I use GIMP, but on Linux rather than on a
Mac, so it may not be exactly the same. I'm guessing that your filename issues are something Mac-specific, so you may need to look on
Mac forums for a solution.
There's more than one way you could choose to stitch two (obv, rev) images together. The way I do it (fewest steps) is to increase the width of the
obverse image to make room, then paste the
reverse image there (the alternative would be to create a brand new canvas of right size, and copy both obv and rev there).
1) Load both images into GIMP (either select both then open with GIMP, or alternatively run GIMP then use File->Open to open each one)
2) We're going to double the width of the
obverse image to make room for obv+rev, not just obv:
a) In
obverse image window, select Image->Canvas Size
b) In the canvas size pop-up window, double the number in the "Width:"
field (e.g. if it is currently 1000, change it to 2000, or larger if you want more room to play with), then click the "Resize" button at bottom of the window
c) The image (or technically "canvas" - the
area the image is displayed on) has been resized, so now use your normal
Mac window resize controls to expand the window to see the extra space you have created. The extra space will show up as a checkerboard pattern indicating it is transparent, which is
fine. If you find it offputting, you can use Image->
Flatten Image to change it from transparent to your background color.
3) You're now going to copy the
reverse image and paste it into the (expanded)
obverse image:
a) In
reverse image window, from Tools->Selection
Tools menu, click on "Rectangle Select"
b) From Edit menu, click on "Copy"
c) Switch to
obverse image window, and from Edit menu click on "Paste"
d) By holding left mouse button down and dragging mouse you can now position the pasted image to where you want it
e) One you've positioned the pasted image, left click anywhere on the image to finalize the placement (but you can always go back with Edit->Undo)
4) Now you'll save the stitched image with a new filename:
From File menu select "Export As" and enter a name with a file extension of the
type you want to save it as (e.g. "coin.jpg" to save as a JPEG image, or "coin.png" to save as a
PNG image), then click "Export" at bottom of window. You're done!
It sounds like a lot of steps, but really only takes a few seconds once you've done it a few times.
Once you're comfortable with this basic process, there are a few other things you are likely going to want to do, such as:
- maybe reposition the
obverse image before you paste the
reverse image (I usually move it to top left corner to make final crop selection faster)
- perhaps select/copy only a portion of the
reverse image (the coin itself, not the entire image which may have too much background)
- crop the stitched image before you save it to remove any excess borders
- maybe rotate
obverse or
reverse to get them nicely upright
- maybe resize
reverse to match
obverse (or
vice versa) if they are not the same size (maybe you took them hand held, or they are
eBay images)
You would do any
obverse image repositioning, or more
fine controlled partial
reverse image selection, as
part of step 3 above, after having selected "Rectangle Select". e.g. To only select
part of the
reverse image you would left click and drag to select (rectangular) portion of the image before doing Edit->Copy. To reposition the
obverse image beforehand you'd just select a portion of it in same way and do an additional Edit->Copy, Edit->Paste to position it.
To crop the image (get rid of excess borders) before saving it, select Tools->Transform Tools->Crop, move the edges/corners of the selection box to what you want to keep, then click in middle of the selection to do the crop.
Sometimes when saving the image, it may be more convenient to use File->Overwrite to overwrite the
obverse image (assuming you don't want to save it) rather than File->Export As to specify a new name/folder.
Try this out and see how it goes - if you want to know more about image rotating or resizing, just post again.
Ben