r/GIMP • u/AlonzoMosley_FBI • 3d ago

Putting Headshot on New Background

I have a headshot that's had its background removed really well - except one spot around my neck and left ear, where it's obvious when I paste over a dark background. I don't know if it's light, white space, whatever.

But short of doing a pixel by pixel edit, is there an easy way to at least reduce that "aura"? It doesn't have to be perfect, just better.

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u/ofnuts 3d ago

I don't do a pixel by pixel edit, but erasing(*) with a soft brush is pretty quick and effective (here 8px brush, 50+ hardness) :

Note: to emulate the original background, I copied the layer and shifted it laterally, but f course this only works for the vertical parts...

(*) with the eraser. In older versions I would have used a layer mask, but since the eraser has an anti-erase option, the layer mask is unnecessary in this case.

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u/schumaml GIMP Team 3d ago

Note: to emulate the original background, I copied the layer and shifted it laterally, but f course this only works for the vertical parts...

This is likely no issue for OP, because as I understood, we are looking at an image where the head has already been pasted onto a new background, hopefully as a new layer.

(*) with the eraser. In older versions I would have used a layer mask, but since the eraser has an anti-erase option, the layer mask is unnecessary in this case.

I'm quite curious about that remark of yours - The Eraser's Anti-Erase capability is quite old, dating back to 2.2 at least: https://docs.gimp.org/2.2/en/gimp-tool-eraser.html . Is there anything different with it now?

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u/AlonzoMosley_FBI 2d ago

This is likely no issue for OP, because as I understood, we are looking at an image where the head has already been pasted onto a new background, hopefully as a new layer.

Yes, that is true.

TBH I get lost in "Alphas" and "Masks..."