Scenery I experience everyday; made more interesting by shooting from a different perspective, cropping, and adding texture. When I add a total of twenty photos, I plan to print a photo book.
Working with Texture Overlays in Photoshop:
- Develop your photos as usual, then crop and run actions if desired. For flexibility, do not merge layers. Then, add a .jpg photo texture at the top of the layers stack.
- Working on the texture layer, try different blend modes to see how the photo changes.
- Experiment with reducing opacity of the texture layer.
- Try adding more texture overlays with different blend modes.
- In the layers panel, try rearranging the order of the textures to see how the photo changes.
- Try changing a texture layer’s position over the photo. For example, flip horizontally or vertically.
- Add a layer mask to hide or reveal parts of a texture. You might want to brush away a heavy texture over a face or focal point. As you work on the mask, you can use the brush at 100% opacity or reduce the opacity, allowing some texture to remain.
- If desired, add color balance or hue/saturation adjustment layers at the top of the layer stack to tweak colors. Add a levels adjustment layer to improve tonality. You can also brush on the adjustment layer masks to modify. And you can change the blend mode or opacity of the adjustment layers.
- The final result can make an ordinary photo look more artistic. Some textures to try: vintage colors, heavy or lightly distressed, dark and mysterious, sunwashed, painted, crackle, bokeh, cloth, wood, rust, stone, text, creased and folded paper.
Free photo textures:
December 1, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Very cool Karen! These are going to make a fabulous book!