picture backgrounds

[Nick16]

hi, i have seen some guys on here take their picture of the tank, and place it on a nice black background.
im useless when it comes to PS or any of the other editing stuff. i want to be able to crop my photos so it is just the tank and no bits of the cabinet (which i can just about do) and then stick it on a black background to make it stand out a bit more against the forum backgrounds.

If anyone can show me how to do it that would be smashing.
a step by step or whatever you feel!

 

[Steve Smith]

What software have you got available Nick? Are you using Photoshop?

 

[Nick16]

i can probably download PS, i have GIMP but that seems very temperamental.

 

[Steve Smith]

Do you have a feel for using layers? Layering bits of an image onto each other? Very useful and a good place to start

Essentially, you're going to want to create a black border around your image. I'll try and knock up a step by step this eve using gimp

 

[Nick16]

if you could that would be smashing

i understand the layers, i just dont know what buttons to press!

 

[JamesM]

I haven't used the Gimp in over ten years, and in Photoshop there must be hundreds of different ways of doing this, but by far the easiest is to simply increase the canvas size, selecting black or white as the fill colour. Job done

 

[Steve Smith]

As James says, this would be the quickest way If you need help with specific buttons give me a shout!

 

[Nick16]

unfortunately i dont have PS, and i dont want to risk downloading some silly tryout, only to get infected with loads of rubbish.

if someone could sort me out using GIMP that would be super....

 

[Jase]

On GIMP select the Image tab at the top, then canvas size, and alter it there. You will need to select the 'Centre' option before leaving that menu. Then select the Image tab again and click 'Flatten Image'. The background will then be filled in your selected colour. You can fill it using the usual methods, to change the colour