Texturing Photos

Your Digital Scrap book papers are not just for scrapping. Many professional photographers have taken textures to a new level and so can you by simply adapting some of your background (textured not flat) scrap papers onto your photographs. Depending on what look you want to achieve, the sky's the limit.

The process is simple enough so below are the basic steps. Feel free to experiment along the way. I find that the more subtle your effect is the better it looks in print. I have over exaggerated this image so that you get the idea. My objective is to give this image a vintage vignette look and feel for a card-making project.

1. Open your photograph
2. Open a digital paper with texture of your choosing.

3. Now copy and paste your digital background paper over your photo.
4. With your background layer selected, start to play with your Blend Modes in the layers pallet. You can scroll through your options with your down arrow key.
5. Lower your opacity but don't worry about your subject being textured. That's the next step.
6. With a soft brush, erase over all the areas that you don't want texture on, like faces, arms, etc. In the example, I've erased the texture from the flower.
7. Next go to your Adjustment Layer and select Hue and Saturation.
8. Move your sliders around until you get the look you want or leave it as is.
9. That's pretty much it unless you'd like to use the Burn and Dodge tools on your edges.
If you'd like the flower photo in high resolution you can grab it here. It's one of mine taken in early spring of a wildflower.

If you would like to see further examples of this technique by well known Professionals, here's a few links.
Jess De Rox
Nicole Van
Red Leaf