Shadow Logic

This tutorial is about that fade effect I use in a lot of my images, like my Lionel Messi picture and the iPod Bunny. At first glance it’s just a blur effect. At second glance one can see it’s actually the same image resized a number of times. I came across this technique with some experimenting while I was making the Lionel Messi picture. This effect works best with pictures of definite figures, such as logos, people, and solid objects. So start up Gimp, grab a picture, and get ready do some photo editing!

Difficulty:
Medium
Program
The GIMP (2.4)
Needed Time
about 15 minutes (+15 minutes for cutting the photo)
Materials
A photograph (200-600px)

Step 1: Cutting the photo

The photo you have should have a central subject, which you will be fading. First we have to separate that subject, whether it’s a person or an object. Select the Paths tool and zoom in to about 800% for a better view of the pixels. Draw a path around the outline of the central object. Take your time, you want the cut to be as clean as possible.

Whew! That probably took a while. The hard part is done, but there are still quite a few steps to go. Click Path to Selection to select the object you just outlined with the Paths tool. Copy the selection (Ctrl+C) and go to Edit » Paste as » New Image. This is what you should have so far. You can now close the original photo you just worked on, so it doesn’t get in the way.

You’ll need a bit of room to fit the fade effect and the object you just cut out is probably kind of squished, so go to Image » Canvas Size… and add about 100-200 pixels to the current width of the image. Look at the image on the right for reference. Be sure to click the Center button. The image has been expanded, so now all you have to do is fit the layer to the full size of the image (Layer » Layer to Image Size)

Step 2: Adding the fade

Now that you have the object in place, it’s time to add that fading effect. Duplicate the layer and go to Layer » Scale Layer… Change the units from pixels to percent. Set the new width of the layer to 105%. The height should scale to 105% automatically, but if it doesn’t change it as well. The duplicated layer should be slightly larger in size compared to the original layer. Repeat the step twice more, adding 5% each time (the second duplicated layer being 110% and the third 115%).

You want the fade to be situated behind the original layer, so move all the layers you resized below the original layer descending by size. To make the resized layers fade out, change the opacity of the second topmost layer to 35. Adjust the layer below that to 25, and the layer below that to 15. Using the Merge Down function, combine all the faded layers into one layer. This leaves two layers: the original and the fade. You should have some like this.

The fade is coming about nicely, but it’s still a bit too sharp and solid. Duplicate the fade layer. Go to Filters » Blur » Gaussian Blur… and set the value to 50. This adds a bit of a glow to the fade effect. Merge the fade layers again. For another touch of luminosity, duplicate the original layer and apply a Gaussian Blur to that as well, with a strength of 50. Move the blurred layer below the original layer. The fade effect is finally finished! It needs a background now, so create a new layer, name it Background, and move it below all the other layers. Fill it with the gradient or design of your choice.

You should get something like this:

Some finishing touches:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 10:04 am and is filed under GIMP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.