Tutorial: Using Textures - Intro

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From one of our family vacation i have a shot of my son, that i really like and i would like to have it hanging on one of our walls in the house. I have not been really happy with the colors, but i like the way his hands covers the one eye and the fact that he is looking away. One thing i didn't like was the background on the left. I think it attracts a bit to much attention. I could have shot it with a larger aperture, but i was already at f/5.6.

So this morning i woke up and realized what was missing: TEXTURES!

Before we start: This is highly subjective. I like it. You may not. Again, there are no rules as to what is right or wrong.

We are going to start with this:

And end up with this:

So how did i get to the end image? I used Photoshop and three textures that i shot outside my house. I went out and actually just shot 4 textures that i thought could be used. Its not like i have been hunting several weeks for the best ones. It took me 2 minutes to shoot the textures and it took me around 20 minutes to create the final image. Most of the time spent was actually just trying different things out. Its a creative process. There are no right and wrong. Its all up to the man (or woman) with the Photoshop at hand. Over on the right you can see how i build up the layers in Photoshop.

Remember textures can be found all over. Shoot a closeup of your wall. Your carpet. A cupboard. An old newspaper. Radiators, wires, books. Everywhere you look, there are textures.

Here are the three textures that i shot

Tutorial: Using Textures - The Layers »