Photo editing

[Ron Stadler]

Not sure I can post this on here or not but I thought I would turn you on to the free editing software I use a lot for resizing my pics. It's called paint.net, great little program that they are always updating and adding to. Has a lot of features to doctor up your image also if need be, I have messed with a lot of software and I keep coming back to this one for most of my editing, also though the Gimp is another good totally free editing software, take longer to load though and a little more complicated but really is great free software.

If you decide to download the paint.net software you may have to also update or download the .net structured software as well, also free and usually in the same setup as the paint.net download. This is needed so that paint.net can work on your computer.

[John Keeton]

FastStone is another good one that Steve Schlumpf put me on to.

[Ron Stadler]

Here's a little guide line I use if you decide to download paint.net
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[Dan Hintz]

Been a fan of Paint.NET since the beginning... that's why I have it in my sig.

[Donny Lawson]

I haven't had time to play with any photo editing yet but I hope that maybe it will remove the background from the picture if I want to. I want to take pictures with my camera,download them to my computer,(say my truck) and remove everything from the picture except the truck and print it out onto "waterslide decal paper" and put it on one of my turnings. I can print images that is already on the computer but so far not my own. All of mine still has a background in them. What program is out there that can do that? Free or not.

[Ron Stadler]

The gimp can be used to do this which is free and photoshop elements would be another which is not free but a very good program running probably around 60 bucks. But when do a cutout like this it makes it a whole easier if the background is a solid color and not to many patterns and variances, also you want the background to be a different color than your subject to be cutout, shadows are another thing that play a role in getting a good cutout and should be avoided if possible. Other than that I would play around with the gimp program, look up a few tutorials on doing this kind of thing and get a feel before taking the pics of your truck that way you know what it will take to make a descent cutout.

[John Keeton]

I haven't had time to play with any photo editing yet but I hope that maybe it will remove the background from the picture if I want to. I want to take pictures with my camera,download them to my computer,(say my truck) and remove everything from the picture except the truck and print it out onto "waterslide decal paper" and put it on one of my turnings. I can print images that is already on the computer but so far not my own. All of mine still has a background in them. What program is out there that can do that? Free or not.Donny, when you posted about this previously, I didn't realize what you were wanting to do. At the risk of souding too simple, why not just print out the photo, and trim it with scissors to leave the truck?

Before, I thought you wanted to use the image to layer it on another background. That does require software, or two decals. I use Photoshop Elements to create layers and remove background for images used on my website, but that is a different application entirely from what you are wanting to do. Seems cutting out the truck is much simpler.

Just my thoughts. Having said that, Ron is correct about what is required to produce an image that is easier to remove from the background. And, I think I mentioned this before, but it is important to not "flatten" the image after you remove the background. Otherwise, when you print it, the background will be white - not clear - and, you will be back to the scissors. You need to leave it in .tif, .png, or .gif format, or some similar format that is compatible with a "layered" image. A .jpg image is flat - no layers - and doesn't support transparency.