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By Jeff St. John (El Jefe)

ePhotoPros.com

Textures can be used to add a subtle touch of interest to an image, completely grunge out a layout, or even serve as a backdrop for your Twitter page. Examples of graphic designs and photographic design that use textures can be found all over the web.  In this tutorial, we’re going to go through one simple example of how you might combine a digital image with a stock texture.

Keep in mind that if you’re following along with an image of your own, your results may be different from ours. Don’t be afraid to substitute a different blend mode for the one that we use in this example.

If Overlay looks cooler than Multiply, then by all means, use Overlay instead. And if at any time you feel that your image is done, simply skip the remaining steps and save your finished masterpiece.

Below is how the image looked before and after we added texture. The 13 steps for achieving the “after” look are outlined below.

STEP 1: The first thing we need to do is drop our texture (in this case, I’m using a grungy canvas texture) onto the canvas with the image that we want to spice up, so open up your digital image and the texture file you want to use. If you’re using the tabbed windows found in Photoshop CS4, click the Arrange Documents button and arrange the windows so that they’re side by side. Then take the move tool, drag the texture file to the opposite window, and click the Arrange Documents button again and arrange the windows so that you’re only viewing one at a time again.

STEP 2: We should now have two layers with the texture image being the topmost layer. If your texture is larger than the image (as is the case with ours), you’ll need to shrink it down. Press CTRL or Command (Mac) T to bring up free transform, grab any control point, and shrink the texture to fit your image. Since this is just a texture, there’s no need to worry about using the Shift key to keep the transformation proportional.

(Note: If your texture is slightly smaller than your image, say about three quarters of the size, it’s OK to size it up. But anything smaller, and you’ll either want to find a new, larger texture, or change the resolution of your image to something a little smaller that will still print fine.  For instance, change the resolution from 300 dpi down to 240 or 200 dpi and drop the texture onto the image again.

STEP 3: Now we need to change the layer blend mode of the texture. In our example, we’re going for a dark, textured image where the subjects are much brighter. In this case, Multiply will be our best bet. Using Multiply is going to drop out the lighter parts of the texture, retain the darker parts and darken the overall image. (Note: The choice to use Multiply is purely subjective. Using Overlay or Soft Light might look just as cool, and in fact, does look quite cool. And using Screen will give you the opposite effect of using Multiply which may or may not work better for your image.)

STEP 4: At this point the texture and the image are blended together, but the texture covers up the subjects’ faces. So we’ll need to add a layer mask and do a little painting with a soft round brush. After adding your layer mask, press ‘B’ for the Brush tool, and up in the tool presets along the top of the screen, lower the opacity of the brush to something between 30 and 40.

Now, using black on the layer mask, we’re going to paint over the faces, gradually hiding the texture. We want to clean up most of the areas containing skin. In case your subject is a bride, you’ll possibly have to clean up the shoulders a bit as well.

When you get to any edges like hairlines or clothes, we want a smooth, subtle transition between the areas with texture and the areas without. You might even have to lower the opacity of your brush to around 20 or so.

STEP 5: Still painting with black on our layer mask, paint in a few little details, such as highlights in the bride’s hair or part of the groom’s collar and tie. The effect we’re going for is having the subjects appear to 'pop out' of the textured background.

STEP 6: Once you’ve finished painting back in the subjects’ faces and any little details you might have included, flatten the artwork. (Note: At this point, you might find that your image is finished and doesn’t need anything else. But to follow along with the effect that we are going for, please, read on.)

STEP 7: Now duplicate the resulting layer by dragging it to the new layer icon, or by pressing CTRL or Command (Mac) J.

STEP 8: With the duplicated layer selected, make sure your background color is white (unless you want to use a different color for your glow) and select Filter > Distort > Diffused glow. Here our settings will probably be different (Although I do recommend leaving Graininess set to 0) so adjust the glow amount and clear amount sliders to taste. If your glow is too much after hitting ok, you can always lower the layer opacity. Incidentally, these are the settings we used.

STEP 9: After applying our glow, flatten the artwork once more and we’re almost there.

STEP 10: Once again, duplicate the resulting layer and set the blend mode of the newly duplicated layer to Multiply. This will darken the image once more.

STEP 11: Now add a layer mask to the layer set to Multiply (it should be the topmost layer).

STEP 12: Time for some more painting on a layer mask and then we’re done. Using a large, soft round brush, set the opacity to 50 and paint with black over the subjects to create a kind of spotlight/vignette effect. Gradually paint from the center outwards so that the brightest area is centered around the subjects and you have a nice, smooth transition between the light area and the surrounding darker areas. Lower the opacity of the top layer if the effect is too much.

STEP 13: Flatten the image and we’re done!

If you’d like to watch the video of this tutorial, click here.

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