How to make a unique tile picture for less than $3!

Step 2 Picking and editing you photo

First you have to pick a nice photo. Make sure you pick a photo in which you will not cut away vital parts (such as eyes) later on.
Chose which part of the photo you want to use and cut out a square. Put the square in a new document.

On this new document you can:

Change image size to 30cmx30cm.
Desaturate the image.
Change brightness and contrast until you get the desired result.
You might want use the paintbrush to get rid of unwanted details in the background.
You might want to reverse the picture, otherwise you will end up (like me) with a mirror image of your original photo.

Comments

[emily.f512]

 I  love this project :) But is it for the amateur? OK, I have my pic, I downloaded gimp, I got the pic to 300mmx300mm. I went to the gimp help site to work on the grid. I changed the grid to 30mmx30mm but nothing happened and now I am wondering what I am to do if I finally get the grid right, how do I break the pic into the pieces of grid.....help! I really really want to make this for a Christmas present.

[emily.f512]

 Got the grid right, it's 100cmx100cm LOL Now what?

[yngla]

The grid isn´t really necessary, it´s just my way to make the cutting easier. I guess there are a zillion more clever ways to do it :)

[emily.f512]

 I am going to try to cut and paste each square to a new file and try printing. Thanks for the help. 

[Natasha Dee]

I tried this; I found that some of the edges were to white to see, blending it in with the backround and making it difficult to cut. I used the pencil tool on the smallest setting and drew straight lines (tutorial on gimp website) instead of the grid. That way, when I copied and pasted into a new file, I could see the edges of the squares.

[emily.f512]

 I did it by printing the whole picture on a larger piece of tissue paper and cutting it into squares after it was printed out. It worked great!

[Kenishaa]

Did this work? Likee did it come out just as great?

[anniemagz]

does it have to be in black and white?  or will color work too?

[T!KO]

Some people have said that GIMP works but im still trying to figure how to make my picture fit into 9 tiles with the program ... Which brings me to my question For those who have used GIMP how can do you cut the photo? Thanks fishytiko  

[somaly_c]

I really want to make one, but i don't have photoshop. is there another program i can use?

[crwelter]

Can I use Printshop 23 program for this project? If not where do I go to download GIMP? 

[camp6ell]

go to the internet

[maniacsteve]

I used GIMP and the "photocopy" filter to edit my photos, worked like a charm... :)

[Buskieboy]

This looks like a really great idea!  I'm going to do one with an old pic of my sister and give her it for Xmas! 
Oh, BTW, another great and completely FREE image handling program that I've been using for a couple of years now is Paint.net!  It's as powerful as Photoshop.

Thanks for this!  And Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!

[teresa5789]

is there another program i can use besides the photoshop?

[watermelonhead]

gimp would probably work.

[bsk8rchik]

I'm using gimp right now and I can't make the spaces between the lines like she does. Does that really make a difference?

[yngla]

No. The spaces are ther to make it easier to remember to cut the picture when printed.

[surfreak]

Any reason for the specific values of +80 and +30, or is it just to personal preference?

[yngla]

Just personal preference, cause that was what worked on my printer. As a matter of fact I´m going to remove that sentence right now.

[jleigh82]

What program are you using to edit your phots?

[beauwalker23]

shes using photoshop.

[gnargnar]

is there any way i could get a tile with that kid in the background's face on it? haha he looks so brutal!