Blending images

[prophet85]

Hi!

I need help and advice on how to make a portrait photo wider by expanding the portrait background color. Please see link below for an example of how the photo can look like. 

So basically I have a similar portrait photo as in the link that I want to use on the front page of a website and thus need to make it wider for aesthetic purposes. I want it to be wider by making a nice continuation of the background that the model is in front without it looking like there is a clear line where the real photo ends.

Does anybody have advice on how to achieve this? 

https://www.istockphoto.com/se/foto/hon-...-251641560

[rich2005]

There are a few ways.

Standard Gimp 2.10
If fairly regular like your example. You might find that color pick foreground (FG) then background (BG) top then bottom near the edges and a new wider background with a FG to BG gradient works straight away.

If it does not then a layer mask filled with a gradient, black-to-white bi-linear with suitable offset 'feathers' in the layers.

screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/cjvj9CQ.jpg

Liquid rescale plugin.
See: https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-Liquid...27#pid8227 for the plugin files.

This lets the user draw keep and discard areas, then scales to a new size.

What the plugin looks like in action: https://i.imgur.com/6DPhSwQ.jpg
The result: https://i.imgur.com/mTDK0fL.jpg

[prophet85]

Thank you for that quick reply. I would actually like to try to use the liquid rescale plugin. It took me over an hour to figure out how to install it but I finally did it. 

However now I have problems using it. I have followed the instructions that you gave and it looks like this     .

However as you can see the model also gets distorted      .

Do you know what I might be doing wrong?

[rich2005]

Poor girl, shoulders like a weightlifter.

The background does not look all that difficult. I would give the layer mask method a try.

For Liquid rescale not much room at the edges, 3000 wide to 5000 wide just too much.
You will have to make the keep mask really tight (which you have done) and apply liquid rescale maybe several times Try 3000 -> 3500 then new masks 3500 -> 4000 and again 4000-> 5000 as you progressively build up the edges.

Sort of thing, but easier than your image. 3000 -> 4000 https://i.imgur.com/473gMYd.jpg and 4000 -> 5000 https://i.imgur.com/YE1KGT0.jpg

There are other ways, but not much scope with such a narrow vertical border.

The other way is forget about existing, cut out the fore-ground (the girl) and put on a completely new back ground.

[prophet85]

I used the liquid rescale in smaller steps like you said and it worked like a charm. No bodybuilder shoulders anymore!

Thank you so much for the help!