How to ... please

[kazdez]

I saw some great images from Fort Lytton and Abbey Medieval Festival, that had some sort of textures applied. I would love to know how this is done, what textures, and anything else that would allow me to try that.

Thanks....Karen

[ving]

hiya, can you link to one of the images so i can see what you are talking about? :)

my guess is that its just a photoshop plug-in tho.

[kazdez]

Hey David,
I have trawled back though all posts for that time and I cannot find them now. The textures are vintage and I know that a tog named Nick Lagos uses this effect, but I cannot work out how or where to find textures like this.

Karen

[kiwi]

allann did these

I had a play doing this, you download one of the gazillion free textures out there

Overlay the texture with the photo in photoshop with say a 50% opacity and use the eraser to remove it from where you might not want it, say faces.

[kazdez]

Thanks Kiwi,
Sounds like the go. I will try this soon

Karen

[Damo77]

By "eraser" Darren means "mask" of course ...

[kiwi]

lol, do I ? perhaps, I meanty I used the eraser tool over the top layer to reveal the bottom layer

is that a mask ?

I am so needing a tute

[Damo77]

No, it's definitely not. Erasing is much too irreversible.

Once you've pasted your texture layer, add a layer mask by pressing the little circle-inside-a-rectangle icon at the bottom of the layers panel. This will add a Reveal All (white) mask to the layer, and you can then paint with black on areas (eg skin) where you don't want the texture visible. If you paint too much black, just paint back with white to correct.

If Karen has Elements (which doesn't have layer masks available natively for pixel layers) she'll need to use this workaround (http://www.damiensymonds.com.au/tut_psemasks.html).

[kazdez]

Damo77
I have CS5, but not really knowing how to use it yet, so let me get this straight.

Original Image then
Texture Image
or is it the other way around and then a white mask and then paint the area black that I don't want textured.
I am a bit dim on this

Karen

[kiwi]

You should put on a short course damp, $20 a head for an hour, lol

[Damo77]

Damo77
I have CS5, but not really knowing how to use it yet, so let me get this straight.

Original Image then
Texture Image
or is it the other way around and then a white mask and then paint the area black that I don't want textured.
I am a bit dim on this

Karen
You've got it exactly right. Texture image on top, white mask, paint black where unwanted.

[farmmax]

Also play with the blending modes with the layer the texture is on. Try Overlay or Soft light for a start, but look at what all the other blending modes do as well.

[Allann]

Sorry, I just saw this post. Here is a brief explanation on how to do the following:
http://allannielsen.smugmug.com/Events/History-Alive/History-Alive-2010/ha-2357-Edit-Edit/900757259_7LkRp-XL-1.jpg

Start with an image you really like, the more detail and the clearer the better, no use starting with an image that isn't perfect. Here is the start image:
http://allannielsen.smugmug.com/Events/History-Alive/History-Alive-2010/HA-5/902741899_acDTi-L-1.jpg

I have a few textures I use that really work, sometimes a texture that works for one image, will totally wreck another. so choices make a big difference to the result, so try different ones. There are many place to get them from.

Having chosen a texture, apply it to the image (I drag the image onto photoshop so it becomes a new layer, size it to fit the image using a free transformation, then the blend mode to overlay. If you need to add and layer mask and hide the sections of the image you don't want the texture to be applied too.

I start all my portraits by creating 2 or 3 selections:
1. Skin Tones only
2. the person
3. eyes and mouth (optional), the things that need to stay totally sharp.

I use these selections when I apply the textures to help keep the subject cleaner.

A couple of things I've learnt along the way
1. 1 texture may not be enough
2. De-saturation sometimes works better so don't be afraid to remove a good percentage of the colour from the original
3. Colour casts in textures change the colour in final image, so start with mono textures to get the right look, then apply a colour wash if needed.

[kazdez]

Hey Allann
Been out of the loop for awhile, and just saw this, thanks for the details explanation, I will give it a try

Karen

[Allann]

No probs. Feel free to post your results here, or add a link to your new thread.