Experiments with GIMP!

I shot three self portraits over the last two weeks. All photos were processed using the free and open source GIMP program. All of the capabilities of Photoshop are included in GIMP. As I had never used either program outside of class, I didn't find the learning curve too difficult.

This first photo is a portrait of my son and me. It was taken using a Motorola mobile phone camera and the old “outstretched arm” technique. Using the GIMP color menu, I decreased the hue by 10 points and the lightness by 12 points. Under the same menu, I increased the color saturation by 20 points. I then applied the “sharpen” filter and increased the effect by 50 points.

This photo was taken in a bathroom with the same mobile phone camera. My face was nearly touching the mirror and my arm was held out to take the photo. I increased the brightness by 10 points and the contrast by 15 points. The “cubism” filter was applied with a tile size of 6.3 and a tile saturation of 2.1.

I took this photo in the same bathroom with the same camera. My face was further from the mirror and the camera was held closer to my face. I first adjusted the levels as shown in the class demonstration. I then increased the brightness by 15 points and the contrast by 9 points. Finally the “predator” filter was applied with default values.