About Gimp Image editor
The Free & Open Source Image Editor

GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and more operating systems. It’s a free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes.

Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

This tutorial is a response to all those who downloaded our Graphic Digital Pack and don’t know how to use images with transparent background.

Obviously we will use Gimp free image editor because it works on Windows and Mac too (among other OS), and yes, it is a professional image editor which supports image editing, layers, transparency and a lot more cool stuff

The Graphic Digital Pack includes a photo frame with no background, a .png image file. We will add another image behind the photo frame using layer option and we will save the edited image as .png with transparency (transparent background/no background)

Follow this step-by-step tutorial and start creating or editing your own images/graphics. Have fun and be creative

For those users who are not familiar with Gimp image editor, the interface (Gimp windows and pannels) may be a little frustrating, lots of buttons, options, tools… but I assure you, this tutorial is made for beginners (Gimp’s first-time users)

First step is to download and install Gimp on your machine. Choose the version compatible with your operating system (OS) – MAC, Windows…

The simple way to edit graphics/images in Gimp is drag-and-drop, so drag your image inside the main window (working space)

In this tutorial I use 2 images. The Polaroid_Frame.png and model1.png The frame is using transparent background (no background) and it will be above the model’s image.

Now let’s bring the second image into our working space (Gimp’s main window). The second image named model1 is also a png image file but with background.

Same drag-and-drop. From my folder (where the image is), I simply drag it into my working space

You may notice that the second image is way too big and only a part of the graphic is visible.

I will use the resize/scale tool.
Select the scale tool from the toolbox panel and click the image. When the scale tool is active and you click the image, you will see some guide-lines. Just drag your mouse and shrink the image

In the printscreens there are 2 green circles. The one from the left is showing you the selected scale tool and the right green circle is showing you which layer I am working with

Positioning the model’s image.
Scaling the image is done, now I must move the image into the right position
To do that, I use the move tool from the toolbox. See the printscreen below.

Select the move tool, click the image and drag it

Now, after resizing/scaling the image and placing it in the top center of my project, I need to bring the frame above the model’s image (or move the model’s image behind the frame). To do this I will move the model1 layer from the right panel below the bottom layer (Polaroid_Frame). Select the top layer and drag it below.

Erase tool.
Because it is taller, the model’s image needs to be erased (not all, just the bottom) so it will not be visible below the bottom of the frame image. I select the erase tool from the right toolbox and to view the image better I hide the visibility of the frame clicking the eye icon from the right panel (see the printscreen)

After using erase tool. I can work on model1.png which is the first layer now (from bottom to top).

Saving the image as png with transparent background (no background)
The process of saving my image as png file is named Export As…
From the top left toolbar (menu) I select Export As

Rename and select the .PNG file extension from the bottom-right option box

Image settings (no background)

The edited image – my preview

That’s it.
Resources
[Official Website] GIMP – free download