Category Archives: Texture
Why is Important to Include Texture in Your Photos?
Have you ever seen a styling or designing show where the designer mentioned texture every two seconds? I recently watched the Design Star (BTW I hope Danielle wins – I love her style!) and participants were constantly warned that they did not explain why using different materials is important – to add the texture. It’s the same with photography. Texture is important. Okay, now you know that adding texture is important but you still may wonder why exactly. And, as always here at CrispPhotoWorks.com, the answer is very simple…
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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Using Different Layer Blending Options in Photoshop
[dropcap style="font-size: 60px; color: #9b9b9b;"] H[/dropcap]i everyone! I am Alicia. Here in the blogging world I am Lili (lee-lee). Don’t know why, no one but my niece and nephew call me that. I have been blogging for over a year now and have had my photography blog for almost a year. These days I call it Sanukipity Photography. I made up Sanukipity. I love how Sanuk means fun and happiness in Thai and Serendipity is one of my favorite words. Put the two together and you get chance discoveries of fun and happiness. How better to explain photography?
[button link="http://lilisview.com" type="icon" icon="heart" newwindow="yes"] Sanuk + Serendipity = Sanukipity! [/button]
I make it no secret that I love using textures, when the picture calls for it. I LOVE Kim Klassen’s textures. I think I now have all she has ever shared. Today I am going to share with you a comparison of how you can use the textures in your photos, when using Photoshop Elements and I think it is the same in Photoshop.
Here is the picture I am going to use. At this point I would have already edited the picture how I wanted it, cropping or whatever needed to be done to it.
The Original Photo.
And this is the texture I am going to add to it, it is Kim Klassen’s Stained Linen.
Stained Linen Texture
From here I am going to just show you a comparison of blending options available in Photoshop. There are some great explanations out there on how to use textures and layers but I just want to show you different looks you can get with different blending options of the Stained Linen texture layer.
Layer Blending Options in Photoshop
Granted, I don’t use most of these. In fact this is the first time I have experimented with many of them. I tend to use Multiply, Soft Light and Overlay. It depends on the picture and the texture I am using. You can also change the Opacity of the layer type. Here is what Multiply looks like at two different opacities.
The one layer type that I left out of the comparison is Screen. It has a different effect and I wanted you to see how it works better with a black texture. If you were to use a snowy overlay or texture, Screen would be the one to use then too.
I hope that everyone learned something useful.
Come check me out on Tuesdays at Sanukipity Photography when I almost always have a textured photo to share.
A Trick to Enhance the Texture
[dropcap style="font-size: 60px; color: #9b9b9b;"] T [/dropcap]extures are great and even though I said they are not meant for each type of photography in my Should You Apply Texture to Your Photos? post a while ago, I have to admit they might work for just about every photo if applied properly. Of course, you as the photographer will always have to make the call whether to add or not to add the texture to your photo. If you decide to apply it, how do you enhance it? If you are new to textures or you haven’t really worked with layers in Photoshop, you can watch this short You Tube tutorial on how to do it:
Applying Textures in Photoshop
Although the video author states there are three blending options for your texture layer, that’s not really true. She mentions the Overlay, Light and Hard Light. However, you should try all options to see what you like the best or what would work the best for your image. For instance, I like to use the Multiply option. I would recommend this video for those who would like to learn how to use layers because the author uses the mouse to navigate around the Photoshop. That allows you to learn steps easier than if you followed a tutorial that uses keyboard shortcuts.
Enhance the texture, not the photo!
Once you add the texture and select the right blending mode, there may be one more thing you’d want to try out before you flatten your image. For these two image sets below, I used Kim Klassen’s texture called Simplicity. After I applied textures I realized something was missing. I wanted to enhance the texture even more. You can tell that the texture in the first set is well blended with the photo and does not stand out well while the texture in the second set is defined much better.
Rome. The Colosseum at Night.
I wanted the texture in the second set to really stand out. I wondered how to do it and sharpening crossed my mind. As you can tell, my photos were already sharp and I didn’t want to over-sharpen them.
So, what did I do? I decided to sharpen the texture itself without affecting the photo layer. All you have to do is to sharpen the texture layer.
