Improve picture quality with Gimp - the best tips

This practical tip shows you how you can improve the image quality of photos with the Gimp using interesting tools and functions.

1. Gimp tip: improve colors

Gimp has several tools that you can use to automatically improve the colors of a photo. Click on "Colors" in the Gimp menu bar and then on "Automatic".

• The "normalize" function illuminates underexposed images. Another variant of normalization is "contrast spreading".
• "Equalize" tries to distribute image colors evenly over the range of all possible intensities.
• The "Color enhancement" function increases the color saturation of the active layers.
• The "white balance" improves the white and black in images.
• You can also use the "Automatic color values" function under "Colors" and "Values" in the menu bar. Contrast and color of the image are automatically set correctly with this tool.

2. Gimp tip: improve image sharpness

There are also some functions to improve the sharpness of a photo with Gimp.

• To increase the sharpness of a photo, click on "Filter" in the menu bar and then on "Enhance". At this point, select "Unsharp Mask". The values ​​already set usually work very well. At the end, confirm with "OK".
• However, if you want to reduce the graininess of an image, it is best to use the "Selective Gaussian Blur" filter with a radius of 1 or 2. You can find the function in the menu under "Filters" and "Blur".

3. Gimp tip: set contrast and saturation

Often it is enough to change the contrast or saturation of the photo.

• The "Brightness / Contrast" function is easy to use. You can find the setting in the menu under "Colors". In a separate practical tip, read in detail how you can best correct differences in brightness with Gimp.
• You can adjust the color saturation in Gimp via "Colors" and "Hue / Saturation" according to your wishes.