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First as introduction, I want you to know what an incredible program and phenomenal tool Photoshop is. I have been working with it for the past 3 years and still only know a tiny percentage of this amazing program. It's that endless. I am still learning and love to learn new things about Photoshop, so if you know a better way to do something on here - please let me know - I'd love the input. What I love about Photoshop is that while being a professional program a non-professional can find their way around very easily. It has the easy side (more of what we'll be doing) and the harder, more complicated, endless side. That said, I want to share with you my foibles. I fumbled my way through Photoshop and basically just learned the hard way how to do most things. Or I'd just google it. Sometimes I'd find exactly what I needed and then other times it'd take me hours. As I show you things about Photoshop, I will give you the downloads that I am using. Eg. I will let you download my photo along with the texture I used, citing the source. On this note: there TONS of great FREEEEEE resources out there. If you can find it for free people - don't pay for it! Seriously. Enough of me talking, on to the good stuff: |
How to Texturize Your Image in Photoshop: |
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1. Download these images. A. This is the photo we are adding texture to. Click on the link to download if you want to follow along. Just promise you won't steal my picture ok? I know it's not super amazing, but it's all I have : ) B. Also you will need this texture (Note: I got it from here, but download it from my link if you want exact results as I adjusted the color slightly before using it.) C. And I'm also using this bokeh texture - my own photo. Just click on the highlighted links to download them. You should have three document downloaded now.
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2. Open all three images in Photoshop. 3. Drag and drop "texture 1" as a layer into the main picture. If you want the image to stay centered hold down shift as you drag it into your main document. |
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| 4. Resize the first texture to fit your document. (Ctl+T) Streching won't effect the quality when using it for a texture, so don't worry about it. Also if you are following along with me, the two pictures are already about the same size. |
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This is what Multiply blend mode looks like, and although I like the texture, I'd have to lighten it too much to get what I want. |
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| So lets try Overlay. I use both of these a lot, and I also like Darken and Lighten, but really all of the modes are fun and can be used, just in different circumstances. So mess around with them, just to see what you get. |
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| 5. Add the second texture by draging and dropping as a new layer (holding down shift as you do so). This one is a bokeh layer - I took it of "rain bokeh" a few months ago and thought it would add just a little more character to the already present bokeh. Drag and drop into the document creating a third layer. |
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| 6. Change opacity to 50% and change blend mode to Lighten. |
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| Now we're getting somewhere! See how cool that looks!? But it needs something to tame it down and make it feel more natural. 7. Copy your background layer. You can do this by grabbing your background layer with your mouse and draggin it over the "layer" icon seen at the bottom. |
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| 8. Move the "background copy" to the top of your layers. It should now cover your other layers. Reduce the opacity to about 20%. Just what it needed huh? |
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9. Adjustments: Now we're almost done, but I think that the image is a little on the warm side. And there's a few adjustments you can do if you want to make it look better. I'm just going to pop open curves and adjust the color as these layers made the photo a little too warm. |
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I lowered the red and boosted the blue, just making it a little cooler. Then I added an "S" curve to lighten and add a bit of contrast. You didn't understand a word I said did you? Well, it's okay because I'll show you! Soon, I promise, but for now, let's check out the new finished product! |
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Tadaaaaa! Pretty sweet huh? Now remember, play with the layers a lot when you do this - reposition them, change opacity and blend modes. Just mess around until you find that "sweet spot." And trust me, you will.
Also texturizing isn't for every photo, but sometimes it just add that bit of personality that makes your photograph stand out.
Hope everything made sense! Drop me a line if it doesn't :-)
Lots o' love and happy Photoshoping,
Em
I've been trying to make photoshop work for me but it kept my head spinning. I've been reading a lot of photoshop books online and hopefully I can make it work this time. Marylee
I don't know how to do layers or textures. It's great that you're putting together these tutorials. I have PSE, but I know that you can do layers in it as well, I just haven't spent the time. Photoshop is definitely an on-going learning process!
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