Trent van der Jagt borrows a few backgrounds
to help lend punch to an image - a technique that can be very effective when
used to add some drama to wedding portraits.
Before
Using Textures
When that moment arises, the perfect scene appears
or when everything in a shoot starts to come together, photographers often get
caught up in the thrill of capturing what we see.
Everything seems so perfect and you just
know you're going to be over the moon with the results. Then we sit down at the
computer and things just don't seem to pop like we thought they would.
Image preparation
The image you've selected should already be
correctly processed. Before adding any textures, have it looking exactly how
you want it, preferably to should match the theme you'll be going for once the
texture is added. Make sure you have correctly added any adjustments or tweaks.
Texture selection and importing
Once you have your image ready, carefully
select the correct texture. If you don't want your image to appear grungy or
weathered, select something subtle.
I'm using a rough but subtle texture to
emphasise mood. But you can always select more than one texture to use on
separate sections of an image.
Make sure the texture is large enough; if
you apply it to a larger image, it will be considerably lower quality. Select
the texture you're after, open your main image in Photoshop and select File
>Place > and add it in.
Select and place your texture
After
applying the texture
Once the texture is open, it will be a new
layer. If it doesn't cover your entire image, resize it to fit.
To combine the two layers, change the Blend
Mode, which blends a layer placed above our background layer. Experiment a bit
with the different blend modes until you find what best works for your image,
keeping in mind that you can drop the opacity and mask certain areas of the
texture if it isn’t working for a particular section. I'm using Overlay. It
will likely be too intense for the image, drop the opacity until it suits your
needs.
Change the blend mode
Try overlay blend mode
Experiment with opacitiy
The texture appears over the original layer
Masking
Select the Texture layer and select the
Layer Mask option at the bottom. Use paint brush and paint black over an area
you want to erase the texture from, in this case the face. If you go too far, a
white paintbrush will reveal the layer again. To create a better transition
between areas of texture and no texture, adjust the brush's size, flow and
opacity options as you go.
Adjust the brush options for effect
Finally
Once the texture has been added, you may
wish to tweak the image a little by adding a vignette (Filter > Lens
Correction > Custom Tab > Vignette) or desaturating by adding a
Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, remembering that you can always use the
Masking technique to add or minimise adjustments. The end result should be that
you've added some new and intriguing elements to your image. Remember to play
around with different textures and adjustments to find what works best for you
and the image, and try and set an overall goal for the end result so as not to
be disappointed with a different outcome.
Add a slight vignette
Desaturate slightly
“Set
an overall goal for the end result so as not to be disappointed with a
different outcome”
