The Creative Photographer: patterns

I adore seeing images with painterly, ethereal appearances, where photographs and textures are carefully meshed together to create a masterpiece. I have dabbled with using textures in my imagery ever since I started getting into photography. Firstly, the son of a friend helped me to learn how to create digital signature images for use on internet forums around 18 years ago. After this I practiced blending layers together to create signatures tailored to individuals, then moved on to creating textures for my photographs.

Below are a couple of my old photographs where I first used textures. You can see they are quite basic, but the sunflower one remains an old favourite. These are both from around 2008.

The next images show how my blending and layering techniques evolved over the following years as I learned from fellow photographers on Ephotozine and DeviantArt. Most of the textures I used then were free downloads off DeviantArt, Flickr, Ephotozine and similar sites.

As you can see I started out my photographic journey capturing flowers a lot, something which I have recently got back into. But I also used textures with other genres such as portraits.

As I started entering competitions I discovered that it was important to use my own textures in my digital manipulations in images that I intended on entering to certain categories/competitions. So I started learning how to create my own textures. I first started by painting some card with watercolours then photographing those. I also photographed various textured surfaces such as walls, stone, wood, paper and manipulated these in photoshop. I still have the painted textures and sell these as one of the texture packs that I have put together.

This was one of the first textures I made, which was originally from a photograph of a stone quarry near where I lived.

This is one of my latest texture collections - I have many available, a lot available on my Deviant art stock account A68Stock or in my Etsy store AngiWallaceCreative Etsy store or by contacting me directly on Facebook Angi Wallace Photography, or by email - angiwallace@live.co.uk

This image of a Crocus was created with just one of my own textures, I altered the colour of the texture to get the glowing blue/lilac colour that I wanted.

So how do I use textures?

If new to textures - To use in photoshop ( Ive started with basic simple instructions for those who are new to using textures)
Open the photo or artwork you wish to apply your texture to
Then also open the texture you wish to apply, with this texture open click on Select then All, then click on Edit at the top of your work space and choose copy from the list,
then go to the photo you are applying it to, go to Edit again and choose paste. Now you will see the texture appear over you photo. So below you see my original photo open in photoshop.

You should have a Layers panel open ( mine is bottom right of the screen) where you can see both layers in a panel - each layer will have an eye icon next to it for you to choose whether you want it to be visible or not. Your photo will automatically be named Background layer and the texture will be named Layer 1 unless you choose to alter the name. In this Layers panel you need to click on the texture to choose that layer - this will highlight the layer within the panel - so anything you do following this will apply to that layer.

Within the layers panel you will see a dropdown list starting with "Normal" - this list is of blending modes - in the Newest version of Photoshop you can hover over each blending mode and it will show you a preview of how that blending mode will affect the layer, each will give it a different appearance. Scroll through these and find which blending mode you prefer and click on it - it will be applied to your texture layer giving the image a different look.

Also within the Layers panel there is an Opacity option where you can reduce the opacity of the layer for a more subtle look. I often reduce opacity.

I find it useful to select areas of the texture, feathering it and reduce the opacity by using masks, this is particularly handy when you want a particular subject in your photo to show throw more prominently.

To start this process you will need to choose your texture layer by clicking on it in the layers panel - you will know you have done this right when the layer is highlighted in a lighter grey within the panel. Then click on the Layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel ( it is the white rectangle with dark grey circle within) When you click this a white rectangle will appear in the Layers panel next to your texture - this is your "layer mask". It will be surrounded by white corners showing you that it is selected. See below screenshot.

What is a layer mask?

Basically whatever part of your mask is white is what you can see of that layer, whatever you paint in black using the brush tool over your image will be removed from view. So in my image I want to see the bottles and flowers with less texture on them. I start by loosely selecting the area around them using the lasso tool from the top left of your tools. Do this by drawing around your subject and you will have an area selected by flickering with dots ( often called marching ants).

Now because this is the area we want removed and we do not want a harsh line of where texture starts and ends, we are going to feather the edges of this selection. This will help give the image a better blended appearance when finished. So go to "Select" in the top options and scroll down to "Modify" and another few options will appear - choose"Feather". A small box will appear asking how many pixels you want to feather by. On my first layer for a full size hi res image I tend to start by feathering a lot, so chose 300 pixels for this image. type in your chosen number and press ok. The selected area surrounded by marching ants will shrink a bit.

Next we need to fill this selected area with black. Make sure in your layers panel that the texture layer is highlighted grey and the mask has the white corners. Then from the top options choose "Edit" then "Fill". A new box will appear asking what colour - we want black. Also what percentage, I choose 50% for my first layer as I remove more in my next layer. Then click ok. Then click Select and "Deselect to get rid of the marching ants.

For this image I am using a normal blending mode so had my opacity reduced to enable me to see the bottles and flowers. Now that I have masked out my first area I can change my opacity back to 100% to get an idea of how it is looking. As we can see below there is still some texture over the bottles/flowers.

Following the steps above again we select smaller areas and feather these a lot less - say 100pixels, so starting with the bottle on the left I select an area smaller than the bottle itself. ( again make sure the texture layer is selected and the mask selected before filling this area with Black at about 75% this time. Deselecting and repeating for each bottle and flower. If something is very small then feather less pixels. Soo after masking these little areas my image looks like this below.

You could your image like this or mask out less than I have, this is totally up to you and depends on the look that you want. But for a further step, if you want texture removed accurately or completely from some areas then choose the brush tool on the top left and choose the colour black to paint with - checking the size of brush, whether it has a hard or feathered edge and also the opacity. Making sure your texture layer and mask is still selected you can start painting over the areas you want to see more of such as the flowers, using your brush. I often start with a lower opacity and build this up.

