Damn computers...

There is a scale tool Halfy- but I did not want to confuse the issue so gave the drop down menu method.

Ill do it the scale tool way in a vid- which works more like photoshops ( but I always find knowing how to do things manually is in the long run more useful for finnicky work than just knowing the shortcut version)

True, but while trying to figure out how to use things the shortcut approach makes you less likely to do this:  

then once you know how to do something the simple way and get into finicky work you can learn the precise control method to keep you from doing this:   

My problem with the scale tool is it lets you scale arbitrarily, it does not auto preserve ratio, so you have to judge it by eye or risk a stretched or squashed image.

I dont want to resize. I want to crop   

There is a crop tool- it looks like a craft knife blade. Select it, drag the box to cover the area you want to keep then left click in the box and it will crop it to that size.

Crop tool-

  cheers. will try it.

all I use in Photoshop is,
crop
brightness/contrast
colour saturation/gradient/change selected colour
stampy clone thing for getting rid of stuff
select areas with the lassoo thing/deselect
a bit of blur sometimes
and my favourite bit the bling, the lense flair,
thats it, if I can find all these with gimp I will be sorted. I dont need fancy doodaas cos I dont use anything else.

How can you not need to resize? I suppose you never stick different pictures together. But when you use the clone thing to get rid of stuff the resizing could be helpful at times: pasting stuff from close up over something that's far away.

I dont do that twiddly stuff   oh hang on I did use it once to resize, but I need the basics first.

ok I got crop and brightness/colour/ zoom sorted, but i cant figure how to do the bandage thing. I click on the icon but it doesnt seem to work.    in PS you just drag it over the bit you need to remove, this doesnt do anything in gimp.  

My problem with gimp is you have to keep fooking around with layers; some buttons don't seem to do anything, then you randomly poke around with layers in the menu until suddenly the buttons work.   

I have to re-figure it out each time I use the damn thing, then it doesn't make enough sense for me to remember it. Have to toss the ball to Petty on this one.

You can also try gimpshop, which is made to look and act like photoshop. Unfortunately somebody who wasn't the creator tried to profit off the open source software, so the developer stopped updating 5 years ago.

So it might work, might not. chances are good if your computer and software are 5 years out of date. I had it, then updated and it stopped working.

interesting. never heard of it but my computer is new because I got a new one when the other one blew up. not keen on gimp but I cant find a free Photoshop Elements 9 or 12  (the updated version) to download, thats fantasic! its a scaled down version of Photoshop and it has all the main bits you need.

Give it a try, hopefully you'll luck out.

To use either the bandage or the clone tool you first need to select an area for it to use the info from. You do this by holding down the control button on your keyboard to select the area, then you can use the bandage or clone tool to make the changes.

When I first select the bandage tool and put it over the picture you will notice a little 'no entry' type sign appears, this is because no area has been selected yet. That will disappear once you have held down control and clicked on the area you want and instead a small cross will appear which moves relative to where you are using the tool.

ah yes I noticed the no entry sign, I suppose really its all the same end results but going about it in a slightly different way. maybe they couldnt make everything work exactly like PS due to copyright or something like that. The Gimpsters must have had to be careful Microsoft didnt take them to court. It doesnt help I have the patience of a gnat though.

It doesnt help I have the patience of a gnat though.- Mrs Figg

You need more buckie, then you might even end up with the patience to try to teach someone who only has the patience of a gnat!!   

 

so whats this Instagram gizmo? do you need a smart phone to use it?

I think so. Never used it though.

Has anyone here ever built their own computer?

Can't say I have, though it's something I've considered for whenever I decide to replace my current one.

who would consider that? that's a lot of work.. when you can just buy one