Sandbox 365 - Digital textures

January 25th, 2015
I hope you all had fun with multiplicity over the past couple of weeks and have learnt about layers, masks and visualisation.
Over the next couple of weeks, we would love you to learn about the use of digital textures. Textures are used to give your images a different feel, whether it is to give it a more painterly, grunge of three dimensional effect. Below, I will discuss the variety of textures, how to use them effectively to your own style and the changes you can make yo make them work for you.

Let's start at the beginning!
WHERE TO FIND THEM AND HOW TO CREATE THEM
There are a variety of textures you can download for free online, just google free digital textures and many options will appear. Grunge textures will give your images an edgy look, and painterly textures will given you obviously a painterly feel, but you also have wooden, bricks, wool or any other option out there. You can also develop your own texture library by taking images of textures from brick walls, rust, concrete floors, etc. However textures often need to be adjusted to get the best possible result.

HOW TO ADD TEXTURES TO YOUR IMAGES:
There are two ways to go about it. Personally I keep my textures in a folder on my computer. The textures are the last thing you should do to your image so do any editing and adjustments to your image before you apply a texture. If you know which texture you want, in PS, go to File/Place and select the image, this will autimatically add it as a new layer in your image OR
Open image in PS then go to the move tool and then drag it over your image and it will create a new layer.

BLENDING MODES AND OPACITY:
When you place your texture on top of your image, it will be automatically set to normal mode. Above your layers panel you I'll have a drop down menu giving you options. Most of my layers are set to soft light or overlay but I encourage you to experiment with all blending modes to get familiar with them and the effects they have on your images. Once you are happy with the blending mode, play with the opacity. I generally use them at 50-70% but your judgement and style will decide on what is right for you.

ADJUSTMENTS AND COLOUR CORRECTION:
Textures can come in colour of b&w. B&W textures are the easiest to use as they will not affect the colours of your image, colour textures on the other end may need adjusting to get your desired result. If you have a textures that you like the feel of but is not 100% right for your image, do the following:
Make sure the texture layer is selected then go cmd/Ctrl + u which will bring up the hue/saturation adjustment layer. Adjust the sliders to change the hue, saturation and brightness level of your texture.
The other issue of textures, especially in portraiture is that you do not want unwanted textures on skin and/or clothes. If you have a b&w texture, add a mask to your texture layer and using the brush tool, about 50-70% go over the areas you wish to remove texture and this will erase part of the texture. I would not advise to go 100% as you want smooth transition and always use a soft brush 0% hardness to make sure it appears natural.
If you have a coloured texture and like the effect the colour has added to your image, the process is slightly different as the colour of the texture will have affected the overall colour of your image and a simple erase as above will result in a very unnatural effect so to smooth out a texture do the following :
With your eye dropper tool, on the texture layer, select the area you wish to smooth/erase, the go to your brush tool 60-70% opacity and go over the area you wish to remove texture from. This will keep the colour but remove the details of the texture. Please play with opacity yo get the result you like!

Here are a few examples of images I created where textures played a key role in the finishing result. I hope you enjoy this tutorial and anything I can help with, please let me know.






Links to tutorials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIcrsdl7LhI

tag your posts sandbox365-textures and why not post your images here to inspire and discuss your experience with others.

If there is anything I can assist with, please let me know, I will be delighted to help
@roseolivia
January 25th, 2015
@roseolivia - thank you for this! I am really looking forward to playing in this arena :). Btw, what is the tag?
January 25th, 2015
@northy the tag is sandbox365-textures
@ltodd
January 25th, 2015
@sandbox365 sorry forgot about the tag, as above😄
January 25th, 2015
Oh I love textures & this will be fun! some of my favorite sources of textures & before & after texture tutorials are http://frenchkisstextures.com/category/before-after/ and http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Textures
January 25th, 2015
thanks people! this looks very exciting and might just give me a kick in the pants!
January 26th, 2015
I'm not sure how much texture should show, but here was my first try.
January 26th, 2015
So... I had not read all this great information before I tried it myself for today. I might have done things a bit differently, had I read, but here are my efforts for today:

January 26th, 2015
The other shot from today... below. Feedback welcome. :)

