Monday, February 17, 2014

Texturing with Pastel Poetry {Beginner's tutorial}

Texturing - Beginner's tutorial!

This is a simple tutorial for those who are new with textures. I use Photoshop Elements but you may use any editing program that support layers as well. In fact working with textures is all about layers and experimenting different blending options, playing with opacity and working with layer masks. It's easy & fun!

First open the image you want to edit in your editing program. My image is actually a random test shot to test the light. For some reason I kind of like it and it's really easy and rewarding to texture because of its basic composition and white background! When getting to know your textures in the beginning, the most easiest may be to try still life with white of light solid background first.


Now I decided I want to highlight the white areas and fade out the shadows a little as well as add some grain and shabbiness to create a nice vintage look. I'll simply use my 'White Whisper' texture for that. 

Open the texture in your editing program. Copy and paste the texture as a new layer to your original image. Re-size the texture to meet your original image size. 

Then start experimenting different blending modes. Try at least multiply, overlay and soft light -modes. Here is the image with soft light at 100% opacity. My image already looks different!


I want to mask out some areas of the picture for the bear and the dress as well as the feet not be buried under the texture. I therefore add a layer mask.


Now after adding the layer mask, take a large black soft brush to mask out the areas I want to uncover. Try different size of brushes and adjust the opacity of the brush to meet your requirements. Play and try. If you mask out too much, simply change to white brush and recover! Simple. Fun!


When I think I'm finished I still want to highlight the nice shabby edges of the texture. I duplicate my layer and change the new layer blending mode to 'Multiply'. I leave it with 100%. Note that the layer mask duplicates as well. You can delete it if you wish or start masking on & off again if necessary. Yet so simple and fun :) 


I could be ready now. But this is all about your personal taste. 
Let's try out adding one more texture. Here is the picture with 'Mighty Mint'...


I like it but it wasn't what I was looking for at the moment. So I turn it of!

And I try out another texture...

Here is the picture with 'Some Shabby'. Multiply 100% to bring out the shabby edges. I mask out some areas again as you see in the image below.


And now I'm done!


Wanna try out texturing!? Download my free 'Baby Blue' Texture on Facebook

4 comments:

  1. So enjoyed your tutorial. I do love the lovely pastels of your images.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks :) This is an old tutorial but I re-published it since I'm refreshing my tutorial page. Now you can find all my tutorials from one page. If you have any suggestions or hopes regarding tutorials, let me know! :)

      Delete
  2. Thanks! Great tutorial!!!
    Best, Brigitte

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks :) This is an old tutorial but I re-published it since I'm refreshing my tutorial page. Now you can find all my tutorials from one page. If you have any suggestions or hopes regarding tutorials, let me know! :)

      Delete

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