Finding Textures to Photograph and use in your editing process…

Today’s blog post is submitted by Hayley Austin. She will be teaching you how to find textures that you can photograph and then use in your photography. She will also be giving every reader over 100 free textures via her flickr site. So keep reading…

Finding Textures to Photograph by Hayley Austin

It is so easy to find cool textures to photograph and use on your images. They are all around you no matter where you are! Just take a look, the grainy tabletop under your lunch plate, the rough stone of a wall you are walking past, the cracked surface of a pavement, the frosted glass on your bathroom window.

You can make a texture image from any of these everyday things. Look around your house, kitchens are great areas, pan bottoms, drainers, baking trays, the more used the better. You can fill in a rainy afternoon doing this. Have a garden? Then you might have paths, tree trunks, sheds, the seat of a child’s swing. Look at everything.

If you are looking for a certain texture and have an idea in your mind of exactly what you want most times you can find something suitable quite quickly just by looking at what is there around you, see the texture of the object rather than what it actually is. Think of the texture you want and where you might find it. Grunge ones, for example, are easy as they are everywhere, especially outside. For linen try your bedsheets or curtains.

Don’t use anything with a copyrighted pattern or image on of course, (which is just about everything unless it is really, really old.)

I take photos of textures all the time, even if I am not sure I will ever use it. It is just a little space on a memory card and computer after all.

I have uploaded over 100 to my Flickr account to share. If I take a photo of my daughter next to an old wall I photograph the wall too. Why not?

How to photograph the textures: Where possible I do not shoot wide open as I want details. If you prefer part of the object to fall out of focus, then you can open up your aperture more. Using a high shutter speed helps to capture all the detail and keep it crisp. I use flash if I need to (usually off camera) but watch for shadows! I have found that sometimes softer or even blurred images work well too, so before you delete that weird looking blurry shot you got when you accidently pressed the shutter button, give it a try as a texture layer. You might be surprised.

The only downsides to taking these kinds of photos is that it can be addictive and you may have to deal with people giving you rather odd looks as you stand there photographing those interesting looking scratches on the back door of a delivery van!

To see Hayley’s Textures and download them for use in your own work, click here to see her amazing and free textures.

*** Not sure what to do with the textures? Keep an eye on my blog for an upcoming tutorial. ***

This photo below is my daughter Ellie. I used the texture shown at the top of this post and converted to an olive black and white.