Looking for free software (photo editing?)

[omni550]

My BIL asked me to help him with creating something for a friend's retirement party that would involve creating some funny photos (in a PowerPoint presentation, what else ) by cutting and pasting the heads of former co-workers onto the bodies of some crazily-attired people. In addition, adding funny captions might also be needed.

Does anyone have any suggestions for free software (hopefully with a very quick and easy learning curve) that would do the trick?


omni

 

[Nodak]

I have been told that Picasa is a good free image processor but I have not used it myself.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

GIMP (Windows installer) is pretty sophisticated for a free program, and roughly analogous to Photoshop. It will do head-replacing well, but perhaps with a bit of a learning curve. It will do text overlays, but not quite as intuitively as I would like. But it's my go-to app because I'm too cheap for Photoshop.

Picasa will do some editing, but replacing heads I think is beyond its capabilities.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Here ya go: I made a quick 2-minute video pasting one head onto another using GIMP's clone tool. I grabbed a couple of photos from the Recent Photos thread. Looks like I'm pasting Kahn's face onto Rustic23's. I just picked the photos because they were the first ones I saw that looked like they'd be quick and easy to do.

Using GIMP to Replace Heads | BigMoneyJim

 

[donheff]

The GIMP is a powerful tool but also complicated. If you want to keep it simple I would recommend Microsoft's free Paint.net. This is not your father's Paint. It is a pretty solid photo editing tool if you want to stay a step down from Photoshop/GIMP.

 

[BillNOVA]

I have been using Picasa, free from Google, for the past two weeks. I am updating and backing up all my photos. You can do a lot of editing and you can back up your photos online. You can also give friends and family access, so they can view and download the pics. Easy to use and its free. If you have a lot of photos you have to pay for extra storage, but 80 gigs for only $40 per year.

 

[pimpmyretirement]

You might have luck with a free trial of photoshop:

Adobe - Adobe Photoshop CS5.1

I'd just use GIMP

 

[donheff]

Here ya go: I made a quick 2-minute video pasting one head onto another using GIMP's clone tool. I grabbed a couple of photos from the Recent Photos thread. Looks like I'm pasting Kahn's face onto Rustic23's. I just picked the photos because they were the first ones I saw that looked like they'd be quick and easy to do.

Using GIMP to Replace Heads | BigMoneyJim

Loved it. I use the clone tool quite a bit but I had no idea you could use it to clone from one image to another -- cool. I haven't used GIMP in a while (I have a teacher edition of Photoshop from my daughter) so I am curious. Does GIMP have a tool comparable to PS's context sensitive healing brush? With the healing brush you can simply paint over something like a telephone line and have it auto-magically disappear.

 

[Gotadimple]

You can also try Serif Photo Plus Starter Edition. It's a free download with similar capability to PS.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Loved it. I use the clone tool quite a bit but I had no idea you could use it to clone from one image to another -- cool.

Thanks!

I haven't used GIMP in a while (I have a teacher edition of Photoshop from my daughter) so I am curious. Does GIMP have a tool comparable to PS's context sensitive healing brush? With the healing brush you can simply paint over something like a telephone line and have it auto-magically disappear.

Aside from that video I haven't used GIMP for much besides whole-image changes like adjusting color, resizing, etc. for a while. I'm not aware of such a tool in GIMP; to erase I usually use the clone tool to copy from an area of similar background.

 

[target2019]

If the free versions of programs above do not work for you, try Photoshop Elements, instead of Adobe Photoshop.

The investment is much less, somewhere between $75 and $100.

I use Picasa to manage photos and apply simple effects. There is not a tool in the program that allows you to make irregular sections.

 

[omni550]

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. BIL and I will be attempting the "head transplants" in the coming week.

omni

 

[REWahoo]

BIL and I will be attempting the "head transplants" in the coming week.

 

[donheff]

I forgot one more. Pixlr is a free online editor that is surprisingly comprehensive. It has layers, a clone stamp, red eye fix, etc. Very useful if you want to fix an image on the fly without access to editing software. It also has plug in for Firefox or Chrome that can grab an image, a page, a selection and open it in Pixlr or save it.

 

[omni550]

Success!

Well, I'm pleased to report that the "head transplants" are complete.


I can attest to the useability of GIMP software (when accompanied by Big Money Jim's short tutorial) for an absolute newbie.


omni