GIMP is a really interesting free and open-source image manipulation application and toolbox which is particularly useful when it comes to photo retouching, this free image edition program has versions for Windows operating systems, Mac OS and those based on Unix, as you may know GIMP is widely popular as it is the most successful free fully featured alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop. You can download GIMP by visiting www.GoFree.com there you will find the latest fully functioning version which is thoroughly tested to be virus free.
Today you’ll learn how to create amazing border effects using GIMP’s tool named “QuickMask”. this useful tool will help you to modify the border area of an image. We are going to also use other tools such as the rectangle select and the paintbrush.
First of all you have to find and open the picture you want to apply the border effect to. Oh, this is a good moment to install GIMP if you haven’t. Go to www.GoFree.com and click on the the big “Download” button. The complete download and installation process only takes a few minutes of your time.
So, now that you have GIMP running and your image opened select the Rectangle Tool by clicking on its icon. Make a rectangular selection covering the area you want to modify. It should look like this:
Next click on the QuickMask button which is located at the lower-left side of the image.
Click on it and your selection will turn into a transparent red tinted area representing the outside of your selection like this:
At this point you can play a bit with this mask. Go to the menu Filters > Distorts > Waves… in the Image window menu and this dialog will open.
Play a bit with the Amplitude, Phase and Wavelenght parameters to achieve the exact look you are looking for. After that you are ready to apply the filter, and more or less like this should be the result on the mask.
As it is shown in the upper screen capture the transparent area got wavy. I also added a bit of blur effect by going to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur just to soften the edges and now it looks like this.
Now you have to is to click on the red QuickMask button in order to convert the mask into a selection path.
It is interesting at this point to notice how the selection follows the mask. This fact shows how powerful GIMP’s QuickMask feature is. Now we have to go through the last step by inverting the selection, go to Select > Invert in the Image window menu and immediately after that go to Edit > Fill with BG Color also in the Image window menu.
Voilà! Now you have a wavy soft transition from the image itself and into the white background .
Next you can see other examples of what you can do if instead of wave distortion you use other filters.
First example is with the filter Noise.
And using with the Blur filter in the Random Slur mode.
Final Words
So, you have learned how to use GIMP’s tools to create cool borders or “vignette” effects that you can apply to your favorite pictures. Free your imagination with GIMP and express yourself in new ways. Download GIMP now by visiting www.GoFree.com it’s 100% free and no registration is required.
Leave a comment