Swan Ride

Swan Ride
Originally uploaded by Katie M 459

This was manipulated in GIMP for the "Manipulate This" flickr group, which will hopefully let me in soon. :)

Original by monkeywing is here:
Click here to view the original image by monkeywing
(Just in case - this Flickr group is for submitting your photos to be manipulated by other people. Since monkeywing submitted this photo, permission to manipulate is a given).

Here is how it was done:

Added original as layers. Duplicated layer twice - called one copy "swan 1" and the other "swan 2." Through a process too complicated to go into and kind of self-explanatory, selected the big swan in the "swan 1" layer, inverted selection, and deleted to transparency. Did the same with the little swan in the "swan 2" layer. Merged the two layers and called them, "swans" (this layer now contained the swans, and nothing else).

Saved xcf file, deleted the "background" layer, added white layer underneath swans, merged down, saved as jpg. Undo, undo, undo, etc. until the background layer was back.

Opened the new jpg as layers, moved to bottom. Selected swans layer, did Lighting Effects. Environmental map set to the swans jpg, bump map set to the same (depth ~7ish, if memory serves). Played around with the material - low glow and brightness, higher shininess and polish, and metallic sheen. Applied.

Created a new duplicate of the background layer, called it, "water." In the swans jpg layer, selected the white background by color (0 threshold) to get everything but the swans. Inverted selection to select the swans. Selected the "water" layer, hit delete (this deleted the swans, leaving only the water, since selection areas carry over from one layer to another in GIMP).

Did basically the same thing with the water layer as I did with the swans.

Put the water layer under the swans layer, and voila. :)