January 26th, 2015
Loves me some textures! Great topic sandbox365!
January 26th, 2015
Sue
Love textures and layers. Here's mine.
January 26th, 2015
@roseolivia oh love textures! hopefully tonight some PS practice with this.
January 26th, 2015
@tigerdreamer beautiful shot, sometimes with textures, less is definitely better, the best way to use them is experiment until you find a level you are happy with
January 26th, 2015
@rosiekerr love both shots and brilliant use of textures. Love it!
January 26th, 2015
@pixelchix this image is wonderful and shows perfectly how the texture added can add a very different and more artistic feel to your image.
January 26th, 2015
@sioux cool shot and love the grungy effect added by the texture. If it was me, I would have slightly removed the texture and lines from the skin and cloth material for smoother blending but only my humble opinion. Very cool result!
January 26th, 2015
@sandbox365 Thank you for this challenge! I've played a little with textures but just by guess work so this will be fun to try.

My question is - I was watching for the challenge and didn't see it. Would you tag me when you have the challenges? I did "friend" Sandbox. The other thought is last time you posted the challenge in "themes and challenges" this time in "general discussion". So I was looking for this in the wrong discussion group.

Again, I really appreciate this group to teach Photoshop!! You guys are awesome!
January 26th, 2015
I love your third image! I look forward to trying out some different textures.
January 26th, 2015
I have more practice to try but here is my 1st go at it.

January 26th, 2015
@myhrhelper Hi Kathy, we are still 'wearing in the sandbox shoes' & are working on how to best notifying everyone. Hosting this series is a learning curve for us too! @ltodd
January 26th, 2015
@rosiekerr Hi Rosie texture application is a personal preference, so it depends on what you are trying to express or feature in the shot. You choose the technique & texture layer according to what you are wanting to achieve. Textures can add depth or tonal changes. In the leaf shot I perhaps would have turned it horizontal for a pseudo diptych. Because the leaf has so much texture of its own, I would not add any to its surface by sampling the texture colour with the paint dropper gently painting on the texture layer over the leaf. I would use a very soft brush. The out of focus parts of the leaf look better with some texture to blend into the background. You can also use Gaussian blur on texture layers if the grunge style is too strong. Changing opacity and blend mode is trial and error until you get a feel for the look you want for a particular style of editing. Use several different layers in different settings, or even experiment using the same texture layer twice & multiply mode. Reading about the theory of blending modes can help save time too. http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/blending-modes.html

Your tree shot is terrific use of texture complementing an image.
January 26th, 2015
@roseolivia Hi Rachel, i'm working on photo that I added texture layer, I want to remove the texture on the main subject, how do I go about doing this?
January 26th, 2015
@radiogirl I would use a soft brush & low opacity on a masking layer just like in the multiplicity tutorial, or, depending on the look and the change in colour that can happen when you do that, you can paint the same colour of the texture directly onto the texture layer. @roseolivia might have a different approach ?
January 26th, 2015
So why do we sometimes select a black layer mask and other times a white layer mask. When I selected a black mask I couldn't erase part of the image with the white. Not sure what I'm doing wrong
January 27th, 2015
@ltodd Hi Lyn thank you very much, I used a soft brush & low opacity on a masking layer and it worked perfectly and was easy to do.
January 27th, 2015
@myhrhelper It depends if you want to *show all* or *hide all* of the layer you are applying the mask to. In PS, the default mask is white (show all) but if you fill the layer with a black paint bucket you can change the mask to black (hide all). It depends on what you are doing if you want to start with a black or white mask.

Layer masks use white, black, and all the shades of gray to control the transparency of a layer. By default, every layer mask is colored white, which means that the image is 100% visible. If it were colored black, it would mean the image on the layer underneath was 0% visible. And gray in a layer mask means some level of transparency depending on how light or dark the shade of gray is. 50% gray will give us 50% transparency. The lighter the shade of gray, the closer it is to white and the less transparent that area of the layer will be. The darker the shade of gray, the closer it is to black and the more transparent that area will be.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/layers/layer-masks/

Kathy did you click on the layer mask thumbnail (not the image) to make the mask active first? To paint on a layer mask, first select it by clicking the mask in the Layers panel. You’ll know it’s selected when you see an outline around the corners of the layer mask. http://www.graphics.com/article-old/photoshop-fundamentals-using-layer-masks-adjustment-layers
January 27th, 2015
@ltodd thank you I will need to study this closer along with the links
January 27th, 2015
Here's my first attempt. I just used the texture to age the photo of a little country store near my home.
January 27th, 2015
@myhrhelper That is a really cool concept for a texture. It's like you have created a puzzle with the waterfall in the middle. It is so diverse and contrasting that at first it startles and confuses. But then, like a surrealist painting, I really started to enjoy it. Cool.

