Pimp the Background of Your Object. Greenkey-like and GIMP (free)

Change the background of your photo by using one color and
GIMP, (A free) photo editor and can be downloaded here: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Hello world, this is my first time ... That I make an instructable.

This instructable seems to me useful when you want to photograph and offer an item in a webshop. It can also be used to put a topic in the spotlight. Whatever it may be, with GIMP there are endless possibilities.

I hope I explained it clearly and that the English was spelled correctly ... thanks Google Translate ;-)

With creative greetings,

Benny

Step 1: Getting Started

You Just need an object (or a photo of an object), plane color background (Just different than the object), any camera, computer with free GIMP (all platforms) and a photo of a background (free use or your own!)

GIMP, (A free) photo editor and can be downloaded here: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Step 2: Set Up Your Mini Studio

Take a background (plain color but different than the object): paper or a piece of cloth of the same color.

I used two backgrounds to the bottom and back, to creat plain black everywhere.

Note the exposure! Use diffuse light for best results.

Take a picture (obvious) ;-)

Step 3: Import Photo & Open GIMP

open GIMP and open the photo.

maybe crop if necessary.

your first GIMP-time? look here:

Step 4: Darken the Background

Select the photo in the layers

Go to the 'colors' and select the option 'brightness and contrast'.

Make the cotrast bigger, so that the background is more distinct from the object.

perhaps adjust the brightness to a better result.

Step 5: Select the Object...

Select the photo in the folder layers.

Select the icon of the fuzzy select tool.

select the mode "add to the current selection"

Select any region that has not been added.

click the background with the mouse with the selectiontool (arrow (see photo)).

Go to 'selection' 'select' 'invert' (the background!)

Go to 'edit' 'cut'

past as new layer

Step 6: Adding a New Background

First select the 'eraser tool' and remove spots if necessary

Now open the new background as a 'new layer' in the tab 'file'.

Experiment with the settings that you want for a better result, if you like. Perhaps scaling to fit it better?

Be alert to what is selected and whether it is made visible with the "eye".

Select the background layer and drag it below the object layer. Now the object should be visible above the background

Select the object layer. Then select the 'Select tool', click on the object and move it to the desired position.

You can add different backgrounds as a layer to see the difference. Afterwards select the "eye" which background you want as picture.

almost there!!

Step 7: Export Your Results and ... Done!

You can save the file in GIMP as .XCF file to use it later on.

Go to "File" and then "export as" and then the bottom left on the + you can select all kinds of file types.

This comes from JPEG to PDF and PNG to PNG... and so on.

So, now you have a photo with a pimped background.
You can go as far as you like, but this seems to me a good start. have fun with it ;-)