This assignment asked us to combine two images in order to create a shocking message. For me a shocking message is anything that causes controversy. My message is that breasts are not inherently sexual. I chose an image of a woman who is consensually showing her breasts and then found a stock image of a middle finger covering her nipples. I changed the colors to purple using the ColorMix tool on Canva because I wanted to make it objective and not place race onto this message. I used the curve tool to write Not and Sexual around the breasts.
To combine two images together, you first must have two images. Find two images that would overlay well together from an online source or from your personal media collection. Below are the two images I acquired.
Blue Screen of Death in Windows 9x Two less-than-healthy burgers with fries!
Step 2 – Acquiring / Opening GIMP
Download GIMP here. Follow the instructions of the site and/or the accompanying installer to install GIMP.
Open GIMP. The interface should appear similar to the image below.
The initial GIMP interface, composed of toolbox (left), console (middle), and layers (right) sub-windows.
Step 3 – Opening As Layers
In the console, go to File -> Open As Layers. Then, multi-select the images you want to combine (CTRL + left click to multi-select). Select Open.
Step 4 – Adjusting The Opacity
In the Layers sub-window, select the image you would like to act as an overlay by left clicking the item. Above, you will see an opacity slider. Modify the value from 100 be a value around 50. This has the effect of blending the two images together.
Step 5 – Moving The Overlay
Adjust the location of the overlay by changing to the Move Tool. Select the Move Tool by clicking on the image of two intersected lines, highlighted in the image below. Once selected, you may drag and drop the overlay to change its location respective to the background image.
GIMP Toolbox
Step 6 – Exporting The Image
Once you are satisfied with the combined image, go to File -> Export As. Give the new image a name, and click Export. A followup menu will appear asking details about the requested quality of the new image. Select Export to save the image.
Conclusion
Here is the image I created during this tutorial. It features the blue-screen of death overlaid on top of an image of fast food. This image depicts human-death as a result of eating fast food. This is parallels when a computer crashes as a result of poor maintenance.
Thanks for reading! Good luck on creating a combined image using GIMP!
