The technique makes use of layers and layer masks in The GIMP, so it is important to have a basic understanding of what these are beforehand. The next section introduces these concepts and provides a ...

If you read my earlier tutorial on layers and layer masks (see “Fixing Photo Contrast with The GIMP”, LJ, April 2003), you might remember that we can control the blending of layers using a layer mask.

In the Layers pane we need to right-click on the layer we have coloured blue and select ‘Add Layer Mask’, stick with the default settings and choose a small, soft-edged Paintbrush.

GIMP allows you to combine multiple images using layers, and to blend everything together using the color picker tool to match the background colors.

Retouching, editing, adding effects—some image editing programs can easily rival Photoshop. Best of all, they’re completely ...