@sandbox365 Thank you so much for doing this. I'll be using GIMP for this project. So, other GIMP users ... we can figure out the differences together!
January 27th, 2015
Hey, you might want to add Deviant art http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/?qh=§ion=&global=1&q=textures
http://www.deviantart.com

HUGE source of textures, brushes, templates, etc.
January 27th, 2015
So, I went crazy with my textures. You know, this was a fun experiment. I took some photos of my own and used them as textures on a previous photo I had posted. I think this is a good lesson on how textures can be over applied. Subtlety might be better? And, the texture doesn't really blend with the subject or emphasize it.

The textures are shells, and a group of mussels I photographed. Done in GIMP.

And PLEASE, texture gurus of sandbox 365 - tear this one apart! Give some tips and suggestions ... I'll play around with it. ;)

January 28th, 2015
@ltodd So I finally had my aH ha moment.
I understand the basic of the black mask and the white mask and was able to somehow get them to either reveal (with black mask) or hide with a white mask. Thank you again for explaining and providing the link that was easy to ready. The video was great but it went so fast I wasn't sure what they selected. Now I can play some more
January 28th, 2015
@myhrhelper YAY & hi-five 🙋 to you! (I was in the land of the mask-confused for a very long time!). Soon working with masks will become second nature for you.

@adambralston Glad to hear from a Gimp user, and that you are enjoying playing with layers & textures! Deviantart is certainly one of my go-to places. I have sometimes posted ETSOOI ( "really over-cooked") edited images as a reminder of what I have learnt. :-D

If you are up for a bit more advanced work with masks for this image, perhaps try to:

** apply a Gaussian blur ( ?? strength about 15'ish) to the *image* of the rocks / shells you are using as a texture, and then
** fill the *mask* segment using the paint bucket tool & a preset gradient of black to white. Once you have done that, If necessary, select the *mask* & rotate it until the texture is only visible on the top half of the image. ( ie the mask would be all black at the bottom, and all white at the top ) ( another easy way of doing it in Gimp is at http://tuxtweaks.com/2009/08/fade-out-images-with-gimp/)

These 2 changes should ( ?? ) add a subtle misty / cloudy effect just to the top half of the image - this might 'work' for the image.
January 28th, 2015
Ok I know this is also a bit on the bizarre side but I had an idea and went with it.


January 28th, 2015
My first attempt at a PS texture. I have always done them using a processing package like PerfectEffects or Pixlr, so I am pushing my learning and it is fun! Thanks for this thread.

Your thoughts?

January 28th, 2015
Sue
@dibzgreasley Love it Debs, It is really easy when you know how hey!
January 28th, 2015
@ltodd Thank you for posting that link to Understanding Layer Masks. I kind of self taught myself GIMP watching tons of Youtube videos. More of a monkey see monkey do approach. OF course, I didn't truly UNDERSTAND the layer mask, just what it "Does". And I knew I had to make a white mask for visible or black for transparent, but sometimes would get the whole switching the default black/white foreground/background thing, and then just kind of lose my mind for a few minutes til I would remember to put it back. This article has set my mind clear from here on out.

AND secondly THANK you for your recommendation and further "homework" ... I LOVE THE CHALLENGE and will get right on it today. I saved the file as an *.xcf file just in case :)
January 28th, 2015
@dibzgreasley Debs that looks great! And the cool thing is that with the PS layer you will be able to change it in so many more creative ways than with the presets.
January 28th, 2015
@myhrhelper Hey Kathy, if I was the client in that tutorial link on layer masks ("transparencies") and I said that I think I would like to see more of the baby, and not that edge on the left side - you could go back and edit that layer mask, but couldn't do that if you had used the destructive "erase" tool.
January 28th, 2015
@adambralston Thank you - I agree - I think if this was planned for a client I would had done a different baby pose - I was just playing with older photos. I did use a layer on top to blurr out the baby a bit but I don't think it is that great and just wanted to play with something.
January 28th, 2015
Amy
Brand new to the 365 community and looking to learn more. This is one of my first panos I had done and was taken a little over a month ago...love the texture look on it! Hope I am doing this right ;) Some very talented people here! Feedback is welcome.
January 28th, 2015
@ltodd If anyone is reading this and getting confused, just focus on the textures, and don't worry about my ramblings, fair enough? BUT, adding the blur was easy using filters, and applying it of course to my WHITE layer mask by clicking and selecting the "white" box in my layer window, on the layer I wanted to change, in this case the "texture" layer.

