9 Sep 2020

Reflections on Thing 4

by | posted in: News | 7

I can never get my pup Zizi to stay still enough to capture a good selfie of the two of us! Being a small and zippy ball of energy, he’s often found bouncing around the room, chasing shadows and shaking up his toys giddily with delight. Even when he’s plonked his chubby Corgi butt sat down next to me, I can’t quite snap a photo fast enough because he seems to sense something is up and jumps up to lick my face. The end result is always a blur of fur and doggy drool.

It’s such a dilemma! Because I would love a nice photo of my dear pup next to me, as that drooling little furball makes me so happy.

Fortunately, this latest Digital Creativity challenge helped me to achieve a much better selfie than I could’ve ever dreamed of shooting on my camera or phone by myself. I learned how to use GIMP and Paint 3D to isolate and layer separate photos of my dog and I together into one image.

Here is a series of progression shots of the steps I took to create one of my all-time favourite photos...

Figure 1. Using Paint 3D (a pre-installed default Microsoft app), I separated a photo of Zizi from the background and edited it out.

Figure 2. The ‘Magic Select’ tool selects the outline of Zizi.

Figure 3. Once Zizi’s image was selected and the pink background removed, I flipped the image horizontally

Figure 4. After saving and exporting this resulting image in PNG format, I did the same for my image too (Samaira)

Figure 5. I opened the GIMP program and used its ‘Layers’ feature to assemble & organize the exported PNG images saved from Paint 3D

Figure 6. My photo is layered in an order that is underneath Zizi’s to give the overall layout a sense of depth – an illusion that the pup is sitting in front of me!


Figure 7. To finish it off, the background layer adds an atmosphere of calm & lushness. It is an image I picked out from freepik.com by @pch.vector. Under the Freepik License, it is free for personal and commercial purposes with attribution. www.freepik.com/vectors/flower Flower vector created by pch.vector – www.freepik.co

Figure 8. I’m so pleased and proud of my attempt at this activity, it’s kept framed on my desk at the Certitude office to brighten up my workspace!
Samaira
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7 Responses

  1. Samaira
    Samaira
    | Reply

    I just wanted to add a note about copyright. When being creative with images that aren’t yours make sure you check that you are allowed to use them. It’s an important point. Don’t go re-using images without permission! (looking at you Freddie and Kris!)

    • Kris
      Kris
      | Reply

      I sincerely apologise, Samaira! (and Freddie was just trying to help). Can I plead ignorance – I didn’t know any better!

      • Samaira
        Samaira
        | Reply

        Actually, I’m happy for anyone to use those images – as long as I’m given the credit as the creator of the image.

        • Charlie
          Charlie
          | Reply

          You could license your images under a Creative Commons license. That would allow others to re-use them as well.

          • Samaira
            Samaira
            |

            That’s a great idea, Chief. Only problem is I don’t know how, and wouldn’t know where to start!

  2. Charlie
    Charlie
    | Reply

    Well, it’s going to be covered in Thing 5 on Remixing (what good timing!). Perhaps Kris can look into it for us and give you some help? No doubt he will want to write a reflection post about it 🙂

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