Tutorial: Using Textures - The Layers

This texture is the main change of the whole image. Once again i tried different versions out, but i wanted to make the image more "light" in contrast and add a very strong texture effect. I switched the layer to lighten mode and this time i did not use a layer mask. Instead i played around with the opacity of the layer. I ended up at a 57% opacity. 57% seems to almost make the texture go away from the face.

This layer was actually added very late in the process. After adding all the layers the white line running horizontal in the image was too pronounced. So i added this layer and selected the hue mode. I used the stamp tool to clone out some of the worse "stones" in the texture and then started to play with the opacity. I settled for an 80% opacity and added a layer mask and just painted over the areas where i didn't want the effect. If you switch this layer on and off you will notice how it adds texture to the image and "covers" the white line.

I wanted this manhole cover to add a lot of texture to the left part of the image, to add a balance to the image. At first i couldn't fit it in. The plants in the texture was too strong. I used the lasso tool to select the part of the manhole cover that did not have any plants in it. Reversed the selection and deleted it. Then i selected the whole texture image and use the transform tool to scale the manhole cover up until it was covering half the face. Then i added a layer mask and used the gradient tool to draw a mask to slowly blend the texture out. In normal mode the texture is way, way to strong. So i selected soft light mode and once again played around with the opacity. This time i ended up at 55% opacity. Soft light and overlay mode is probably the two modes is use the most. They work so good, also for controlling dodge and burn effects.

Since this picture is going to hang on one of our wall in the house, i wanted it to be a black and white image. I feel it looks more classic and it does not draw as much attention as color. I used the black & white adjustment layer and selected one of the presets that made the face more light and the background darker; the green filter.

This last layer is a simple, but effective contrast layer. Without this layer the overall contrast of the image is just to small. To achieve this effect, i added a level adjustment layer and pulled the slider inwards until the level add the contrast i was looking for.