimp, Gimp video tutorial | 11 Comments »