Let's try applying some special effects to a very
ordinary photo - the digital 'mugshot' that I took of your
face. Use that as the starting point for these FX - make a
copy of the original for each separate effect and save your
favorite half dozen effects into your folder. Experiment
with the filters and other adjustments to find some effects
you like. Note that some effects cause the processed image
to appear in a new window. Here are some of my favorites -
find some great effects of your own...
- Layer>Colors>Desaturate (makes greyscale image)
- Layer>Colors>Invert (inverts everything i.e. dark
>light, red>cyan etc)
- Filters>Colors>Map>Value Invert (inverts
brightness but not color)
- Filters>Colors>Map>Alien Map 2
- Layer>Colors>Colorize (see example below)
- Filters>Colors>Colorify (see example below)
- Filters>Colors>Map>Retinex... (the default values
work well: uniform, scale=240, scaledivision=3,
dynamic=1.2)
- Filters>Noise>Spread...
- Filters>Edge-Detect>Edge...>(Sobel, amount=1, smear)
- Filters>Light Effects>Supernova
- Filters>Distorts>Emboss...
- Filters>Distorts>IWarp... (lots of fun to be had
here... choose your settings then smudge the preview
image...)
- Filters>Distorts>Mosaic...
- Filters>Artistic>Cubism...
- Filters>Artistic>GIMPressionist>Presets>MarbleMadness>Apply>Update>OK
- Filters>Artistic>Oilify... (oil painting effect)
- Filters>Artistic>Soft Glow... (X files?)
- Filters>Map>Fractal Trace... (Wow!)
- Filters>Map>Map object...
- Filters>Render>Nature>IFS Fractals (if you like
fractals)
- Script-Fu>Alchemy>Predator
- Script-Fu>Decor>Old Photo...
- Script-Fu>Render>Lava (pretty, but no relation to
original image)
- Script-Fu>Shadow>Drop-Shadow
Of course, these various effects can be combined together
if you like - the possibilities are endless... As an example
of combining two of the above effects, check out these four
images:
 | The first image is unmodified. |
| The top-right image has been
modified with Layer>Colors>Colorize - note that it contains
a range of colors passing from near-black to the chosen color to
near-white. |
| Bottom-left is an example of the 'colorify' filter , number 6 above,
which gives colors from black to the chosen color. |
| Bottom-right
shows the result of doing an invert (2 above) followed by a colorify
in yellow followed by another invert. As you can see, this 'inverted colorify'
gives a range of colors between white and the opposite of
the chosen color. The last image shows how combining filters
can be useful since this type of picture can be used as a background behind black text
without making the text illegible. |
Now that you have tried all those effects you should know
how I changed the boring shot on the left (below) into the
scary monster on the right...
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