Gimp Photo Help!

[karlo]

I'm been working of my loved one's picture.

Wel it's really simple. I wanted the background of that person to be blurred. Making the picture shot on a professional camera, of course simulates that the photographer is a professional.

Second one, repairing the face using the healing tool, which I learned here http://preview.tinyurl.com/3dohvv ...

I don't want to use it. I wanted to use a glowy effect, I don't like the SoftGlow Effect in GIMP because it just makes the picture white, and I think it also reduces the saturation of the picture.

Is there some other glows of GIMP?

By the way I became interested in GIMP because it's like Photoshop, but I think easier to use. And It's not bloated like Photoshop.

Please help me, I am more interested in editing pictures, not creating an art in GIMP.

[David]

Is there a picture with this effect available? I just can't make out what you want =/

Yes there are different glows, and you can also manage the light and contrast and a few technical things that you might want to do.

[Shadowraith]

I will be using these two images to visually show the results of the methods below:



Background Blurring

For the blurred background, get the rectangle tool, make a selection around the focal point, doesn't have to be super accurate, go Select>Invert and then go to either Filters>Blur or Filters>Gaussian Blur and set the x and y settings to whatever looks good.


Image Lighting

Make a new layer, place it over your image. Fill it with white and set the layer mode to Overlay and set the opacity to your liking. I set mine to 80%.
http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imagelighting1whalevu5.png
http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imagelighting1atikc2.png

Optional:Set this layer to Saturation instead of Overlay at 100% opacity. Then go Edit>Copy Visible, delete the Saturation layer, and then go Edit>Paste. Set this pasted layer to Overlay at around 90-100% opacity.
http://img171.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imagelighting2whaletm7.png
http://img247.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imagelighting2atiru0.png

Another good technique is to duplicate your image, go to Colors>Brightness and Contrast and increase the brightness to around 50. Then set the duplicated layer to Overlay.
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4554/imagelighting3whalegn4.png
http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imagelighting3atioa8.png

If you are having any problems just reply. Also these are only some of the many ways of adding lighting to an image, experiment by yourself until you find the perfect method for you.