Photoshop 101

I have been asked by a few here to start a thread on some of the photoshop techniques that I use for applying textures. I still consider myself a newbie when it comes to using Photoshop and a great deal of it is trial and error for me. I have come up with a few techniques though that maybe others just starting out with using the program may find helpful.

I have never written a tutorial before or a blog so bear with me on this! If anyone has their own ideas, techniques, etc., by all means, please chime in or if you need further clarification or have questions, ask away!

First off, let me start by listing what I use. I shoot RAW and start off by doing any adjustments to my photos in ACR and then I pull them into CS6 Extended. I have a PC so any shortcut keys I list will be for that, hopefully you MAC users (and I know there are a number of you) will know the equivalent keys to use. I am still learning the shortcut keys but I am trying to use them more and more because they do save a great deal of time. I also use NIK and OnOne plug-ins.

Using textures can be as subtle or dramatic as you want them to be. Many are offered online for free download except you must be aware and abide by the person's licensing agreement that is offering them! Some give you full rights to use their textures on your photos for both personal and commercial use. Others may have them just for personal use or if you post them online, they want you to list their name giving them credit or a link back to them. Many textures for downloading free can be found on flickr. Others have their own websites and offer freebies and for a fee. I will list some links for you to check out.

I will start by showing just a basic application using a texture. It is a texture I made myself. Actually, it is the first texture I ever made and it doesn't so much add texture but it does improve lighting and warmth to photos. I like it for outdoor shots mostly as I will show below.

This is the original photo before applying the texture. I find it dark and drab looking ...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8399/8...6ea74903_c.jpg
Deer_1 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr

After applying my texture ...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8523/8...59d07fb1_c.jpg
Deer_2 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr

The Texture used ...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8390/8...1c7fdeb2_c.jpg
IMG_0947 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr

How to ...

Open your original photo in Photoshop, click FILE ...PLACE. Go to where your texture is saved and select it by double clicking. Sometimes when you bring it into photoshop it will fit perfectly and sometimes not so much as you can see below ...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8263/8...c7021862_c.jpg
1 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr

Drag the corners of the texture so that it fits over your photo. I press the ALT key as I drag to bring it over all sides at the same time. Another way to apply a texture is to just open the file and do a Select-All, Edit-Copy and then Paste it on your photo. And yet another way is to open the texture the same way but have it as a floating tab on your screen, select your Move tool (which is the first tool on the left hand side of your screen) and drag it over your photo. You need to decide what method you prefer to use.

After I applied the texture on top of my photo, I changed the blend mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to 71%, I thought the log in the photo on the left was too bright so I added a layer mask and used a soft brush at 15% opacity to remove some of the texture from that small section. When you do this, you need to make sure the layer mask is selected and it is white and your foreground color (as seen in lower left of photo) is black. If you want to remove most of a texture from a photo, have the layer mask selected and press Ctrl-I to invert the mask. That will change your mask to black (blocking all of the texture on your photo), then have white as your foreground color for your brush and paint in where you want the texture to appear on your photo. Remember a black brush reveals what is underneath and a white brush conceals. So if you are using a black brush on a white layer mask revealing your photo underneath and remove too much, then just change the foreground color to white and paint back in where you want. To change the size of your brush, use your bracket keys to increase & decrease the size. To turn the layer on and off, click on the eye next to the layer to view a before and after. To turn the mask on and off, make sure you are clicked on the layer mask square and then right click on your mouse and click on the top of the list "Disable Layer Mask", this way you can view a before and after of what you have painted out with your brush. Then just right click on your mouse again and click in enable the layer mask. Also, you can Alt-Click on the layer mask and that will allow you too see the mask directly on the photo to get a better idea where you have brushed the mask on.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8126/8...f8af4bd1_c.jpg
2 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr

I leave this texture a neutral color because that way I can apply the amount of warmth I want in the photo by using a photo filter to just the texture at the opacity I need on each photo individually. The photo above still needed some warmth IMO so I added a photo filter at 37% density. You will find this under your Adjustments tab - Photo Filter. I also applied a Clipping Mask. This makes it so whatever adjustment you make will only apply to the layer directly below it, in this case to just the texture ...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8397/8...0bbea14f_c.jpg
3 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr

Your layer panel will look like this ...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8401/8...75011a0f_c.jpg
4 by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr

So if you wanted to apply another layer on top, it would not be affected by the Photo Filter below it due to the clipping mask I applied. Note the white box next to the Photo Filter layer. That is put there automatically when adding an adjustment so you can in turn, brush away any areas on the photo that you do not want the adjustment to appear. If I were to take this further, I may add a layer to include some sunlight coming through the trees but that is more for another tutorial!

Another suggestion I would like to add is if you apply a texture and you love the textures it has but not the color, just apply a saturation layer the same way as the Photo Filter above to decrease the saturation and again, use a clipping mask so that it only affects the texture and not the entire photo as I did on this macro shot below ...

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8101/8...1e3c0644_b.jpg
Bring out the macro lens ...bug season is coming to life!! by Denise Trocio ( www.dtrociophotography.com), on Flickr

Note: Adding textures is really all about experimenting. Not all textures will work on all photos. Not all blend modes will work with all textures. The above tutorial is a very simplistic and subtle approach to using textures. In time, I hope to add more that are more dramatic and extensive as I get more used to posting these and there remains an interest.

I hope someone finds this helpful. I look forward to suggestions, comments and the posting of tips and tricks that you use!

Denise