Three easy steps are:
- Select the texture layer
- Sharpen it by using the sharpening brush or this excellent sharpening technique
- Merge the image by pressing CTRL (Command) + Shift + E
History time is a Story time. Imagine what stories these walls could tell!
Sharing with 
GD9SGGP6X6MH
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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A Special Holiday Portrait Session!
I was quite struggling with this portrait session since the light was awful in the room and I didn’t feel like moving or bringing in additional lights. I made it a challenge to work with what I have. I was trying different aperture and shutter speed settings; it took me over an hour to get one good shot (the above SOOC). Yes, it was the last shot. I have a total of three nice shots (AKA the ones I like) and I am going to use textures with the other two. I used Kim Klassen’s Love, Light and Life texture and the Scritpedautumn one respectively.
It’s Time to Celebrate, everyone! Happy Monday!
P.S. Does anyone else have issues with Blogger and its Reader? The Reader is not updating blogs I follow and Blogger did not publish the post that was scheduled for publishing this weekend while I was away. What’s going on Blogger?!
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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How to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing?
Now, how do you get your creative juices flowing again? The answer is simple: by pushing your boundaries and getting out of your comfort zone. After more than a month of not doing anything photography related, I found myself thinking that I am constantly repeating same things all over again. This morning I tried to take a photo of cookies (cookies gratitude!) and I kept feeling like I’ve already took hundreds of similar shots. I got frustrated and then I realized I tend to follow the rule of thirds and that’s when I decided to break that rule. Then I realized I like to take shots from above or at the horizon and decided to move my camera to a different angle.
What’s a prime lens? A prime lens is a lens with fixed focal length such as 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, etc. Unlike zoom lenses, a prime lens does not give you the flexibility in terms of focal length so you have to move around.
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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Textured Roughness in Photography
Secondly, I took a few photos. Textured photos! I planned to take photos of a sunset but ended up taking photos of the fishing equipment. What a rough subject, rich with an amazing texture and contrast! Smoothness in photos is really nice but, sometimes, the roughness wins. I think the roughness in these photos is what makes them interesting; the texture has a physical quality that can be felt by touch and it emphases the contrast.
Real physical textures can be very dramatic and I prefer them over artificial textures (AKA visual textures) that we add during a post-processing process. However, in order to preserve the detail and texture of an object we are shooting, we need to pay attention to the light because the light affects the way a texture is viewed. As with everything else, midday light may be too harsh and result in losing the detail. As you can tell, a low angled light during a sunset brought out a nice texture in my photos.
Here’s the first photo I named A Fisher’s Knot processed with Kim Klassen’stextures The Ladder and And Then Some.
Finally, I got to enjoy the walk down the beach during the sunset with my husband. Overall, that was a very nice weekend and a great trip.
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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Around the World in 5 Frames
New!
Anyway, I have a new Facebook page. I’d love to see you there. If you’d like to know what my personal five-day hunt is, visit me at Facebook. Or – if you’d like to know what the story behind these shots, visit me at Facebook! ☺)
RIP Steve Jobs. You have made this world a better place!
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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The Snapshots: A Textured Postcard from Padova
A Blogging Tip
Some bloggers have experienced problems when using their Google account to comment on certain Blogger blogs. I was one of them (and I still am). Maybe you can comment on one Blogger blog just to visit the next one and experience log-in issues. Blogger may keep asking you to log in (even though you are logged in!) and when you log in, nothing happens. I don’t know why this happens but I did a little bit of research and found out that blogs with comment form “Embedded below post” most of the time cause commenting issues (that are annoying and frustrating and may result in less comments on your blog). To prevent this, you should opt for the “pop-up” or “full page”. You can change comment settings by going to (Dashboard) Settings>Comments>Comment Form Placement.
Another way to encourage comments is to disable word verification – very annoying! No one wants to type those letters. Plus, it doesn’t really make any sense unless you have hundreds of comments daily that may produce a lot of spam comments. If you want to have control over your comments, chose comment’s moderation option instead. Also, allow anonymous and Name/Url option so that people can leave you a comment even if they don’t have a blog.
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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The Snapshots: Textured Postcards from Florence
The second image is a capture of a square in the evening. Don’t you love those light beams? I used Kim’s ugglove texture for this image.
