Creating distortion in an image

Whether you want to add a sense of motion, heat or a disruption in time-space, GIMPs displacement filter is what you are looking for.

Step 1

Load up your file into the GIMP.

Step 2

Using one of the select tools, select the area you wish to distort. In order for the effect to look as natural as possible we want the effects of the distortion to slowly taper out to the regions we don't want distorted. To do this choose the feather option (select>feather). Enter the number of pixels you wish to feather by. Click Ok.

Step 3

Create a new transparent layer called "noise". Click Ok.

Step 4

Add some noise by Filters>Render>Clouds>Solid Noise...

To start with increase the Detail, X Size, and Y Size all to their maximum values. Click Ok.

Step 5

Hide the layer called "noise" and now select the layer with the image you wish to distort.

Step 6

Displace by Filters>Map>Displace... Ensure the layers being used to create the distortion is the "noise" layer just created. Play with the X and Y values to achieve the desired effect. Done!