How to Use the Foreground Select Tool in GIMP for Challenging Selections
This is an in-depth tutorial on how to use the foreground select tool in GIMP for making selections in challenging images, like around hair, fur and other low-contrast subject parts, where the basic selection tools like Fuzzy Select are not enough. Here’s the video:
Video Summary
In this GIMP tutorial, Kush Sharma demonstrates how to use the Foreground Select Tool to isolate subjects with complex edges, such as hair, and how to refine those selections non-destructively.
Key Steps and Techniques
- Initial Selection [03:19]: The process begins with a rough “lasso” selection around the subject to tell GIMP what the general foreground is.
- Refining the Foreground [05:12]: Once the rough selection is made, the tool switches to a brush mode. You paint over the important parts of the subject (the “foreground”) to provide the software with pixel sampling data [06:54].
- Preview Mask [10:19]: Before finalizing, you can use the preview mode to see how the selection looks against a colored background, allowing for further adjustments if gaps are visible [11:03].
- Non-Destructive Masking [13:15]: Instead of deleting the background, the instructor applies a Layer Mask. This allows you to edit or restore parts of the image later without losing original data [13:35].
- The “Overlay” Brush Trick [16:38]: To clean up “halos” or grayish imperfections in the mask, the instructor sets a paintbrush to Overlay mode. Using black/white paint in this mode targets only the gray transition areas without ruining the sharp white or black parts of the mask [17:20].
- Removing Halos [20:31]: By reducing brush opacity and hardness, you can gently brush away the light-colored fringe often found around complex hair [21:27].
Important Links
Link to download the image shown in the video:
This video is from GIMP Photo Editing Course, which has 35 videos and 4 hours of content. You can use the link below to access the full course via Udemy:
GIMP Photo Editing for Beginners Course
