Quick Tip on using Textures as overlays

A brief tutorial on using textures as overlays – transform your images in just a few minutes.

First open your base image, here I have used a corner of a picture I did last week (details here)

Grab the Free Artist Grunge Palette (artist_palette_3_insight_designs) and place it above your background image.

Resize as neccessary and then set the layer to soft light

(Tip: Try other layer styles and experiment a bit, reducing the opacity until you have an effect you are happy with)

Next bit is optional, grab a large to medium soft Eraser and reduce the opacity of the Eraser (I went for 42%).

Erase parts of the artist_palette_3_insight_designs layer in areas where you want less texture.  Below is an example of the areas I erased because the texture was too “heavy” in those parts.

And that is that….a very quick and easy way to achieve an artistic look and feel to your photos or artwork.

There are of course many other ways to achieve similar results and depending on your background image and layer style, one texture can have different results.  Take for example the image below….

Using exactly the same texture we used earlier, place it over the background layer and set the layer style to – colour burn and reduce the opacity to 60%….

…….Volia!  A grungy, vintage vibe!

Another great tip here would be to use layer masks for erasing parts of the grungy texture as it is a less destructive way of working…. so stay tuned as we’ll be covering layer masks next!

1. 

   theepoop says:

   November 14, 2010 at 4:54 pm

   i love your tips, thanks for keeping them coming. I love catching up with your blog and learning the different techniques I dont know yet.
2. 

   Pandora Popstar says:

   November 14, 2010 at 5:04 pm

   I need these tutorials, I am hopeless at pshop!

   Pandora
3. 

   Amisha March says:

   November 14, 2010 at 5:50 pm

   theepoop :) Thanks for dropping by and letting us know :)
4. 

   Amisha March says:

   November 14, 2010 at 5:51 pm

   Pandora, then you are a great texturiser (not sure if that’s a word) with talent :)