I’ve been playing around with different patterns and textures lately, trying hard to figure out how to properly add texture to an image in Photoshop and make it actually look good. I think sometimes I use the wrong image (pictures taken of your kids as they sit in a mess of toys in your living room won’t work) and sometimes I use the wrong texture (chevron, anyone?). But most of the time I just don’t have the patience to try and try again. And, like all of you who use Photoshop already know, that’s what it takes to figure Adobe programs out.
However, I’m getting better at it so I thought I’d run you through it so you can learn this super cool trick too. It makes your images look professionally edited and enhanced. Not useful for all images, but great for some.
Here’s what I did.
Let’s start at the beginning. I opened up this image in Photoshop:
Then I opened up this image:
I noticed the first image (of the kids) was much larger. So I selected that image and clicked on the “Image” menu, then selected “Image Size”. I reduced the image width to 1000 pixels (making sure the height and width were locked so it would properly scale).
Next I selected the pattern image. I didn’t want a blue hue in my picture, so I selected “Layer” went down to “New Adjustment Layer” and selected “Color Balance”. I adjusted the balance until I got a hue that more matched the background trees in the kid image. I moved the arrows closer to “Red”, “Magenta” and “Yellow” until I was satisfied with the hue – and I clicked “OK”.
I ended up with this:
Once my pattern was the correct hue I clicked on the arrow in the toolbar. Using the arrow I drag and dropped the pattern onto my kid image.
It was still smaller than my kid image and looked like this:
So I used the arrow tool again to grab the corners of my pattern image and drag them to the corners of my kid image, effectively covering up the kid image completely. Once covered I clicked on the arrow again to apply the transformation. Then, with the pattern layer selected in the work flow bar on the right, I clicked on the drop down menu that currently said “Normal” and selected “Overlay” instead.
That made my pattern much more opaque, turning my image into this:
I didn’t, however, want my kids to look like they has a flesh eating virus, so I had to erase the layer from their faces and bodies. First, with “Layer 1″ selected, I went down to the bottom of the right sidebar and clicked on the button that looks like a rectangle with a circle inside to “Add Layer Mask” (this preserves your texture layer). Then I selected the eraser tool from the toolbar. I then zoomed in on them (“View” then “Zoom In”) so I could be more accurate. I selected a brush that was feathered so my edges would blend better (the 17 px brush, if you must know). I then slowly began erasing the layer over their faces, bodies and clothes – making sure to be as exact as I could at the edges.
When I finished it looked like this:
I felt like the texture was too strong and made them look like they were superimposed and floating, so I needed to lighten it up. With “Layer 1″ still selected I changed the “Opacity” to 64% and ended up with my final product.
Exactly the amount of texture I wanted. Makes the forest look kind of grungy and vintage. Love me some vintage forests!
Well, there you have it for my first Photoshop tutorial. Whew!! I hope I didn’t bore you or scare you off. Photoshop is a bit confusing – especially for a person like me who doesn’t know the program language (I’m sure I used some lame-o amateur verbage up top…feel free to make fun of me).
And please know, the first time I did this it didn’t work out so well. Take your time. Play with it. The best way to gain Photoshop confidence and expertise is experimentation. Trial and error will teach you so much. So don’t let the “error” part of it frustrate you too much.
Warning: Soapbox Ahead!…By the way, that texture pattern was found at a blog featuring free backgrounds, patterns and textures. If you’re looking for some, search “free blog backgrounds” or “free patterns”. Please don’t just copy any image you find on the internet that you like and want to use. People work hard to create great texture and pattern images and we should honor their work and copyrights. Soapbox finished.
Let me know if you try this. I’d love to see what other people can do with texture.