But, using the bucket fill was a little more challenging. I haven't looked at the link you posted because I'm trying to figure it out. I am not sure how to set the gradient using the bucket tool. I did however apply a foreground to background blending gradient tool just to the right of it, using the default foreground black, and background white. I think you are saying, it might be better if the sky and upper half were the affected textured area, and not the bottom half. HOWEVER, with the smooth gradient and not a sharp transition so it "blends" better.

Is that kind of what you were thinking?



Also, I was wondering, maybe I should "paint" out some of the texture at the sky/horizon edge, and clean that up a bit so that it really only applies to the sky?
And then, with that in mind, maybe I should take that top half of visibility in the mask, and copy it and flip it upside down, so it would be reflected in the reflection on the water below the sky? And then paint out the bottom portion reflected over the land? Or ... too much?
January 29th, 2015




Took my LensBaby out for a bit yesterday, took some shots of the clouds and sun, attempting to get some flare....anyhow here is one of the results.
January 29th, 2015
@dibzgreasley Love your image! I like that you repeated the purple and blue tones from the flower in the background texture.
January 29th, 2015
@katymac80 Thanks Kathryn! I am inspired to try another now based on the feedback I've had.
January 29th, 2015
@katymac80 @harley84 @adambralston @lovemy3littles @myhrhelper @dibzgreasley @dmcoile @radiogirl @salza @overalvandaan

CGTextures – All but the highest resolution textures are free. If you search hard, you can find some real gems. http://www.cgtextures.com
January 29th, 2015
@katymac80 @harley84 @adambralston @lovemy3littles @myhrhelper @dibzgreasley @dmcoile @radiogirl @salza @overalvandaan

Filter Forge – This remarkable software is capable of generating thousands of seamless textures. Filter Forge offers a free, fully-functional 30-day trial. https://www.filterforge.com
January 29th, 2015
@katymac80 @harley84 @adambralston @lovemy3littles @myhrhelper @dibzgreasley @dmcoile @radiogirl @salza @overalvandaan

Flypaper Textures – These are some of the finest textures available anywhere. http://flypapertextures.com

French Kiss Collections – These textures are created from real paintings and they’re absolutely breathtaking. http://frenchkisstextures.com
January 29th, 2015
@mikegifford thanks so much for those links! I shall be investigating them as soon as possible!
January 29th, 2015
@mikegifford As Sally said, thanks so much for all these links Mike. I can see what I'll be doing this weekend!
January 29th, 2015
So, 2nd attempt. Today I thought I'd try to apply a selective texture to the background and leave the subject (i.e. the plants) untouched. I have spent hours on this!

Thoughts and feedback welcome.

January 29th, 2015
@mikegifford Thank you. I'm collecting them now.
January 29th, 2015
@dibzgreasley This is the looking good and the blending works well!
January 29th, 2015
@adambralston I've not completely digested your discussion with @ltodd but keep in mind when dealing with the mask on a given layer, it behaves much like a real layer. What I'm saying is you can use the gradient tool to give the gradual blend in a linear, radial, or reflected mode, and then you can also adjust the opacity for added control. Then in addition, you can use a direct brush with opacity adjustment to add emphasis to certain sections/elements where you want the texture to apply or go away. Keep up the good work!
January 29th, 2015
@adambralston (and @ltodd) One other thing, if when you add a given texture you want the texture over a section or element in the image to go away or be less emphasized, but you want the color tone of the texture, instead of using a mask, do a selective color paint with a brush (using the texture as a color guide and the color selection tool). I'm probably not describing this well, but I believe @ltodd may know the name of the technique or a link to a training video. I use the technique often but I don't remember what the process is called. Try this and see the results, its a great way to produce selective texturing and you maintain the overall tone of the image.
January 29th, 2015


I love working with textures. It's been awhile since I've done this style of work so it's nice to revisit it with my project365. Here's one I created earlier this week.
January 29th, 2015
@myhrhelper terrific to see how you are thinking laterally & experimenting with your new skills! Yes putting a texture over the entire image can be used to "tie" the colours of composited elements together. If you also wanted to soften the edges of the masking in areas you can make adjustments to the paintbrush settings. Don't takle all the settings at once - just start with opacity, hardness, flow and size.
BRUSH BASICS -
http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2014/04/24/photoshop-brush-tool-basics-part-1/

@harley84 beautiful abstracts! :)

@dibzgreasley wow such lavender loveliness!
I can see the where you were going with the second shot Debs - and viewed large there is a nice 3D effect. :) The image is a little busy to see the full impact of textures, and I wonder if you cropped more tightly to the top left corner, or maybe left the crop as it is and painted the texture ( white) back onto the lower left area as a contrast to really make the purple 'pop'.
When you paint black/white on the texture mask over the flowers, zoom right in close and use different opacities on your brush according to the focus or accent (or highlight) you want on the different parts of the flowers? Use a super soft edge & low opacity on the mask around the edges of the flowers. This tutorial explains it quite well - http://frenchkisstextures.com/tutorials/using-textures/quick-start-texture-tutorial-with-free-texture-and-photo-downloads/ see how the mask is darker grey on the bits that really 'pop' in the finished image?
January 29th, 2015
@mikegifford Mike, thanks so much for all the links! Hopefully tomorrow night I can find some time to practise with some textures.
January 30th, 2015
@adambralston Hi Adam yes that was what I was suggesting you try, and yes you can also paste into the mask for the water reflection if you like. I kinda like the misty look of the texture over the horizon on this shot, but you can use a hard edge brush to remove the texture right up to the horizon line as you suggest. What blend mode(s) did you use on each texture group? I would now try & experiment with different combinations of blend mode (of the texture image only, not on the masks) &, different opacities of both textures & mask.

The technique Mike @mikegifford mentions about keeping colour & softening textures can be seen at https://jessicadrossin.com/gimp-tutorial/
January 30th, 2015
@mikegifford Thank you Mike! Some of these are brilliant. I'm going through my back catalog of photos to see what mistakes I have made could be used for textures.

@dibzgreasley That looks really natural with the vine and the background. I assume there wasn't much DOF to begin with? It really makes the vine stand out, and looks really good.
January 30th, 2015
@ltodd Awesome. And thank you for the critical reviews as well! :) I like the misty horizon as well. Not sure if I will add the sky reflection yet, but I might try the gradient tool to invert and flip it like Mike was saying?

On the textures : I organized my layers with the top two being textures, then my main image, and then the fourth layer is a duplicate of the third layer.

The first layer texture is overlay, and the second layer texture is screen.

SO, I will play around with opacites of textures and mask, and the blend mode of the texture image

*TIME PASSES* Just want to say I have been changing the blending modes and it is blowing my mind how much I can alter this image that way, both on the textures, and on the mask. I'll have to play a little more to get the feel for what everything does. That link that Mike @mikegifford gave on blending modes will really really help understand the different powers.
January 30th, 2015
@ltodd Wow, thanks for the really detailed feedback Lyn. I will check out the tutorial and have a go. I am struggling with the masking aspect, brushes and so on, so thank you.
January 30th, 2015
@adambralston Thanks Adam. It was quite sharp as I took it with my smart phone and I cannot control the DOF. I did blur the fence/background before I put the texture on in an attempt to show shallow DOF.
January 30th, 2015
Here is my first attempt:
January 30th, 2015
@stiggle Wow Anja, that is pretty cool. How did you apply the texture so accurately to just the petals? OR did you edit out the texture from the green areas by painting it out?
January 30th, 2015
@adambralston Thanks Adam, I edited the texture out where I didn't want it by using the brush.
January 30th, 2015
This is my third attempt - you didn't need to see the first two! I didn't make life any easier for myself by choosing a background with very similar colour and tonal values to the main subject, which made blending rather tricky, but I'm reasonably happy with the end result using three textures and lots of layers and masks.

January 30th, 2015
This one uses a grunge texture from French Kiss Textures.
January 31st, 2015
January 31st, 2015
@
sandbox365
Reflective
In this Texture theme, I have used a sepia photo from one of last year's artist challenge series and a very blurry petunia shot. I wanted the subject to be totally absorbed in her inner thoughts and have left most of the texture layer intact. Her eye and LHS face were painted 100% opacity in a mask and so on across her face with ever decreasing opacity. Various blend modes and dodging and burning on a separate soft light layer were used to achieve my aim of softness and nostalgia.

