Learning about Texturing Photos and Digital Scrapbooking Layouts

I came across a fantastic article recently, which explained a lot about textures in photography, how, when and why to use them.

I've always love texture, in whatever medium I've been using, from my metal and jewellery days, to now when designing digital scrapbooking papers.

What I've learned so far, (and I've got much more to learn) is that textures aren't there to fix bad photos. Garbage in, garbage out!

It does add interest, changes the mood and lighting, can enhance or change the style of the photograph or digital scrapbooking layout.

So... I've been having some fun designing some textures, and experimenting with some of my own photos and layouts. (I will be putting together a package of them and they will be available at my Esty shop)

here are some Before and After photos:

This first set, I broke my first rule, I don't think this is a great photo to begin with, but I was anxious to try out some of my new textures! Once I got started, I just kept going! I like the results, though, and that's what matters!

Before:

After:

 I cropped the photo, then used 2 layers of "bokeh" texture, and 2 layers of "paint" texture plates.

I used a gausian blur on the 2 bokeh texture layers, one had the blending mode set to "multiply" and the other to "soft light" On the bokeh layers, and on one of the paint layers, I brushed out the cactus flower, and also used different blending modes.

I also used an action from Pure Photoshop Actions: Pure pink, which boosted the colour a bit more. They have some great actions! They are subtle, but still pack a punch!

These are the textures I designed and used in the above example:

The key is working with layers, blending modes, opacity, and even filters, to achieve the look you want, (or sometimes you get happy accidents)!

Here are more Before and Afters:
Before:

 

After:

 

After again, adding a border:

This photo was taken at the Port Dalhousie pier. I like the way the texture has changed the colouring on this photo. Although the original photo does have a nice quality to it, I believe that the texture has made a difference in the mood of this photo. It's gone from slightly ethereal to rugged to painterly.

The last one was processed with a "paint" texture plate, and 2 versions of the texture below, one layers blending mode set to overlay, and the purple one set to multiply.
I brushed out the rocks on this one as well.

Here is another example,
Before:

After:

I did a series of Valentines day cards for my Hubby and the kids. I'm not partial to pink, so this was my answer to making cards for them, with out all the girly pink!
The texture layer is green, with a bit of brown. I set the blending mode to overlay, and brushed out the area over the photo. I like both looks, but the texture definitely adds some interest to the layout.

Before:

 After:

This is a layout from my dad's memoirs that I've been working on for a long time. Have a look here to see more of these layouts.
This one looks great after the texture has been added. It adds a sepia colour to it, and the crackled texture also ages the layout, and tones down the contrast, which is quite suitable for a heritage layout.

This is a learning process, to be sure, and I know I'm not there yet, but this sure is a lot of fun!

Here's the link to that fantastic article:

Digital Photography School

Thanks for stopping by!

Please feel free to share a link to your photos or layouts that you've incorporated some textures in!

Or, just share your thoughts.

Happy Scrapping, and Happy editing!

Marlene