How to Make a Fisheye Picture in GIMP

You can digitally replicate the fisheye photography trick on your computer.

To create a "fisheye" picture in traditional photography, you use a special wide-angle lens to produce a hemispherical distortion. With GIMP, a free graphics design program, you can digitally distort images to replicate the fisheye lens' characteristic appearance. Create a fisheye effect in your digital pictures with a unique distort filter called IWarp.

Instructions

1. Launch the free graphics editor and open the photo you want to add a fisheye effect to by clicking "File" and "Open." Your picture will appear as the background layer of a GIMP workbook.

2. Select the Filters tab. Click "Distorts" and then "IWarp." A settings dialog appears, guiding you through the distorting process.

3. Click the Deform Mode "Grow." Double-click and drag the tab of the Deform Radius scrollbar to the right to increase the intensity of the effect. Use a similar process on the Deform Amount scrollbar. Depending on your workbook size, the optimal radius and amount levels vary, so you can readjust the settings later on as needed.

4. Click two or three times in the center of the IWarp preview image to see the initial fisheye changes take place. Continue to click your cursor in the center of the preview to create a harsher hemispherical distortion. When satisfied, click "OK" for the IWarp changes to be implemented into your actual workbook.

5. Save your fisheye picture by clicking "File" and "Save As."

Tips & Warnings

• If you dislike the way your initial distorts appear in the IWarp preview image, click "Reset" to remove the changes and return the IWarp dialog preview to its original state.

References

• GIMP: IWarp
• GIMP: Distort Filters
• GIMP: Save As

Resources

• GIMP