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GIMP Tutorial #8 – How to Combine Several Images Into a Single One

Today I'm going to tell you how to combine different images to create a new one by opening them with GIMP and more specifically using its layer capabilities. As you may know GIMP is an extraordinary free image edition program that can help you in a wide variety of image manipulation tasks like photo retouching, clipping, applying filters and effects just to mention a few. You can download GIMP latest full version by clicking on the “Download” button above.

So, if you already have downloaded and installed GIMP, the first step is to create a new image, go to File → New... and in the dialog that opens you can adjust some parameters like size, orientation (portrait or landscape) or you can select a premade template.

Now that you have your new blank image, the second step is go to File → Open as Layers... to open the first image you want to include in the composition.

In the next screen capture you'll see the window where you can browse your folders for the image.

Once you've selected it, click on the “Open” button and your image will appear as a layer over the existing background layer that GIMP generates by default every time you create a new image. It is possible that your picture does not fit in the new image so the third step is to adjust it by using the Scale Tool.

In the Scale dialog you can adjust the size manually or you can also do it by dragging the corners.

Once you are satisfied with the size for the first image you can repeat second and third steps to include the second image in the composition.

These images are still independent from each other so you can move, scale and adjust them using the tools in the most convenient way for you. To switch the selection between them you can go to the Layer box and click on them. You can also drag them up or down in the list to change their position from the front to the back.

As you can see in the next screen capture I played a bit with the Perspective Tool. The next and last step is to save the image in the format you like, go to File → Save and in the opening dialog you can enter the name for your new image and select the format from the list at the bottom.

Simple and easy, isn't it?

Final Words
Let your imagination fly and start combining your images to create new ones. In upcoming tutorials I'm going to tell you how to use more tools to personalize your images. Download GIMP right now by clicking no the “Download Now” link below and start editing your pictures like a pro!