Composite Tiny Photography in Gimp

I am getting married in 2023 and we were thinking of imaginative invite ideas I had seen some cool looking 'tiny' photos on the internet, where images of people are superimposed on to backgrounds but the people are shrunk so look tiny in there surroundings.

We are still coming up with ideas and producing some draft images we think might look cool on a wedding invite. The final invites will be one of these images with the details of the wedding located somewhere on the image, we will then get a load printed at a photo shop before sending them out.

I am new to image manipulation and have watched a ton of videos on it, so documented below are the basic methods I use to make these type of images. I'm no expert but I think I should be able to produce an image worthy of a wedding invite.

There isn't very much you need to make these images...

A camera - I have an Olympus E-M10 and use a macro lens for the close ups

A computer with the free software Gimp - I use a windows system but it can be installed on Mac and Linux too.

Props - Anything you need to make your image

This is probably one of the hardest steps - thinking of a range of image ideas that are, good, fun, possible to do and relevant. So for me the relevant part was this difficult bit. I had loads of ideas about tiny people in different situations but I needed to come up with something that was wedding related, but we aren't married yet, wedding dresses etc. couldn't be used. Here are a few below although some where discounted for not being weddingy enough

One person in a toy car with a ring in the back with the other person hitchhiking, over a small bridge in the woods.

One person pulling a ring out of a ring box and the other 'doing something else' on small rock!!

One person hanging a tree branch and the other beckoning them down

A combination of the above but located on a board game

The one that I'm going to go through in this Instructable is using the board game 'Game of Life' with one person pulling a ring out of a ring box and the other sitting on top of the church.

This next step is take a load of images that you want to use in your final image.

In this case I needed four separate photographs

1) Myself in a pose that could be cut out and rotated so it looked like I was pulling a ring out of a box

2) My partner in a sitting pose to go on top of the church

3) The ring box with the ring at an angle as if it has started to come out

4) The background.....part of the board game 'Game of Live' right by the 'You are getting married' square

Ideally you should aim to get quite a few photos of each element, especially the poses, adjusting your arm and legs etc. bit by bit so you might have at least one where everything is in the correct place.

If you have never used Gimp before I would thoroughly recommend it as it is very powerful and above all it's completely free. As I understand it, it is quite similar to Photoshop with similar commands so all the techniques used should be transferable.

The way to construct a composite image in Gimp is done in layers. Start off with a main layer, the background photo, and then add another layer, say a person. You can then apply a mask to the second layer and 'remove' parts of that layer to reveal the main image below.

To simplify things I have been getting each of the background images and isolating the parts I want and exporting as png's. Then when you open that png as a layer it only brings in the cut-out with no additional background. You can also easily use that cut-out in other composite images.

There are two techniques I have been using to cut out the images, Fuzzy Select and Foreground Select.

Fuzzy select works best for images with a uniform unbusy background so this was a perfect technique so my ring box photo, as I put the box on a piece of plain paper before taking the picture.

The fuzzy select tool can be found on the left hand side and it looks like a magic wand. Or you can find it in 'Tools - Selection tools - Fuzzy select' or the short cut key U.

All you need to do is select an area of the white background and just wait a while. Once Gimp has done it's stuff it surrounds the background with a dotted line. Don't worry if there are parts that aren't selected, like the shadows in my picture, that can be sorted out later.

Next you need to add a mask. On my set up it is on the RHS on the bottom with a mask icon. Alternatively you can select 'Layer - Mask - Add layer mask..' In the interface make sure that 'Selection' is selected and press Add. If it happens that the wrong part is taken away just undo the command with 'Ctrl and z'. Repeat the Mask command but select 'Invert mask' and this should correct it.

To get rid of the shadows you need to 'Select - None' and press the paintbrush icon or press P on the keyboard. You can then simply paint the shadows out, this can be done quicker by increasing the size of the brush stroke in the interface. To get the detail just zoom in and carry on until all the unwanted bits are gone.

Now 'File - Export As...' and rename as xxx.png.

Foreground Select is useful for when you have quite a busy background so perfect for the picture of me.

The foreground select icon has a person with a dotted line around it, I found it by hovering over the lasso icon and selecting from there. Once selected there are a few setting you want to make sure you have got set.

The first one to look at is the engine. I use Matting Levin with both levels at 2. These seem to be the default and I haven't changed them. Next make sure you select 'Draw background'.

With all the settings done all you need to do is draw around the shape you want to keep. You don't need to be super accurate though so it can be done quite fast. Once you get round back to the beginning there will be a yellow dot, stop at that and click it. Then press 'Enter' and the background will turn blue.

Next make sure you select 'Draw Foreground' and then you can start drawing on the part you want to keep. The stroke width can be changed on the LHS. Again you don't need to be really accurate but I do this part a bit slower and get closer to the edges than the first part.

Once that is done press 'Select' on the Foreground select dialog and Gimp will do it's magic. It will take a while so be patient.

Once it's done you'll see the selection. Add a mask as for the box previously making sure you have Selection selected. This should then give you the cut out image.

If you need to tidy up some areas select 'Brush' and paint the parts out that you don't want as with the box before. Then export as a png.

Now all the element are prepped you can start putting it all together.

First open your main image with 'File - Open'. Next add your first cut-out photo as a layer with 'File - Open as Layers...'.

You will find that the image is just far too large so resize with 'Tools - Transform tools - Scale' or the shortcut key Shift+S. Just grab one of the corners and move inward to shrink.

To move select 'Tools - Transform tools - Move' or use the shortcut key M.

If it needs rotating select 'Tools - Transform tools - Rotate' or use the shortcut key 'Shift+R'. The circle in the middle can be moved to set the rotation point,

Keep doing that until everything is the correct size and in the right place. Then do the same for all the other cut-outs.

You can switch between which item you want to transform in the Layer dialog on the bottom right hand corner. Clicking the eye icon also switches the layers visibility on and off.

The picture looks a bit flat at the moment so we can add some shadows.

Use the Free select (lasso icon) and draw around the area you want to add a shadow too. Once selected go to 'Colors - Brightness/contrast...' and a dialog will popup. Adjust the brightness and contrast down until you get the desired darkness. Add shadows to all the cut-outs you want

Now you are finished Export the image to your preferred image type. I just saved mine as a jpg.

For my wedding invitations I think this image is a little too busy so I will need to come up with something else but I do like it for one of my first composite images!!!

I have also added a couple of other composite images I have put together while practicing these techniques. They are fun and I'm sure I'll get better at them over the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading