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There seem to be loads of books and online material that discuss post-processing of images and how to do it in Photoshop, see e.g. Any good tutorials for learning how to post-process images?

Where can I find similar material, but with the technical bits done in GIMP? I am a novice with post-processing in general, so I am looking for resources that would treat the subject from both the artistic as well as technical angles, i.e.

  1. What would I want to improve in a photograph? What can post-processing help with? What are the things I can't really improve with software? What is the difference between similar camera settings and post-processing techniques?
  2. How can I do the things from the previous point using GIMP?

Obviously loads of examples would be appreciated!

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    \$\begingroup\$ By post process what do you mean ? There is one really good alternate for lightroom in linux called Darktable. There are lots of tuts online for gimp but are you looking to do something specific in GIMP ? \$\endgroup\$
    – GoodSp33d
    Feb 21, 2013 at 13:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ @2-Stroker, I would like to learn how to improve my photographs after I have already done them. I can't be really much more specific, because I don't know what exactly one can improve. The fact is that all professional photographers do post-processing, so it must add some value. \$\endgroup\$
    – Grzenio
    Feb 21, 2013 at 13:32
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    \$\begingroup\$ This question needs to be narrowed down significantly. Based on your most recent comment above, you are asking for generalized "how to post process a to z". But then in the original question you are asking for specific ways to edit photos in gimp. You have to narrow this down. "I want to do XYZ in gimp, how do I do it?" for example. Another option would be to add a bounty to the question you linked to, and ask for gimp related tutorials, since that question is already generalized to all software and not just photoshop. \$\endgroup\$
    – dpollitt
    Feb 21, 2013 at 19:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Grzenio: As dpollitt stated, it is important to keep questions targeted and specific. Overly broad questions are difficult to answer, and the answers you get are generally insufficient for the scope. If you really need someone to cover the kind of breadth in your question (which is really multiple smaller questions bundled into one larger one), you should probably be looking for a book instead of asking here. Once you have a book, if you still have questions about specific tools or procedures, you can ask those here. As it stands, this is overly broad and not a great fit for our forum. \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista
    Feb 21, 2013 at 20:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ I've closed this for now. If you feel you can edit it and make it more specific and targeted at a single thing related to Gimp, rather than Gimp at large, then I will reopen it. Otherwise, I encourage you to ask new questions that cover a smaller scope...and feel free ask as many questions as you have. \$\endgroup\$
    – jrista
    Feb 21, 2013 at 20:27

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If we set aside the UI differences between GIMP and Photoshop, my experience has been that figuring out how to do something is mostly a terminology issue. Translating from Photoshop terminology to GIMP terminology is usually just a Google search (e.g. "XYZ in GIMP"). Once you know what GIMP calls it you can find plenty of tutorials on how to use it.

As for actual materials, the GIMP site has a lists of books. I haven't used any of them, but there's a good chance one of them will meet your need of explaining post-processing techniques from the perspective of GIMP and not just how to use GIMP. If I had to guess "GIMP 2 for Photographers: Image Editing with Open Source Software" looks like a pretty safe bet. There is a newer version, "GIMP 2.6 for Photographers", and there's an even newer version, "GIMP 2.8 for Photographers," coming out in May (Amazon link).

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The site, http://blog.meetthegimp.org/ has well over 150 video tutorials on using Gimp.

I found the videos to be very useful in learning how Gimp approaches things. Its not an attempt to clone or copy Photoshop, so there are a lot of concepts that are approached from a different angle. So your Photoshop training will not be directly transferable.

But the concepts, layers, curves, etc. are all fundamental to any image processing program. And the Meet The Gimp videos cover nearly everything.

I used Gimp for years, but I found that for nearly all of my photographs, I did not want nor need the low level bit twiddling that Gimp (and Photoshop) can do. My needs were better met by Darktable on Linux and Lightroom on my Mac.

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If you get GimpShop, it's a build of GIMP designed to function more like Photoshop and will make it reasonably easy to adapt the Photoshop guides to the GIMP. The techniques are really the same in either program, just the method of doing them is a little different. If you don't mind some extra manual reading to figure out how to do each step that a Photoshop guide talks about, then the Photoshop material should be usable.

Also, it's a little off topic, but if it is something you plan on getting in to seriously, I'd personally recommend picking up a copy of Photoshop as it is a much more polished and easy to use product, though knowing GIMP is still helpful when you have to work on a computer that doesn't have a Photoshop license (like say, at work in a software development shop). Lightroom is also a cheap option for starting out in the world of image touch up and digital darkrooming and is probably the most bang for your buck.

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    \$\begingroup\$ sounds great, but the Wikipedia page for GIMPshop makes for grim reading: "It has been five years, the software has stagnated (due in no small part to my becoming discouraged by this one profiteer who trumped me, stole much of my traffic and bumped my site down to the second result when you search for "Gimpshop"" and "The Windows version of GIMPshop, as offered by gimpshop.com is supported by adware" :( \$\endgroup\$
    – Matt Grum
    Feb 21, 2013 at 15:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MattGrum - ah, yeah, I forgot about that. I haven't used GIMPShop in a few years and had forgotten about that fiasco. \$\endgroup\$
    – AJ Henderson ♦
    Feb 21, 2013 at 15:48

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