Digital Photography: Fun With Filters

This tutorial will touch on Filters and how to use them in The Gimp, which is a cross platform free image manipulation tool, similar to Adobe Photoshop.

I think filters can be a very fun part of Digital Photography and you can get really creative with them, once you know how to use them.

Filters are used to change the way an image looks. They can be used to fix the image, such as red eye removal or to enhance the image. The Gimp has over 50 filters installed by default and others are available for download.

Later, I will show how you can use these filters to create specific designs, but this Hub will just serve to familiarize you with some of the more common filters.

The Filters are located under the drop down Filter Menu and are divided into groups of similar filters.

The Red Eye Effect is something that occurs when a photograph is taken using a flash that is very close to the camera lens. It results in the subject having red spots in their eyes and can ruin an otherwise wonderful picture.

Using The Gimp's Red Eye Removal Filter, it is possible to quickly remove the Red Eye Effect. Simply Select the Red Eye Removal Filter, which is located in the "Enhance" Filters Group.

You can adjust the threshold to change how much red is removed. The lower the threshold the more red is removed. You can also use this to make some pretty neat effects.

Using the Sharpen Filter can make an image much cleaner and crisper. The Sharpen Filter is located under the Enhance Filters Group.

Often the sharpen filter is used to fix an image, which might be a little blurry. However, it can also be used to create some really great contrast. When used minimally, it is often hard to tell that the filter has been used and the result is a very nice looking image.

There are many great and really fun filters that can really change the way an image looks.

Almost all of the filters let you make adjustments that change the way the filter looks. For example when using the Supernova Filter, you can change the shape, size, and location of the Supernova. By making adjustments, you can use the same filter 10 different ways and have 10 different looking pictures.

You can also combine multiple effects, to create some really interesting pictures. Some filters, like the Van Gogh Filte, do this for you and apply multiple filters to the image.

I encourage you to do some playing around with the many different filters. It can be a great deal of fun and really change the way your images look.

The Slideshow to the right shows what some of the different filters look like.