January 31st, 2015
I have some of the textures from the net, but they are so small and become pixellated when I try to use them. There must be something I am missing on this point.
January 31st, 2015
@ethelperry that is really beautiful Ethel! The modern feel of 'edginess' is perfect for the reflective image. I wonder why your textures images are small - perhaps you are downloading the image preview ? I would nornally use files that are > 2.5 Mb in size for textures. Look at http://shadowhousecreations.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Textures (sometime you need to look for the right "download' button, sometimes it might be a zip file you need to right click & extract after downloading.

You can also sign up at http://www.frenchkisscollections.com/blogs/news/14761253-free-gift-texture for some nice free textures. They wont bother you with too many emails - only once a month or so, and you can unsubscribe later if you wish. Let me know if you are still stuck downloading textures of the right size.
I hope that gives you some new textures, but you can always use your own textures like you did! :)

@dmcoile a great image - those pink & the green tones are really popping!

@vignouse congratulations - the third attempt definitely resulted in a wonderfully delicate image. :)

@stiggle - well done! a very creative use of texture Anja! That cracking texture looks really interesting when used on faces too. :)

@katymac80 such a a beautifully delicate textured monochrome
January 31st, 2015
@ltodd Thank you Lyn, I feel on "on the track", having a great time and new possibilities are endless. I will look in to the sites you have included. Thank you for your affirmation, help and time you are putting into this theme.
January 31st, 2015
My first attempt at adding digital texture to a photo, it was fun experimenting.
January 31st, 2015
My very first attempt at using a digital texture. I am learning so much from this. thank you all.
January 31st, 2015
@vignouse Love that.
January 31st, 2015
@ethelperry I like this one too. Great texture for this photograph. Lovely.
January 31st, 2015
@thistle Funny. This reminds me of a photo I took last spring with reflections off the water causing "star" effect . :) Yours is very pretty.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adambralston/13856478194/
January 31st, 2015
New to textures. Thanks for the explanatory text and links.

January 31st, 2015
The encouragement I received yesterday persuaded me to have another go today:

January 31st, 2015
Grunge Station
January 31st, 2015
I had so much fun with this lesson. I played until 1 AM the other night using downloaded textures and the ones available on my program (PSE12). This image uses two texture files. One is chipping paint (used on the wall behind the candle) and the other is the wood (used as the table).

February 1st, 2015
@randystreat Very cool! I love how you blended the wall textures to match the candle light. Well done!
February 1st, 2015
@stiggle @vignouse @katymac80 @randystreat @nadaa @thistle @radiogirl @ethelperry @dmcoile Some really good looking edits and progress going on! Congrats for making the plunge into texturing, and also combining it with layers and blending! Way to go!
February 1st, 2015
@adambralston Love your image Adam it's magical!
February 1st, 2015
I'm enjoying learning about textures. Here is another one:


@roseolivia You wrote: Make sure the texture layer is selected then go cmd/Ctrl + u which will bring up the hue/saturation adjustment layer.
I can't make the adjustment layer appear or maybe it's there and I'm not seeing it?
February 1st, 2015
I really love your tutorials and all the great work of everyone !! I'm looking at buying a new Adobe Photoshop Processing Program. Could someone suggest one ? Or other programs that do this type of art? I only have Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 Thank you in advance!!
February 1st, 2015
@vignouse Gorgeous! I love that you included text. Beautiful colors and great blending.
February 1st, 2015
@jocee You can get an Adobe subscription for $30 a month and have them all at your fingertips! I use Lightroom primarily and Photoshop when needed. I've done the subscription for a few years now and it has been great. You automatically get updates, no need to buy anything new.
February 1st, 2015
@jocee @katymac80 The current offer for LR + PS CC is just $9.99 per month - best value on the market if you have $10 a month to spare.
February 1st, 2015
I've done several textures this week. Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.











