Simple Gimp Questions

[Anomie]

OK, I want to manipulate a simple B&W .jpg graphic (no grayscale):

How do I change the black content to dark gray?

How do I soften the edges of the black content?

How do I change the white content to a color, or how do I tint the entire image -- depending on which looks best?

I know this is elementary stuff, and I hope I'm asking correctly.

 

[Genesis]

If you haven't already worked with GIMP give it a try, particularly since it is LOADED with tutorials for every little thing you want to do. Here is just a small example, but I bet if you went to YouTube you'd get loads of tutorials on this topic as well:
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Selective_Color/

Alternatively you could try an online photo editing studio like this popular one:
http://pixlr.com/editor/

Or you could go to https://www.fiverr.com and get to know people there who would do anything for you for 5 dollars.

 

[Tony1Faze]

photoshop ... sorry... just spoiled

 

[Genesis]

photoshop ... sorry... just spoiled

Right - and a training course to learn how to use photoshop.

 

[Yozora]

photoshop ... sorry... just spoiled

Right - and a training course to learn how to use photoshop.

Not to mention probably a new, more powerful computer to run Photoshop without it lagging, and a new, wide monitor so you can see details without having to zoom constantly, etc...Using Photoshop on a computer made for basic web browsing was awful. :hitwall:

 

[Anomie]

If you haven't already worked with GIMP give it a try, particularly since it is LOADED with tutorials for every little thing you want to do. Here is just a small example, but I bet if you went to YouTube you'd get loads of tutorials on this topic as well:
http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Selective_Color/

I fool around with Gimp just to scale and crop a few photos occasionally or to run a canned script, but I am certainly no expert.

I was completely unaware of the tutorials, which certainly may be useful, maybe not, we'll see.

[One of the things I've learned in life is that to learn anything, you have to have it presented to you in a way that makes sense to you, otherwise it's just wasted torture. This mainly hinges on whether you're an outcome-oriented or process-oriented personality. I'm definitely in the former category -- get the job done right ASAP, move on, don't look back. Tutorials/texts are usually prepared by process-oriented personalities who get spiritually into all the extraneous hot-key memorization for the 90% of functions they'll never use in this lifetime. Collisions between these two personalities in the workplace can provide some richly hilarious moments if you're not personally involved.]

I'm totally a cheat-sheet on a Post-It kinda guy. :wink:

Alternatively you could try an online photo editing studio like this popular one:
http://pixlr.com/editor/

I've never looked at that. I will, though I'd like to have a better working understanding of Gimp.

---

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Selective_Color/

I've found another tutorial there that is pretty much exactly what I want, at least for the first pass:

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Changing_Background_Color_1/

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Anomie]

I've found another tutorial there that is pretty much exactly what I want, at least for the first pass:

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Changing_Background_Color_1/

Actually, this is too complicated and doesn't cut it.

Rethinking this, what I really should be asking is this:

With a B&W gif, how can I take the black (foreground) content into its own layer, edit it and then place it upon a colored background?

This seems like it should be bone simple stuff.

 

[Genesis]

With GIMP. But if that's too complicated suggest you ask someone here to help you. The link I pointed you to was this one though:

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Selective_Color/

If you want a simpler step for GIMP use the Free Selection Lasso Tool:
http://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-tool-free-select.html

Trace the outline of the part of the black and white image you want to use. You have to click right round the image as in the example tutorial above until you get back where you started, at the point where you started you'll see that part of the image is now selected. Copy it, then paste it on a new empty image with a transparent background. Edit it as you wish. Then once edited copy and paste it over the colour image - position it as you want it. Anchor it and you're done.

 

[Anomie]

It turned out that a lot of the problems I had were due to it being a .GIF file. I got a load of suggestions on the Gimp support forum and I'll see how they work.

Thanks!