August 6, 2009

Let's Talk Texture...

I love texture ... when other photographers use it on their photos. I like it so much, I've tried my hand at it a few times - usually with not-so-pleasing results (as evidenced by how many textured photos you've ever seen me post - ha!)

So I like texture. But I'm not very good at it. To be honest, I pretty much gave up. Until Nichole Van sold this nifty texture + action set. And it wasn't too expensive. And I pretty much figured it would be my one last ditch effort at attempting texture.

064_F1001_Williams064_textured


Guess what? Nichole's set is simple enough that even a techie-challenged chickie like myself can use it successfully. And maybe, if I use it enough, and pay attention to the steps it has me walk through, I'll be able to try my own textures from scratch down the road. But for now, I'm happy with plug and play.

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My last photoshoot with the W family provided me with images that were begging for texture. The sky was gray and somewhat void of cloud detail, which made the water gray, which all left me with a wide expanse of no-color-ness. Texture was just the ticket, methinks.

107_F1001_Williams107_textured


If you'd like to try your hand at some textures, I think Rita over at Coffee Shop has a wonderful texture tutorial.

note: each of the pictures on the left or the top are the SOOC images.

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14 comments:

Michelle said...

I'm with you! The texturing kicks the photos up a notch or two!

Michelle

Anonymous said...

Just gorgeous! Your clients must be absolutely thrilled... Destiny D.

Beth@Pages of Our Life said...

I really like the difference it added.

Me thinks photography is not so easy and all this techie stuff is just way over me head. : )

I'm trying not to get frustrated but I've been having some "head-banging" moments here lately. LOL

Mrs. E. said...

Oh, I really like what you've done here. My favorite is the second one. It's amazes me how adding the texture just makes the photo "pop". . .so much more interesting to the eye.
Great job!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photoshoot as always!

I completely agree with you, I love photos with textures but I can never pull them off, but I also learned that it depends on the texture you find and the "mood" it'll create for your photos.

I love the post-production work. It could seriously pass as an ancient photo! Can't wait to see any other future works you make with those actions!

Enjoy the rest of summer! :D

Queen to my 3 Boys said...

Oooohh...I like!

Unknown said...

I really love the texture in these Susan. Really, really love them. And I love what you said about the Friday Fix it today too. Good advice : )

Deidra said...

What a difference! They were WOW before and now they're SLAMMIN'!

tearese said...

ooo, I love texture too! I've only tried it out once, using the two free ones that were on a tutorial on PW a while back. I would love to make some of my photos look more like that more often. I think.

Becca~CapturingSimpleJoys said...

I love these! I laugh when you speak of not knowing something like this~you rock and I simply wish to have your skills with both camera and editing finesse!

Anonymous said...

I think these turned out really well.

Textures seem to be tough to pull off right, I've kind of given up on them for a while. But when I need a good laugh, throw one together ;).

B Dad

Donna Boucher said...

FAntastic effect!
You rocked it!

Elaine at Matters of the Heart) said...

Oh gosh, I love these. I am so inspired by your work, just beautiful.

angie {the arthur clan} said...

I am completely on a texture kick too Susan! Have you tried Jodi (MCP Actions) textures from her Frosted Memories set? I've had them forever and just discovered them again a few weeksn ago. Beautiful!

I'll have to take a peek at these as well. They are gorgeous!