Greetings gentlefolk,
I'm a new-be on Gimp and image manipulation in general. My only photo experience came from taking Polaroids of reptiles. So far, I've only used Gimp for making covers for my books. I usually take a photo image sized for the book cover and add text and pieces from other photos. This time I have a solid black cover with the text added. I'm trying to add small pieces cropped from other photss by copy/paste, but they always paste within an area that has text and when I move them to appropriate locations, the outline of the shape moves but the photo inside disappears. Any clues as to what I'm doing wrong? The text area they move into is a block of text on the rear cover that has a yellow dotted line around that is hard to get rid of (don't know if that is significant). Any help appreciated.
Alex Croft

Duh. I think I know what layers are, like the transparancies that were stacked to make animated scenes a century ago. However, I don't know if I'm using one or ??. I didn't explicitly ask for others, and all I did to the solid background (which should be a single layer) was add text: don't know if that created a separate layer. I used the "A" tool to set where & how and then typed the text {Didn't have any luck trying to copy/paste it from a document). Some is horizontal & some (spine) vertical. Hope this provides what should have been a one-word answer.

Should have said I'm using Gimp 2.10.0 (also installed 2.10.6 but the Icon doesn't bring it up).

Just tried again & noticed something. No matter where the pointer is, the photo gets pasted into the text in the box. When I move it, if I stop with half of the photo in the box & half out, only the half that's outside the box disappears although the outline remains: that portion within the box remains.
PS A response to your wise man quote:
"If you ever meet someone from whom you can learn nothing, the fault is in yourself not the other."

When you add text you are adding another layer whether you mean to or not. Check your layers dialogue - you will see the 'text' is a layer of it's own.

Many thanks to Wallace and Sallyanne for their replies.
Ok, so text is on separate layer. Still don't know how to get add-on photos not to disappear when moved off text box. Haven't found a way to paste (or otherwise insert) the photos where I want them or to move them without the photo part disappearing although the outline (an ellipse in my cases) remains. If they go into/onto the text layer, why don't they stay on that layer when I move them? Do I need another layer for the added photos? If so, how do I get one and how do I get the photos in/on it where I want them? Somewhere I saw a "flatten" option: I presume that. whem I'm done, this squishes all the layers together to make one image, which is what I need for the cover requirements. Thanks for any help.

I'd paste each of your photo extracts as a new layer:

Edit -> Paste as -> New layer.

Or if you want to import each photo from a whole file each on a separate layer:

File -> Open as layers.

To manage the layers, bring up the layers dialog (if not already displayed):

Windows -> Dockable Dialogues -> Layers

You can move each layer about independently with the move tool.

To export your work make sure all the layers you want are visible (eye icon in layers dialog) and then export the file in the format you need e.g. png, jpg etc:

File -> Export as.

Also save as an .xcf file so you can go back and adjust in future as the individual layers will still be there in an .xcf file:

File -> Save

Personally I wouldn't merge the layers as that reduces your ability to go back and edit. If you want to merge them you can right click on the layer in the layers dialog and choose Merge Down or Merge visible layers.

Alternatively if you want to paste into a layer then click on the layer in the layers dialogue and then when you paste the results go in that layer. Look out for the dashed line round the layer that's the layer boundary.

To make a new layer click on the Create a new layer icon at the bottom of the layers dialogue, or use menu:

Layer -> New layer.

Here's a quick example showing the layers dialogue on the right. There are four layers, background, text and two pasted layers with photo extracts. The active layer is Pasted layer #1.

teapot has given a very good explanation of what you can do.
Yes 'flatten' does merge all your layers together. It will also remove any transparency in your image. You can also go to the 'image' menu and down to 'merge all layers' if you want. There really is no need to though as an image will save as you see it even if not merged or flattened
If you have used any layer modes on anything though it is not always (I have found) a good thing to merge layers before exporting. Save as an xcf and or export as a png are best. Dont export as a jpg unless you have all your image filled in. jpg does not support transparency and if you want any part to remain transparent using png is best.
xcf will save your layers and you can edit later with all your layers, text, pictures, paths, selections etc intact. png is best if you want to upload to the net.

Thanks, teapot. I'd made something work by the time I saw this, but I wasn't sure how. Your post cleared things up so I may even be able to repeat the process. Thanks everyone for all your help. I know my problems are pretty basic, but that's where I am with Gimp -- and where I'll probably stay. As long as I can make crude covers for my books, that's all I need until I make the NYT best seller list, and then I'll hire somebody to do the dirty work.



Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to bury the bodies deep enough that they'll never be found.