There have been others but that's enough of a take over of this thread! I've really enjoyed this and will definitely be working more with textures!
February 1st, 2015
I had so much fun, I had to post one more
February 1st, 2015
@voiceprintz I really like your images. I think my favorite is probably the third one. It puts me in mind of a silk wall hanging from Thailand my SIL gave me.
February 1st, 2015
February 1st, 2015

February 1st, 2015


This has been a lot of fun. I've been doing mine in The Gimp
February 1st, 2015
@jocee I've been using LR5 for a little over a year now, still learning the ropes. I got a student version for around $80. I have used The Gimp for editing, usually just Google what I need to do with it. This tutorial worked very well with the gimp, I just had to locate the hue/saturation adjustment as it is not the same as ctrl/u (it's simply under colors > hue/saturation).
February 2nd, 2015
@sandbox365 Thanks to all of you for taking the time to do this for us. I'm enjoying it immensely.
February 2nd, 2015
@katymac80 Thank you so much Kathryn, i'm going to look in to this. :)
February 2nd, 2015
@bill_fe Thanks Bill, i have LR5 also but i only use it sparingly as i find it hard to understand. I understand Photoshop Elements 9 more but don't know nothing about layers. I have a hard head for learning. Looks like i have lots to learn before being able to do what you and many are doing here with textures. I'll get there one day darn it all. Thanks again for your inspiration.
February 2nd, 2015
@vignouse Thank you Richard, i will check this out for sure , sounds like a great deal that i could afford !! :)
February 2nd, 2015
February 2nd, 2015
@voiceprintz I love the vintage look of the fence image. It looks like a Holga photo - love those! I like the colors and pov of the lightbulb shot too!
February 2nd, 2015
Thanks for setting up these tutorials/workshops! Didn't have much time to play beyond this one, but super to have this as a reference and in my back pocket.

February 2nd, 2015
Thanks so much for getting us to try this. It was lots of fun, and so helpful.
February 2nd, 2015
Thanks for the instructions, I love experimenting!

February 2nd, 2015
My first attempt at using a brush. I am loving these sessions and I'm learning so much. I'm not very satisfied with the results but hopefully with practice they will improve. I really appreciate your comments and advice. I did crop tithe bottom of this but it seems to have reappeared!
February 4th, 2015
My project is littered with textures I love them. Just one texture on here, Art Studio 3, its at soft light blend mode - from http://2lilowls.com/ - Denise has a lot of very nice textures, its very easy to get addicted (sign up for her emails she will probably send you a sale code before too long). Lots of inspiration on her Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TextureArtists/
February 4th, 2015
Apologies for coming to this late, I really wanted to be around to help but had to sort out a computer virus. Here is one using textures from Kim http://kimklassen.com/texture-shoppe/ she is fab, her classes have taught me everything I know about using textures, and a lot about photography too ;-).
February 4th, 2015
@suebarni - oh, I love Kim Klassen's textures! I used one of her textures on this one.



I want to try and use textures on some of my portraits...
February 5th, 2015
@jocee hi Joce I downloaded the Lightroom and Photoshop bundle that Richard suggested for $9.99 American and it works fine.
February 18th, 2015
February 18th, 2015
@jocee I somehow missed your comment earlier Joce. I use LR for all of my images. It's a fantastic way to organize them and do some minor editing. I must admit though, I learned on Saturday that I can also use if for selective coloring. I still have a long way to go to learn if's full potential. I do have Scott Kelby's book: http://kelbyone.com/marketplace/books/lr5/ it has come down quite a bit in price since I purchased it. I'm about half way through it, I get to anxious to work on my images to take the time I should to sit down with the book when I take the images from my SD card to LR.
February 18th, 2015
@bill_fe Thanks for your reply Bill, no worries about missing my comment. I have LR and should work with it more, i use Photoshop 9 cause i understand it more for miner processing. I might look in to Scott Kelby's book, not sure what it's all about but i see of it alot and seems to be a great book. I'm the same as you, can't sit for long to learn, gotta take more pics and work on images asap from the SD card to PS but i only get ahead with more pics and not the processing, darn it all !! hahaha. Thanks for suggesting this book, who knows that's what i may need, cause i try to learn from the internet but i get lost in to many pages and fall asleep, with a book well i'd try to turn one page at a time. Like the old school way. :) Happy learning Bill you are doing well.
February 18th, 2015
@jocee Yeah, I had an eBook for LR4, it was way to difficult to go back and forth. I like that I can use real bookmarks in the real book.
February 20th, 2015
@sandbox365 Could you please tell me how i would get the multiplicity tutorial? I think i need to learn that, i tried to do texture but i'm missing steps and i believe i will learn them in your previous multiplicity tutorial. Thank you so much for these tutorials.
February 24th, 2015
February 24th, 2015

March 25th, 2016
Amazing photos, thanks.
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