GIMP

[peterpil19]

Hi,

I used Photoshop for many years. It is expensive software.

I recently commenced using GIMP. GIMP is open source and free to use. For the purposes to which I put it (coin photography) I do not see any noticeable difference from Photoshop. So far, I think it is great!

Here is the link to GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/

Anyone else using it here or has an an alternative view about which software is preferable?

Peter

[FlaviusDomitianus]

Hi Peter,

I started using GIMP a few years back and I think it fits with my needs.

Kind regards

Alberto

[SC]

I use gimp for all my photo editing.  Love it.  Fairly intuitive and usually has good instructions online.

The "layers" thing takes a bit to get used to for a non-expert.

Shawn

[dougsmit]

Does GIMP now support 16 bit TIF images? 

[cmcdon0923]

Does GIMP have a "color wand" type feature?

I use an OLD (!!) package called Photo Deluxe.  I have been using it for over 15 years and it suits my needs perfectly.  I have it down to where I can open an obverse and reverse image, resize them, remove the background they were shot against, sharpen if necessary, and combine the resulting two images onto a preset white or red background in about 2 minutes per coin.  (Not that I always work at that pace...just saying that I've become VERY comfortable with the software.)

But this is where the "color wand" (its exact name in the PD software) feature is critical to me....to remove the background the coin was shot against by just clicking on the offending color and hitting DELETE.  I am then left with only the coin images, with absolutely no background, so they can then be pasted on top of the background of my choice.

The reason I'm shopping around is that Photo Deluxe will not run on anything newer than Windows VISTA.  I have an old laptop still running VISTA, so I need to do all my photo editing on that device now.  But my fear is that if that laptop dies on me, I am left without my program of choice to do any editing.


Craig

[SC]

GIMP has a colour wand.  I have used it to change background colours but never to make them transparent.  I am sure i is there though.  GIMP is open license so all kinds of extra features can be found online.

No idea re the 16 bit TIFF.  All i know is you can export an image as a TIFF.

Shawn

[cmcdon0923]

Thanks Shawn.

I think I'll check it out.  Always better to switch to a new piece of software voluntarily, before the old one fails and you have to scramble to find something to replace it.

[peterpil19]

I've had no luck with the magic wand. I find it faster to either use the intelligent scissors, or that select tool which allows you connect a series of dots around the coin. It might take a couple minutes extra but I get a clearer background and no messing around with an eraser cleaning up.

When I use the magic wand, there are still parts of the background which are shaded a slightly different colour. I've never succeeded in getting a perfectly white background.  In particular, when photographing silver coins, using the magic wand eats into part of the coin - usually the edge of the coin which has the greatest 'shine'.

[peterpil19]

I've had no luck with the magic wand. I find it faster to either use the intelligent scissors, or that select tool which allows you connect a series of dots around the coin. It might take a couple minutes extra but I get a clearer background and no messing around with an eraser cleaning up.

When I use the magic wand, there are still parts of the background which are shaded a slightly different colour. I've never succeeded in getting a perfectly white background.  In particular, when photographing silver coins, using the magic wand eats into part of the coin - usually the edge of the coin which has the greatest 'shine'.

A new camera has solved the above.

I've used the same budget camera now for close to 15 years which is likely the source of the problem.
My wife surprised me a new one for Valentine's Day yesterday.

I cannot believe how much faster it is to crop coins out of a white background, or even if not purely white, the higher resolution means the magic wand actually works and stops eating my coins!

Peter

[SC]

Nice!  What kind of camera.

Shawn

PS  I got a cookie for Valentine's day.  That's what happens after 23 1/2 years of marriage....

[peterpil19]

Nice!  What kind of camera.

Shawn

PS  I got a cookie for Valentine's day.  That's what happens after 23 1/2 years of marriage....

Very funny,
I'm at the stage now when I have to avoid cookies.
When I first was on this forum 11 or so years ago, I was stick thin and running half marathons regularly.

My wife bought mea Canon Powershot g9x: https://www.canon.com.au/cameras/powershot-g9x

Classic design.
Easy and intuitive to use.
Affordable (circa AUD 500)
Takes great photos generally and has many different settings. For example, you can take a portrait of someone with everything in the background blurred.

For close up macro shots however I found it best to use the Manual setting. Unfortunately the auto mode doesn't have great white balancing in a dimly lit room with a warm light.  Additionally in the manual mode, you can change aperture size, shutter speed.

I just identified last night that one of the mistakes I make when taking photos of coins is that I was  placing the camera too close to the coin, meaning some outer parts of the coin would fall out of focus, requiring sharpening later.
Also, taking a photo from further away actually helps blur the background more, making it almost perfectly white.

Peter
 

[peterpil19]

Here are two photos I took with my new camera.
No editing in GIMP, just cropped, resized then saved.

Peter

[SC]

Nice!

I love the Trajan.  (Rome is more my thing than Greek.)

Shawn

[peterpil19]

Nice!

I love the Trajan.  (Rome is more my thing than Greek.)

Shawn

Thanks.

I have taken the photo of the Trajan again as I stuffed up the white balance and it looked too red.

Peter

[EB]

Since we are having an eclipse here in the US, I think it is only proper to write a post about lighting and darkening in GIMP.
First, that is a great Trajan, and nicely photographed, good job Peter!
I have been using the ring light almost exclusively, but had some trouble with reflections, especially from waxed bronze coins. So, I start adding side lights but it is very tedious to arrange the lights. Then I found that I could combine the different light angles by stacking frames in GIMP. I know that Doug does frame stacking, so perhaps he is already using this technique. Here are the basic steps:

• 1) Photograph the coin with the light in various positions.
• 2) Stack the frames in GIMP, with a white layer at the bottom.
• 3) Set the mode of the other layers to "darken only" (remember today is the eclipse).
• 4) Adjust the opacity and/or toggle visibility of the layers as desired.

Here is a simple example. This coin of Antoninus Pius, AE Sestertius, exhibits glare when using just the ring light. See EB0439_ring_scaled.JPG.
Moving the light to the top removes most of the glare, see EB0439_top_scaled.JPG.
Combining gives nice contrast and detail, see EB0439_combined_scaled.JPG.

[peterpil19]

Hi EB,

That's a nice effect.

Peter