How to Splice Images in Gimp
"Splicing" images refers to combining two or more images together so that they appear to be a seamless whole. The technique is frequently used to turn several sequential photographs into a single panoramic image; it may also be used to rebuild an image that is too large to scan in a single pass. GIMP, the popular open-source graphics application, lets you load individual images as separate layers, giving you a great deal of control when it comes to splicing them together.
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Instructions
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Open GIMP. Open one of the photos you want to splice by dragging it into the GIMP editing window. Check the dimensions of the photo by dropping down the "Image" menu and selecting "Image Properties."
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Create a new image by opening the "File" drop-down menu and clicking "New." The size of the image must be wide enough to accommodate all the photos you wish to splice. So if you want to splice three photos side-by-side, and each one is 1600 pixels high and 1200 pixels wide, your new image must be 1600 pixels high and 3600 pixels wide. Click "OK" to create the image.
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Load your left-most photo into the new image by dragging the file into the image. Click the "Move Tool" in the Toolbox. Click and drag the photo so it aligns with the left-most edge of the new image.
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Drag the next photo into the new image. Drag it over the first photo, so that some part of the second photo overlaps the corresponding part of the first photo. You will probably notice, however, that the photos don't line up perfectly, because of perspective differences between the first and second photo.
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Click the Perspective Tool in the Toolbox, then click on the second photo. A set of adjustment handles appears at the corners of the photo. Click on the upper-left handle and drag it down until most of the features on the top half of the second photo line up with the features in the first photo. Then drag the lower-left handle until the features on the lower side of the second photo line up properly with the first photo.
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Drag a third photo into the spliced image, overlap it and fix the perspective. Continue this process until all photos have been loaded, aligned and adjusted.
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Open the "Select" drop-down menu and click "All." Then open the "Layers" drop-down menu and select "Merge Down." This fuses all the photo layers into a single-layer image.
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Tips & Warnings
Your fully spliced image will probably have an uneven top and some extra white space along the right-hand side. To fix this, use the "Rectangle Select Tool" to select from the lower-left corner of the photo to as high up in the upper-right as you can without selecting white space. Then select "Copy Visible" and then "Paste as New Image" from the "Edit" menu.
You may also want to adjust the brightness and contrast of each photo so it matches the one next to it. This tool is found in the "Colors" drop-down menu.
Because GIMP loads each photo in as a separate layer, it's easiest to work by adding one photo at a time, moving from left to right. Otherwise it's easy to become confused as to which photo layer is actually selected and available for adjusting.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Digital Vision./Photodisc/Getty Images
