GIMP for Beginners: Fast Photo Editing Tricks and Tips

A 1 hour 44 minutes course teaching the techniques of faster photo editing using GIMP. Learn and get results in minutes.

Description of the Course

Are you interested in a free course? Perhaps a short yet straightforward one? This could be your best bet especially if manipulating photos is something you’d like to learn.

I know how many apps and software there are on the internet for this task. Numerous and can’t exhaust if I was to count.

But, do all of them perform equally? No! I have tried and tested a few to get good images for my fly fishing website but the results weren’t appealing.

I was lucky to have come across this course when I was on the verge of giving up.

Let’s agree: Paying for photo editing services and programs can be costly. Especially, if you don’t need the services frequently.

GIMP came up with a free program for such instances and to help learners practice without paying for any plan. The course is instructed by Chris who is an author and a software tutorial expert.

He is fluent, fun yet very knowledgeable on the topic. I wasn’t expecting to learn so much from a free course. But, this hit me differently. The techniques, tricks, and tips have been well-explained.

He gives real-life examples making the course easy to understand and visualize how your images would turn out when working on them. I’d say it is another practical course that will need you to work along with the instructor.

I find it easier to learn this way. You can watch over his shoulder as he demonstrates how to use various tools in the program.

It is a pretty short course. One you would complete in less than two hours if you have enough time. But, you can take it at your pace. That is more flexible and the reason why I love Udemy courses.

Also, you can access the course at any time since it is free. In case there are any updates, they will be available to you too. Grab the opportunity before the instructor thinks about selling it.

The course has a rating of 4.2 stars with over 9,200 students enrolled. The number is growing daily as so many are interested in changing how their photos look whether for work, business, or personal use.

Remember, this is a free course. So, some privileges are lacking. First, there is no certificate of completion from Udemy. You will only get the knowledge and learn the skill. If you’d like proof of experience in a GIMP course, check the paid ones in your course review section.

Unfortunately, you can’t message the instructor directly. Neither is there an instructor question and answer section for you to share your projects and ask for help.

This shouldn’t stop you from enrolling in the course. If you are a novice on a tight budget, this would be a great option. Enrol now and learn how to quickly tell a story using your photos.

Course Content and Overview

There are so many GIMP courses on the internet. Among them are a couple of free ones but not all of them teach you enough. The majority are shallow and with too much theory and less practical work.

Chris is generous and goes in deeper than I expected. Even if the program started as a basic editing tool without paid plans, the range of the tools currently offered has expanded.

He shows you how to use one of the best alternatives to paid software. If you are considering starting your photo editing journey with GIMP or switching from paid software, you are at the right place.

The basics he shares should get you ready and going before enrolling in an advanced GIMP course. You might have used or seen other programs like Photoshop.

The menu options and icons you see in the GIMP course will be familiar to most of them in other programs. But, there are some notable differences in the GIMP software.

Chris shows you how to download the program and install it. After this, you will open a photo and spot the raw files. You will need to install the raw file loader separately and all this is in the course.

He clearly explains how the photo editing software works so that you are ready for the results. The edits are destructive. This means that they are permanent and will directly affect your photo’s integrity.

For beginners who started minus any knowledge, there must have been huge regrets and disappointments because of ignorance. To avoid this, Chris advises that you make your edits on copies of the original images.

He also shows how to use layers to make changes. This shouldn’t scare you as the techniques are straight forward as long as you master them. GIMP stores editing history that allows the user to various undo and redo options.

In the course, you will learn the basic features of the program and other inbuilt tools that make it one of the best photo editing tools. I love that it can do most basic and advanced graphical and editing tasks.

Social media users can tell that there are so many filters in those networks. But are there a couple you’d say are the best for constant use? No!

These are dynamic and what you find this month might not be what will be there next month. GIMP has them there constantly and that, with the help of other primary and advanced settings or tools, photo editing is made easier.

I was interested in knowing how the interface works. No lie: this is one of the simplest to use as any traditional photo manipulation editor.

There is not much to the installation process. Once it is, done, you are ready to use the software. Chris shows you how to do this whether you want to edit an existing photo or create another one.