Next, we have a detail of the Duomo. Isn’t the detail of this building just impressive? Just remember, they didn’t have modern technology back then! For this texture, I’ve used Cream Fuschia digital paperby Amelia.
Finally, a detail of the Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge). Florence is built around the Arno River and the bridge is a pedestrian area that is packed with small stores. For this image, I’ve also used digital paper by Amelia, the gold cream wave one.
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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Should You Apply Texture to Your Photo?
So, when should you avoid textures (or edgy actions for that matter)? Personally, I would avoid adding texture layers to those photos you’re shooting for a client unless you are sure you know his or her taste and style well. If you decide to go with a texture, I would add a copy without the texture, too. Better to be safe than sorry, right?
Portraits are another photo category that does not handle textures well. Again, unless you are sure your client wants a very trendy portrait, I would avoid textures. Portraits are meant to be clean, classic and timeless and we are not sure (yet) that textures are (or going to be) timeless.
Another photo category that I would keep away from textures is “personal photos”. I’d keep family snapshots texture free. These photos need to last; they need to be preserved as they are to help you refresh your memories 10, 20, or 30 years from now. You know how we look back at photos from 1990s and think “Oh, this is so 90s.”. Thank God they didn’t have textures back then. Imagine if they did! You don’t want to look at your photos in 20 years and think “Oh my! This is SO 2010s!”
So, when should you apply a texture layer(s) to your photo? I say anytime you wanna have fun! Go on and have fun –as long as you don’t work on an original file. Textures are fun and they can enhance your photo wonderfully but they do need to be applied carefully. Not every texture works well with every photo. In my opinion, a texture layer will work the best with a photo that already has some texture in it. Otherwise it could end up looking very artificial, not to say fake or cheap.
Textures will also work great with photos that are meant to be artistic and/or decorative. The fact that textures are quite trendy these days means people like them at the moment. The good news is that you can take advantage of it. Just check out Etsy stores; they are full of textured photos and they are selling well. So, if you know your market, you know the market likes textures, go with the flow while it lasts.
What do you think?
I am joining Kim for another Texture Tuesday this week and I’ve used her new Ugg texture. I have to admit that I already love this texture. I’ve applied UggLove to this shot of onions waiting to be chopped for a traditional Italian tomato sauce – la salsa di pomorodo. The frame is from the CoffeeShopBlog but I’ve adjusted it quite a bit.
Making salsa in late summer or fall to preserve it for cold winter days is a tradition in Italy. I am super lucky to have great neighbors who like to share their tradition (and food) with me. Salsa is prepared of tomatoes, carrots, basil, onions, and garlic. These ingredients are let to simmer for hours on an outdoor stove but the effort to make salsa is well worth. Of course, any time-consuming activity asks for a cup of coffee. : )
A Blogging Tip
I know this post is super long so let’s finish it with some exciting Blogger news. Blogger introduced a new way to view photos in your post (that are uploaded to Blogger, not linked from Flickr or another host). If you click on any of photos in this post you’ll see what I am taking about. Way to go Blogger!
Linking up to FTLoB:Picture Perfect. and liveeverymom
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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A Great Texture Photo
Well, since I had bunch of fresh basil I figured I could put it to use while it was still good. What does one do with fresh basil when she has olive oil, garlic and pine nuts around?
She makes a basil pesto! Why use the one form a jar when you can do it yourself? Basil pesto has many uses. You can use it as pasta sauce or topping for fish and chicken. You can simply spread it on nice crusty (Italian) bread. I fill the ice tray with it and freeze it. I don’t add cheese (parmigiano reggiano / parmesan) to it right away; I add it right before I use it. Since my pesto is cheese free, I like to add it to tomato/mozzarella salad too. I add basil to salads anyway so it’s quite handy to have it ready like this on those days when you don’t have any fresh basil in the house.
Now, Dorian was talking (writing) about textures and that post made me think. I am not too big fan of textures either but maybe (just maybe) if I start using it more, maybe I would grow to liking it better. That’s why I am joining Kim’s Tuesday Texture challenge today! I’ve subscribed to her mailing list and instantly received some free textures. I’ve used the latest one (2 layers at 30/70% soft light in CS5), warmed up the image a little bit (orange layer at 30% soft light) and here’s the result. Go textures!
Linking up to 
Mira Crisp
Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.
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