I will click the Raise icon once to raise the image layer one step in the layer stack. However, I can now use the “Raise” layer icon (red arrow) to raise the layer in the layer stack. Additionally, the option to lower the layer has become grayed out as it is now the lowest layer in the stacking order. If I click the “Lower” layer icon one more time, the white pixels from our Background layer will now totally obstruct the image. If I click on the “Lower” layer icon (denoted by the red arrow), I can lower the image in the stacking order, which will reveal the blue pixels painted on Layer 1. Additionally, the layer boundary of the image goes outside the canvas boundary, as denoted by the yellow lines that outline the layer. The only thing you can see right now is the image. Additionally, because my image is 1920 x 1280 pixels, it is larger than the size of our overall composition (which is 1920 x 1080), and thus it obstructs all of the pixels in the layers below it. So, because my active layer was Layer 1, which was the topmost layer in the stack, my new image layer has opened up as the new topmost layer in the stack (red arrow). GIMP will open your image one step above your active image in the layer stack. This will open my image as a new layer in my composition. Once ready to open the image, I will click the “Open” button. When I click on the image, a preview of the image will show up in the Preview section (blue arrow) – which also displays the image file size, dimensions, color space, and number of layers contained in the image (JPEG images will always be 1 layer). In this case, I will use the “Model in Red Chair” image (green arrow). I can now scroll through the JPEG images until I find the image I want to use. For example, I know the image I am looking for is a JPEG, so I can select the “JPEG Image” option to ensure that only JPEG files are shown in the folder I am searching in (this feature is only available in GIMP 2.10 or newer). If I have a lot of files and different file types in my folder, I can click on the dropdown option “Select File Type” (denoted by the red arrow) to narrow down the files to only a certain file type. From there, I will double-click on the “Downloads” folder (green arrow), and will scroll down until I find the image I want to use. I know that the image I want to use is on my DATA (D:) drive, so I’ll click on that location under the “Places” section (denoted by the red arrow in the photo above). This will open the “Open as Image as Layers” dialogue box.įrom there, you can browse your computer’s files in the Open as Layers dialogue box (pictured above) to find an image that you want to use to open as a layer.
The first method is to go to File>Open as Layers.
#SAVE SEPARATE LAYERS PHOTO IMAGE EDITOR PIXELSTYLE SERIES#
If you are wondering how I got here, feel free to check out Part 1 or Part 2 of this series (this is technically Part 3, though it can be read as a standalone article without the other 2) on GIMP Layers. You will notice in this article that I already have a background layer and Layer 1, which has a blue squiggly line on it. I will be covering these methods in this GIMP Help article. Importing an image as a layer is a very simple process that can be done using a few different methods.
Working with GIMP can obviously be a lot more complex than this as you can use multiple colors on a layer, combined with multiple tools and layer modes, and can also create new layers using imported images.
In the first and second GIMP layers tutorials that I created for this series, I have been working with layers that are filled in or have been painted on with a single color.