GIMP is a full featured graphic / image / photo editing software set of programs and tools similar in use or functionality to Adobe Photoshop. GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is extensive enough that its own wiki page can be devoted to the software tools.
Gimp / GIMP (technically all upper case) will provide for you nearly all of the features and tools available in the expensive commercial software package Adobe Photoshop with the exception that GIMP is absolutely free. Also, unlike Adobe Photoshop, GIMP is cross-platform and open source. You can run GIMP under Linux, Windows, and MacOS. Many Linux distributions include GIMP as a part of their desktop operating systems, including Fedora and Debian.
Tools used to perform image editing can be accessed via the toolbox, through menus and dialogue windows. They include filters and brushes, as well as transformation, selection, layer and masking tools.
GIMP uses an interface made up of multiple independent windows, which can be confusing for some users. You can toggle between the default multi-window mode and the new single-window mode in GIMP 2.8 and newer through the Single-window mode checkbox in the Windows menu. In single-window mode, GIMP will put dockable dialogs and images in a single, tabbed image window. The default windows were: Toolbox (left), Main Image (middle), Layers and Brushes (right). In single window mode all three are contained within the Main Image window, which is more consistent with the user experience of Microsoft Windows software.
Customize
- CLICK Windows -> Single Window Mode (you will see a check symbol next to the label once selected)
Usage Help
- Arbitrary Rotation: You can access this command from the image menubar through Layer → Transform → Arbitrary Rotation, or by using the keyboard shortcut Shift+R. THEN you might have to: Layer -> Transparency -> Remove Alpha Channel (if you're working with a simple 1 layer image and you want to restore the background.)
- Color Depth to 1-bit BW: Image -> Mode -> Indexed -> choose "Use black and white 1-bit palette)
- Moving TEXT or an IMAGE layer: when I attempt to move text or an image in the active layer, gimp either moves the wrong layer or background layer, very stupid and annoying. SOLUTION: Hold SHIFT KEY while using the MOVE TOOL which forces Gimp to work with the current selected layer.