Crop and tone a photo

Lets crop and enhance (tone) the appearance of a photo. For this demonstration I have this photo of my son at the bowling alley.


1-Crop the image: fixed aspect

First lets crop this image to tighten up the view of the boy and the alley. Do this by activating the crop tool (control+C). Going to the crop palette click on the 'fixed' option as shown below. This will force your crop box to maintain the images current aspect ratio, which just happens to be a 4x6 inch ratio. Click on the image below to see what I just explained above


2-Tone the image
You will notice this particular image has a yellowish tint to it. What we want to accomplish is a reduction in yellow. Then achieve an overall balance between colors (Red, Green, Blue). this being a basics tutorial I wont bore you with all the nitty-gritty details. Just a step-by-step process that is specific to this photo. Your own photos will follow this process, but unique adjustments will need to be made for each individual image to attain the desired results. Lets: begin
-Open your curves palette (Colors menu>curves), adjust your 'values'(Red, Green, Blue) curves in a similar way as seen below.
-Then adjust your Red, Green, Blue curves each until you get the desired results. This can be a tricky part, but I find that much of the time its a matter of adding blue and reducing the green just a little.
-Experiment until you get the desired results for your image. You will be amazed what can be achieved color-wise. If you're satisfied with the color of your photo, all that needs to be adjusted is the value part of curves, to give your image a nice subtle contrast and color enhancement.
Click on the image below to enlarge so you can see the details.


3-Adjust levels (If necessary)
Sometimes curves doesn't quite do the job when it comes to brightness and darkness. Open your Levels palette (Colors menu>levels). slide the black gray and white nodes to adjust the darkest areas, lightest areas, and the areas in between. I like to adjust the gray node to the left to brighten up the shadow areas a little. As with curves experimentation is needed for each image. See image below for what I did on this image:


Conclusion
Below is a side-by-side comparison of the image before and after tonal adjustments. As always, this is just a guide to get you started. Experimentation is key to your learning all you need to know about the many uses of the gimp.