<center><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/06/gimpausbiteb747.png"></center>
So today @kus-knee left a nice comment on my partner @krystle 's <a href="https://steemit.com/steveirwin/@krystle/the-day-australia-wept-saying-farewell-to-aussie-legend-steve-irwin-may-he-rip">tribute to Steve Irwin</a>
>Very nice article with a personal touch. What a thrill you had and I love reading articles from the perspective of members who live in another area of the world.
**I really like the feathered edges on your photos. How did you do that?** Upvoted!
@kus-knee (The Old Dog)

I **really** like the effect, and would like to see more posts use it because its worth the extra effort imo. 
And it's easy once you know how!

<center><a href="https://steemit.com/steveirwin/@krystle/the-day-australia-wept-saying-farewell-to-aussie-legend-steve-irwin-may-he-rip"><img src="https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/05/steve157ddc.jpg"></a></center>
For image editing both @krystle and I use GIMP (<a href="http://www.gimp.org/">gimp.org</a>) - a **completely free and open source** image editor. GIMP can do pretty much anything photoshop can do - but it can take time to adjust to the interface for some people.

I had been using both for years, and I'm just now **finally** at a point where I've completely purged photoshop
 **Yay for software freedom!**

### Heres how to soften the edges of your pictures with GIMPs "Fuzzy Border"
**Step 1** - Open your image in GIMP - for this example I'm using a previously unshared photo I took of graffiti along the train line somewhere on the north side of brisbane around 10 years ago now.
<center><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/06/1689e6.png"></center>
**Step 2** - From the top menu select **Filters - Decor - Fuzzy Border**
<center>https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/06/2c1d47.png</center>
**Step 3** - Configure options like colour, border size and granularity ***or just use the defaults below*** like I did
<center> https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/06/3902e3.png</center>
**Step 4** - Save your image and upload it to @blueorgy 's amazing <a href="https://www.steemimg.com">steemimg.com</a> so you can share your creations with steemit!
<center><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/06/46d557.png"></center>

I hope to see this effect (and GIMP in general) being used more here, its great software and a dead simple effect to improve the look of your posts a lot.

## SteemImg advertising
I jumped on <a href="https://steemit.com/steemimg/@blueorgy/steemimg-com-some-info-a-monetization-proposal-for-maintaining-servers-and-website-analytics">a recent opportunity</a> to be the first to advertise on @blueorgys awesome <a href="https://www.steemimg.com">steemimg</a> service for a day (Only $5SBD for now) - and I pointed the ad at this post. The timing was good, and I think its relevant to the interests of steemimg users, so yolo.
<center><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/07/steemimgsponsor9ecc4.jpg"></center>

## Drop Shadows in GIMP
Since the screenshot didn't look great with fuzzy borders, I used a drop shadow instead. Heres how to reproduce the effect!
<center><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/07/gimpdropshadow11d291.jpg"><br />Filters > Lights and Shadow > Drop Shadow</center>
The default options work pretty well for my purposes, but you could get creative - I didn't :P
<center><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/07/gimpdropshadow23dfb6.jpg"></center>
## Gimp love and resource links
GIMP is awesome , it's been continuously updated since its release in **1996** - ***10 years ago already***!
<center><img src="http://i.imgur.com/KGW7v7J.jpg"><br />***No - not that kind of gimp..***</center>
The name **might** have something to do with why its not as well known as it deserves to be :P
GIMP actually stands for "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU">Gnu</a> Image Manipulation Program"
* <a href="http://www.gimp.org/downloads/">Official download page</a> (Source code and downloads available for windows, linux, mac)
* <a href="http://download.gimp.org/mirror/pub/gimp/v2.8/windows/gimp-2.8.18-setup.exe">Direct download for windows release 2.8.18</a>
* <a href="http://download.gimp.org/pub/gimp/v2.8/windows/gimp-2.8.18-setup.exe.torrent">.torrent for windows release 2.8.18</a>
* MD5Sum for windows release 2.8.17 is `510bb11abc72443f431226523fa21b6f`
* <a href="http://www.gimp.org/donating/">Donation page</a> (Paypal/Flattr/Bitcoin/Fiat)
* You can find the <a href="https://docs.gimp.org/en/script-fu-fuzzy-border.html">official documentation on the fuzzy border effect here</a>
* Find more GIMP tutorials at <a href="http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/">gimp.org/tutorials</a>
* If you're looking for public domain photos to illustrate your posts I recommend <a href="https://pixabay.com/">pixabay.com</a> 

### Are you a GIMP user ? Feel free to post your creations or tutorials below!
<p><center> <img src="https://imgur.com/1rTOMBf.png" /> <strong><br /><br />
Written by <a href="https://steemit.com/@ausbitbank">@ausbitbank</a> - If you found it interesting please <a href="https://steemit.com/@ausbitbank"><img src="https://imgur.com/MuQYMot.png" /></a> and see my other creations!<br />
<a href="/@steemleak">@steemleak</a> ~ <a href="https://steemit.com/created/steemface">steemface</a> ~ <a href="https://v2.steemviz.com" rel="nofollow noopener">steemviz</a> ~ <a href="https://www.steemcap.com" rel="nofollow noopener">steemcap</a> ~ <a href="https://steemit.com/technical-analysis/@ausbitbank/usdsteem-and-usdsbd-experimental-indicator-conversion-timing-assistant-new">steemUSD/sbdUSD indicator</a></strong><br /><a href="https://steemit.com/@ausbitbank"><img src="https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/08/26/follow5f0c5.gif" /></a></center>