When The Textures Are Real

Most intermediate-level users of Photoshop are familiar with the idea of adding a texture to an image. You bring the texture in as the top layer over the image, make sure it is properly sized to cover the photo, pick a blending mode that suits, adjust the opacity, and use some masking if needed. But in the course I have been taking, we have had a bit of a different approach. We were given an assignment to use real textures, and I do mean real.

We were to print our image on thin paper, put the image on a light box to provide backlighting, and sprinkle something semi-transparent or translucent on top of the image and then rephotograph it. If we so desired, we could combine that image with our original photo at reduced opacity.

Want to see what a photo looks like with coarse, unground salt or granulated sugar sprinkled on it? Come on, you know you do! Well, this blog post will fulfill that desire. And I like the results.

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Sugar as a texture. © Howard Grill

Coarse salt as a texture. © Howard Grill

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