If you’re unfamiliar with textures, they are very easy to apply if you have Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Picnik or any other editing program that allows you to paste images into new layers and set their blending modes. Below are five before and after examples of what free textures can do for your photographs! By default, you will see the SOOC shot, but mouse over it to reveal the photograph with the texture(s) applied. (If the mouseover doesn’t work, just click on the photo to see it with the texture applied.)
1. Salvage Meh Photos
I liked the idea of this shot of the moon, but the execution of it didn’t turn out well. I decided to turn it into a piece of art instead by applying Shadowhouse’s Get Off My Cloud and Death Mask (seen below). I’m quite pleased with the results since this was otherwise a throw-away shot!
2. Add Drama
I punched up the drama in this shot by using Love That Shot’s Stucco and Brave Photo Veil (overlay).
3. Enhance Color
Textures can be used simply to enhance the color of a photo. No need to mess with actions or Photoshop tweaks! Here I applied Parée Erica‘s Rainbow Spirits and it did a good job of enriching the color with no other edits made!
4. Add Bokeh or Light Effects
It’s great when the stars align and you capture a shot in the absolute perfect lighting, however lighting effects and bokeh can be somewhat faked by applying texture overlays.
This is one of my very favorite free bokeh overlay! Shadowhouse’s Soft-Faux-n-Grunge-Bokeh, pictured below.
5. Just Have Fun
Maybe you want to scrapbook the shot or apply some fun, colorful effects. Textures are perfect for that!
I used Kim Classen’s Grubbify along with Paree Erica’s very playful Honeycomb and Rainbow Swirl Scratch.
5 Free Texture and Overlay Resources
More and more I’m finding that quality, versatile actions are usually something you’re going to need to pay for, but there are so many wonderful, free textures out there I’m not sure if you’ll ever need or want to buy any! For thousands of free, high resolution textures, check out the sites below.
- Shadowhouse Creations has the most comprehensive set of high quality free textures that I’ve seen so far! You can download over 100 individual textures at his Flickr site. This stuff is far better than some of the pay stuff I’ve seen out there, but it is just as good or better than even the best paid textures I’ve seen. His texture creations are my number one pick!
- Love That Shot is a relatively new photography and Photoshop tutorial site that offers paid content and discounts to their members. I just signed up for 3 months of access and I’m excited to see what they have to offer! Judging by their FREE content, however, I do not think I’m going to be disappointed! You can direct download several textures on their Free! page and they offer a set of six textures by signing up for their newsletter. Great stuff!
- Kim Klassen Cafe offers a variety of different, free low quality textures on her site through her Freebie Texture label. It looks like she releases new free textures on a regular basis. Her site is filled with information and she offers affordable Photoshop workshops as well!
- CoffeeShop Photography has a plethora of free textures through her Textures label. You can find just about anything you might need to edit photos in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements on her site as well, from actions to storyboards to general tutorials! Her site is one of the most comprehensive free Photoshop resources on the web!
- Parée Erica features over 1000 free, unique and high quality textures through her Flickr photo set. Her website features her amazing artwork using her textures.
TIP! I feel it’s important to know whose work you’re using when applying textures, though some may not care. If you want to make sure you can always give credit where it’s due, I recommend creating a folder on your hard drive for each artist, stick a readme.txt in there simply with the URL of the artist and when downloading from sites like Flickr, always be sure to capture the name the artist uses to describe the texture instead of the default file name.
Monday I’m going to share several FREE Photoshop action resources that can do wonders for your photographs. Free quality actions are hard to come by!
Challenge!
Please leave a link to your favorite before and after shots using textures!
Man, I wish I had photoshop at times like this. I used to mess around with textures and crud, but decided it wasn’t my bag and only used ‘em for icons and banners. When my computer croaked; I lost photoshop (and a whole mess of other programs) but you’ve sparked my interest in learning how to apply textures and actions to photography instead of graphics. You’ve really kicked my creativity in the ass (which it desperately needed) and now I want to play! I also plan on setting up a photoblog outside of livejournal.
Thanks for sharing these, Lynda. It’s a shame these things aren’t usable with PSP, because that’s the main program that I use. Then again, I don’t expect the world to bend over backwards trying to please ME. lol.
<3
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
I don’t know PSP at all, but I googled “using textures in paint shop pro” and found this article:
http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/23089.aspx
I’m not sure if that helps! Applying textures is usually possible in most major editing programs.
Awesome! Thanks! I’ve used photoshop before, but I can navigate PSP a lot better since that’s basically the only program I’ve used since I was… twelve? When I discovered that I could *gasp* put words on images. (Haha, I thought I was so cool) But, that was thirteen years ago. O_O
I’m using an older version; when PSP was owned by JASC. I’m not sure when COREL took over, but I sure am envying the newest version.
I have version 9, so it’s not really THAT old. I know Photoshop is a lot more popular than PSP, so there are usually more tutorials and resources for photoshop. I’ve found a handful of excellent sites, but sometimes I have to “translate” the photoshop tutorials/tips to PSP. They’re different — but… they do the same stuff. (I’m awful chatty today…)
I haven’t ever used textures – mainly because I haven’t taken the time to learn how. But, wow, do I like what you’ve done here. Sometimes I think they add interest to a photo, and sometimes I think they just detract from one. However, you’ve made them interesting and not distracting. Great job!
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thanks Leslie! I’m sure I’ve applied some that are distracting, but it’s definitely my goal to enhance the photo with textures, not have them take over.
Great article, if you need some high resolution textures head over to http://www.lovetextures.com all are free. keep up the good work
Twitter: @PhotoLynda
Thanks for stopping by and that great link!
Twitter: @mommyhoodmemos
Hello from BF and the 31 day challenge! I was underneath you in todays challenge and so here I am to give some feedback… And I’m finding this totally ironic since JUST before posting I had responded to your discussion about pitch tips. And to top it all off learning about photo editing is one of my goals for this year, so… I feel like I just hit the jackpot here! (And am a new subscriber:) Anyway, down to business! I think this is a great post – very easy to follow and I love how the photos broke up the text (duh – photography blog). I also like that you had two lists – the second one built on the first and kept both of them shorter, which helps to not overwhelm the reader. Well done. You also did a great job ending your post – leaving us wanting more with a teaser for what’s coming next AND a call to action (leave the before and after in the linky). Great example of a list post Lydia!!
adriel
Twitter: @tatterscoops
Awesomeness, Lynda! I’m stumbling this one! I love textures and will definately check out those links you gave. Thank you!
Love this!!! I’m totally bookmarking this page!
Twitter: @womanonajourney
Did some photography of my own, way back in the day, looking at your work makes me miss it! PS is a great tool, you can do so much with it, which can take a great pciture and turn it into a masterpiece!
Came by from 31DBBC, come visit! I beleive i will follow you as well, I’d love to see more work!
Thanks for this post and tips. It was very interesting, comments and answers too. I like textures but it’s not easy to use them well.