How To Use Gimp To Make An Image Transparent

by Eric Hamm on March 5, 2009
in Design

12 Comments

In this screencast video tutorial I show how to use Gimp to take an image with a white background and make it transparent.  This technique is great for logo creation as well as other web design techniques.

Eric

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Comments

12 Responses to “How To Use Gimp To Make An Image Transparent”
  1. Bamboo Forest - PunIntended says:
    March 5, 2009 at 9:29 am

    Word it up bro.

    Reply
  2. Janice says:
    March 5, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    WOW! Just what my teenage daughter and I needed. She’s been doing her best to help me as she’s really into designing skins. So far, we’ve been struggling along with Paint to put text onto photos but she’ll love this! You make everything seem so DO-ABLE!!! Please create your own online school some day – my daughter’s school doesn’t pass on knowledge like this. Thank you for sharing your expertise and gifts to help us get OUR voices out there. Hope to be able to pass it forward when the blog’s up. ~Janice

    Reply
  3. Matthew Dryden says:
    March 5, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Nice stuff. You should check out TutCast if you get a chance – it’s a Photoshop tutorials, but the techniques can be transferred over nicely.

    Matthew Dryden’s last blog post..Brevity

    Reply
  4. Marc - WelshScribe says:
    March 6, 2009 at 7:02 am

    Yay a fellow GIMP user! Nice tutorial Eric.

    Perhaps the post would be better if you had that paragraph as the intro then the video. You should then close the post by saying something like “So now you know how to make an image transparent using GIMP. For more Web design video tips head on over to Frugal Site Design”

    Doesn’t hurt to draw attention to it now and again as readers can become “blind” to the 125×125 banner ads.

    There’s also a psychological element to structure your posts as:
    Intro
    Content
    Recap

    In teaching it goes something like this:
    This is what we are going to learn
    (Lesson)
    This is what we have learned

    Marc – WelshScribe’s last blog post..Good Grammar is a Garnish to Great Blogging

    Reply
  5. Eric Hamm says:
    March 6, 2009 at 7:22 am

    @Bamboo Forest: Thanks Gee!

    @Janice: I’m glad you fond it useful. I never know what is useful to readers and what is just so obvious that EVERYONE knows how to do it.

    @Matthew: Thanks! And thanks for the tip.

    @Marc: I appreciate the insight. Next time I’ll be sure to lay it out your way. It just makes more sense for both composition AND pointing readers to our buttons as you mentioned. Eric

    Reply
  6. Writer Dad says:
    March 7, 2009 at 9:50 am

    Thanks for the info, Eric. Really useful as I’m just opening the Gimp/Photoshop can of worms and I know it would be easy to let them wiggle all over the place.

    Reply
  7. Ann says:
    March 24, 2009 at 8:50 pm

    Thanks! i have been looking for this piece of information.

    Reply
  8. Eric Hamm says:
    March 24, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    @Sean: Glad you enjoyed it.

    @Ann: I’m glad I was able to help. :-) Eric

    Reply
  9. William Harolds says:
    May 31, 2009 at 11:08 pm

    Eric…
    When I go thru your transparency procedure, the pasted image has a black background. What am I doing wrong?

    Thanks.

    Reply
  10. Alexia says:
    November 7, 2009 at 2:59 am

    Thanks so much for this! This is a great tool for my digital scrap booking projects!

    Thank you sooo much!

    Reply
  11. Leigh says:
    February 17, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    I don’t normally watch video tutorials. But this one was worth it. As you demonstrated, the technique is surprisingly simple and works well. So thanks for this :)

    Reply

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