Below is my final image and you can see my mask in the layers panel showing the darker areas of texture I removed. This is just one of the ways I apply textures. There are other approaches too. You can use several layers of textures to build up your look. You can automatically select your subject in newer versions of photoshop or use the "select and mask" option, but this can leave harsh edges between your subject and texture which may not be what you want. There are also other options for refining edges. But this is just a basic starting point for those who have asked me. Please to get in touch if you have any questions and I will try to help

Other examples of my images with my textures applied below

I should add that I use a Wacom tablet for all editing. I find it easier to select and paint areas and find it invaluable for editing. I have used Wacom tablets for over ten years after winning one in a competition and wont be without one now.

I have been asked many times how I produce my textures and my techniques vary. The two textures above were simply photos taken at home - Chalkboard was a photograph of a set up for still life, where I painted an old board at home with black matt paint then sponged on white and grey areas, photographed deliberately out of focus for this effect. The second one is a similar painted, textured board simply desaturated with colour changes.

I often take photos that are deliberated out of focus to use as colour wash textures or to combine with a photograph of a textured surface. 90% of my texture photos are taken at home or in the garden. For out of focus textures I can use anything from flowers, grass and foliage outside, to the sky, a glass vase, material on clothing, curtains, bedding, bokeh from fairy lights, our fish tank etc Only your imagination stops you coming up with ideas here. For surface textures I can use standard photographs or macro photos of virtually any surface in the house - cracked leather on an old seat, crinkled paper stained with coffee, marble works top/fireplace, floor tiles, carpet, various material,l leather on boots and bags, lichen on a plant pot outside, a rusty old bolt, an old baking tray, bottom of a pan, walls, bricks, any painted surface, wood. The images below are simple snaps at home that will make wonderful textures/overlays.

This one is a simple out of focus flower photo which I have already used as a backdrop of overlay.

I find that combining my photographs helps in creating new textures, using blending modes, opacity and sometimes distorting them. Another tool I use is Topaz studio software which has a whole host of options for manipulating your images, many of which can give a lovely painterly appearance. You can download a free months trial to try it out.

If you don't have the inclination or time to create your own textures then I have lots of different texture collections for sale starting at just £8 for a collection of 9 or 10 hi res textures.

They can all be found on this website Angi Wallace Creative Textures , but unfortunately cannot be purchased there yet as I am not earning enough from them to cover the cost of using the website as a shop. If I start to sell more then I will hopefully be able to make them available this way. In the meantime please email me and I will usually respond within hours. angiwallace@live.co.uk

I hope this has been helpful and would love to see your results.

I am thrilled to share the news that another of my entries into the International Garden Photographer of the year has been placed 3rd in its category - The Beauty of plants. Last year I was able to get around a couple of local nature reserves fairly easily on my mobility scooter and immersed myself in an old hobby of mine - looking for and learning about mushrooms. This was made easier due to a few other people visiting the same main park almost daily also looking for new mushroom species and sharing finds on a social media group, we were able to all connect and direct each other to our new finds meaning we could all see so much more. I was lucky that these lovely new friends would let me know where there were varieties that were easily accessible for me and one even brought me a specimen that I had never seen before but I could not access - which we transplanted in an accessible spot nearby( other specimens were left in tact in situ). There was an abundance of mushrooms this year and this Fly agaric caught my eye with its fairy tale like appearance - I was easily seeing from 10 to 50 Fly agarics at a time and that was just within a few ft of the path, there must have been loads further into the woods.

Frozen Bubbles

I have wanted to try photographing bubbles freezing for years but either conditions have not been right or I have been unable to get out or didnt have access to a suitable outdoor space to try this. This week conditions finally provided me with the perfect opportunity - minus 4, little to no wind and a lovely sunrise to help with light plus snow. I was able to sit/kneel on our garden bench and use another platform covered in snow to blow bubbles on. Resting my camera on a steady surface helped a fair bit too. I used a Sony 90mm macro lens for these and shot mostly at F18 trying to get the whole bubble in focus - trickier that it seems with low light and then sun streaming through the bubbles at I attempted to catch the sunrise too. Next time I try this I will use a longer lens and photograph from further away. I compensated by trying to blow small bubbles once I noticed many weren't fully in focus.

I used a mixture of two parts washing up liquid, 6 parts water, 1 part glycerine and a tablespoon of sugar. Dissolve sugar and glycerine in warm water first then add the washing up liquid - try to avoid over stirring and getting bubbles on the top as this can affect your bubbles. Place in fridge or outside to cool. Apparently these work best at temperatures below minus 4 - some say minus 10. I used a straw, took deep breaths of cold air and slowly blew bubbles. This was only my first attempt so they’re not perfect and I can already think of ways to improve. Best done when there is no wind. The colder it is the quicker the bubbles freeze so it can be handy having someone blowing the bubbles for you whilst you concentrate on photographing the quickly. Although once temperatures are around minus 1-2 it was taking a couple of minutes to freeze.

I found this a great lockdown photography project and a perfect excuse to play like a big kid in the snow :) I would love to see your frozen bubble pics in the comments - do feel free to share your tips for others too. Have fun playing.

I am looking forward to trying this again as I have a few creative ideas I would like to try, I can see it being a regular winter activity Many of the bubbles will burst so perseverance is necessary - just keep trying. There are a few different recipes for bubble mixtures out there if you google them - many include ingredients such as corn syrup or glycerine to help the bubbles last longer and sugar to help crystalize. It is important to prepare the mixture in advance and cool it to give yourself a higher success rate, so keeping a batch ready in your fridge is handy.