Distorting a photo related to a business
I needed a header for a Greenhouse’s website. I wanted the header to reflect the nature of the business. So, I took a hanging basket of petunias and began distorting them.
The petunias in the centre have very little distortion. The petunias within the letters have no distortion at all. The letters were made
invisible on a white background. Then they were pasted onto part of the hanging basket.
These are the steps necessary for distorting the basket.
1. Erasing the background
Add an invisible layer behind the picture. Using the GIMP Erasure tool, erase much of the background. Then combine the Fuzzy Select tool to delete more of the background.
2. Ripple effect to distort
Use the Ellipse Select tool to select part of the photo. Then click Filters > Distorts > Ripple. Experiment with the settings and then click OK. Keep one small area of flowers with no distortion. Apply ripples to the rest of it.
3. Increase opacity
Overlay the photo with a white layer. Decrease the opacity. Merge the 2 layers.
4. Change to size of header
Make a new box that’s the exact dimensions that the header should be. Change the latest petunia picture 
to have the same length. Eyeballing it, select a rectangle from the hanging basket that has approximately the same dimensions as your new box. Scale the header image to be the prescribed dimensions of the real header.
5. Create letters with flowers inside
Select a large font such as Rockwell Bold. Using black text, key your words on a white background. Combine the Fuzzy Select tool with your Delete key to create invisible letters. Paste it onto an original photo of the hanging basket.
Using the Rectangle Select Tool and the Erasure, crop the letters so that they have a minimum amount of white around them. Paste them onto the image from point #4.
Creating a header in just 5 steps
By distorting a photo closely related to the theme of the website, you have created an appropriate header in just 5 steps. Go here to see the actual header.