Grungy, rusty, stained and messy. These are not words you often hear used as superlatives, until now of course. New trends show that the days of being perfect are over and luxury is no longer about shiny objects no one can afford. In fact it’s not so much about objects at all, luxury today is far more earthy and natural. It’s about having time to experience the good things only nature can provide. Have a look around and see how different products, cafés and shops are using organic and unvarnished textures and materials as part of their branding.
When it comes to photography, the use of textures is not at all a new thing. Photographers have been tackling the challenge of transforming the photograph from something flat and two dimensional into a more sensory object since the beginning of the photograph itself. However, with today’s digital overflow it’s become more important than ever to create content that triggers more than just a visual experience. Using textured surfaces is one way to make an image feel more tactile. So here’s a short tutorial on how to create less perfect and messier looking images:
- For this tutorial, I’ve chosen a still life image with lots of negative space. There’s not much going on in this image and the background and foreground are sort of blending into each other so I’m hoping that by adding a bit of texture I can create more depth to this image.
- I brought my camera out yesterday to hunt for some interesting textures. It only took me five minutes to find a well-used metal coffee table and a couple of old weather-worn stone walls. When using this technique for adding textures, I would recommend to use more than one texture for better control and visibility in the end result.
- Start by dragging your different textures on top of your original image. Then press Ctrl + G to group your texture layers.Â
- Create a black layer mask by holding down Alt whilst selecting the layer mask icon in your layers panel. A black layer mask will make all the layers in the group invisible.
- Grab a brush from your toolbar and start painting white over your background. When working with layer masks white will make your layers visible and black will make them invisible, so if you accidentally paint over your main subject you can easily reverse this by using a black brush over those areas later.
- Change blending mode to soft light on all of your grouped layers.
- Finish off by checking all the different layers and improve the final image by adjusting levels, colour balance and opacity. Match your textures with the original image’s light and colour for a more natural look.
Want to see more images using texture for inspiration? Here are a few of my favourites from the 17³Ô¹ÏÔÚÏß collection:
