Texture what? Playing with layers.

A simple way to add some extra kick to a dull looking picture is by adding texture to it. It’s a great way for beginners to immediately use Photoshop to edit their pictures as the steps are really as simple as baking a Chocolate Lava Cake.

First of all, open the picture you want to edit, as well as the texture photo(s). For my tutorial, i will use 2 photos, one from timtak, and the other from @mee @Lou@nne. You might want to use just 1 or even more textures. It’s really up to you.

Using the Move Tool located on the top left, drag one texture into the photo.

In Edit –> Transform –> Scale, drag the texture so that it fully covers the photo.

Repeat for the other texture.

Notice that you can only make changes to a layer if it is highlighted/active. Just click on the layers you want to edit.

Now click on the eye symbol of the topmost texture. It is located next to the thumbnail picture. The texture will now be hidden.

The default blending option is normal. (On the right hand side, above the thumbnails) Change the blending options. i chosed overlay. But you can experiment with the other blending options and use the one that you prefer. Once you have chosen, the main photo/background can then be seen again. The colours will now be too strong and it is not too pleasing to the eyes.

Adjust the opacity and fill. The lower the percentage, the less the texture can be seen on the photo.

Now repeat for the other texture. To unhide the layer, click on the box where the eye symbol was. After selecting the blending option as well as the fill and opacity, you are done. But let’s do some extra tweaking.

To add some colour hint to your photo, adjust the colour balance of the texture (Image –> Adjustments –> Color Balance).

Drag the scroll of each bars to the left or to the right until you manage to find your keeper.

Most textures have a dark frame. This is however not so visible after the blending and opacity adjustments. To darken the frame, go to Image –> Adjustments –> Curves.

Pull down the line to darken the image.

Tadaa! Here is the finished product.

Here are more examples using some great textures i found on flickr. Many thanks to the following people for sharing their wonderful textures:

Lady with hat:

bjortklingd

kotomigd

Couple posing for photo

bjortklingd

Blog-trotter

Maltese words on stone

Owen Prior

chocolita

Lady on rocky beach

Special

zstheday

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Have fun playing with textures!