You will learn how to perform the basic operations. Note that photo editing using GIMP isn’t limited to few tasks. Everything will be dependent on your level of skill.

As a beginner, you will learn how to start from the grassroots. GIMP uses other plugins and extensive features to help you edit next-level images. Some of the basic tasks you will perform here are:

• Cropping
• Straightening
• Zooming
• Adjusting the brightness
• Exposure
• Resizing
• Colour balance
• Spot removal
• Removing backgrounds of images
• Exporting various formats… and much more

The course has a series of very short tutorials. They last between 5 and 20 minutes for each. They should help you achieve a lot of different effects when editing your photos in GIMP. If you have used other image manipulation photos before, it should be easier to go through the course.

Each tutorial will take you from the beginning to the end of each goal. Overall, the course focuses on the implementation and application of the tools, tricks, tips, and techniques.

If you want a course that explains each tool and what it does, this isn’t it. Chris assumes that you already know this and there isn’t time to explain each tool.

If you are fresh without any knowledge or experience of GIMP and need to understand each tool, you can check other beginner courses on our site. Enrol in them before you can take this.

Who is the Course for?

Anyone who needs to understand the basics of GIMP and how it works
New photo editors
Influencers
Brand marketers and digital creators
Anyone who wants to learn how to use GIMP for business or personal use

What you will learn

1. How to create great text effects
2. Mastering GIMP’s path tool and how to use it in real-time applications
3. Layers and understanding how they work
4. How to use layers to alter your images
5. How to improve the look and feel of your photos using colour effects
6. How to put images inside text shapes
7. Drawing straight lines
8. Turning the day into night in photos
9. Outlining and stroking text
10. Typing texts around in circle path
11. How to place a person behind an object in a photo
12. Putting text on the custom path
13. Ways of creating and adding shapes
14. How to make white and black silhouettes from animals, people, and objects
15. Transparent clothing effects
16. Changing eye colours
17. Removing dirt and stains from photos
18. Checking angles and distances using the measuring tool
19. The things that novices want to learn how to do
20. Creating text on the spiral path

Course Requirements

The ability to use GIMP or similar software at the beginner’s level or higher
A computer with an internet connection
Download and install GIMP
Willingness to learn and implement the techniques, tricks, and tips

FAQs – Questions on the GIMP for Beginners: Fast Photo Editing Tricks & Tips Course

Q) Does the course also explain creating graphics in GIMP?
A) No. This is purely on how to use GIMP to manipulate photos. On graphics, he doesn’t explain much.

Q) Do I get a certificate of completion once done with the course?
A) No. This is a free course and Udemy doesn’t issue certificates of completion on free courses. If you’d like one, enrolling in a paid course will be the best idea.

Q) Does the instructor add downloadable resources to accompany the tutorials?
A) As a beginners’ and basic course, there are no downloadable resources. He strives to explain the basics in the tutorials.

Q) I can’t see the question and answer section as I would in other courses. Is it available elsewhere?
A) Free courses don’t have this feature. Also, you can’t message the instructor directly. Such privileges are available in paid courses only.

Conclusion

In an era where images and photos speak louder than text, there is a need to learn and improve your photo editing skills. You don’t need to be a pro photographer to take bomb photos that don’t need editing.

Even the pros still use free image manipulation programs like GIMP. As an open-source program, it is accessible to everyone. Chris makes it even easier to learn by creating a free course on the basics of photo editing in GIMP.

You don’t have to pay for these software while you can use free versions that offer comparable results. It is a course tailored for beginners. But, you need to know the tools in the GIMP program first to make the course flow.

This will need you to learn this separately as Chris doesn’t touch on the tools and their functions. It was smart of him to save time as it would have made the course longer.

This is an easy task to do as the GIMP website has everything explained. What is more important is learning how to use each tool practically. That is what Chris does in most sections of the course.

Enrol now and change how the world sees and interprets your photos.

What Students are saying about the Course

For a free course, this was worth my time. I learned so much and I can now edit my product images for my e-commerce store.

I am for a practical course. The real examples are the highlight for me. I wouldn’t have enjoyed a theory class so this works if you want a hands-on course.

Chris is concise and tells you what you need to know. He makes it one of the shortest and best tutorials.