I like to give you a lot of options with textures, so I usually provide them with lots of detail and color. Remember though that they don’t have to be used that way. There are several ways you can tame wild textures to give subtle effects.
Crop, Combine, Adjust, Mask
When there is a lot of edge attitude in a texture, crop out the edging. You could also combine a wilder texture with a subtle texture and lower the opacity to tone down the effect.
Here’s a quick example of using the texture, Dawning from the Solstice collection that is pretty exuberant! Now, this may work perfectly for your project, then again, you might think, Ack! (Note: the Solstice collection is temporarily unavailable while I work on updates.)
Below, the same texture is enlarged to eliminate the rough borders, the opacity is lowered and it’s combined with a more subtle white painterly texture from the Tableaux collection.
You can go even more subtle by masking out more of the “wild” texture to reveal the more neutral texture.
Blur The Texture
Many of my artist friends blur textures so they get the color of the texture with just a hint of texture. This can be done with a simple Gaussian blur in Photoshop or another 3rd party filter.
Convert To Grayscale or Monochrome
Grayscale
If you want the texture, but not the color, then convert the texture to grayscale. I recommend increasing the contrast quite a bit and then using the texture with a blend mode of Overlay or Soft Light. See this post on How To Use the Texture Without The Color.
The original texture from the Artiste Collection was very colorful. The final photograph did not use the color.
Monochromatic
Another option is to add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and check the option to “Colorize” the texture. Play with the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to get the color wished. you can see how using a sepia colored texture gives a warmer version of the landscape. (Note: I could also have used a Sepia Adjustment layer.)
Final Word
Remember, those “wild” textures offer versatile opportunities to add lovely, custom, visual interest to your image.
Resources
American Photographer and Designer living in France with my French husband, 2 Weimaraners and Cat Rescues. Camera, Mac, studio, garden.
thank you for the great tutorial. I have both Tableaux and Solstice collections. I bought them recently because I admire the highly artistic and sophisticated look of their. I haven’t try using them yet, so this tutorial is a great idea for me to use with the rough borders, or to eliminate them; and also combining them together, and “those “wild” textures present opportunities to add lovely, custom, visual interest to your image.”
However, I couldn’t find a white painterly texture from the Tableaux collection. Which one of the Tableaux light tones was used for this project?
Hi Viktoria, I used the texture, Crème Fraîche from the Tableaux collection, which is mostly white.