Create a 3D Photo Effect with the GIMP

I kept running across a bunch of fun photo tutorials this week. Interestingly, they almost all were tutorials using the GIMP. A free photo editing program for Mac and Windows, the GIMP really is super simple to learn to use yet quite powerful.

Proof of its ease-of-use and powerful features is in this 3D effect tutorial. Inspired by a tutorial I found at the Instructables site, I downloaded GIMP for Windows and created several 3D effect photos in one afternoon. I only had to pull up the Help files once.

As I say in the intro to this tutorial, this is a different take on stepping out of the box that would make a nifty photo effect for scrapbooks, greeting cards, newsletters, and brochures. You'll take a digital photograph, give it a white border as if it were a printed photo, and make the subject appear to step, climb, or leap out of the printed photograph.

Although written for the GIMP, you can easily adapt this technique for other image editing programs.