Enhancing images with textures

Avian & Wildlife texture workflow


A rough and ready outline of how I work my images. The workflow if very similar to that used by other people who use textures on their images, such as Christopher Miller who has a fantastic workflow sticky.


A few things I would point out that effect my thinking;
1 I want the end product to look as natural as possible and as far as I can, I like not to have to change the base image. However, I do what is needed to get the image I have in my mind.


2 I use textures as filters, to change the way the light behaves in the image and as such, often I work the texture until it is not obvious that I’ve used one at all. One image like that is the one I entitled ‘Alone’ http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...276#post686276. The texture layers were used to make the light behave the way I wanted it to.


3 The base photographs I use vary and I get an idea for a theme and try to work it until something else comes to mind. I have the wide open landscapes, now I’m doing the birds and I have dabbled in wildlife but will return to that next.


4 The images I find that work the best have clear or oof backgrounds of a fairly even colour. These take the textures much better than busy backgrounds. With open landscapes I will add skies if necessary, but only if I have a very bland sky. Less is more, I find.

My workflow routine is as follows;


1 I select one of several play lists on my itunes library. I find it important for my creative mind to have the right music playing. Sounds funny, but it works for me.


2 I have preselected images in my Lightroom folder, so I choose one of these to work on, depending on my mood.

This is an image (full frame) of a Red-Billed Hornbill showing the base layer before work has begun.

3 The very first thing I do is to process the image in photoshop as if I were to present it as a straight forward photograph. Usually I will duplicate the layer, sharpen the image, apply a curves mask, remove any really bad distractions or marks and make sure the image stands alone as a composition. A bad composition won’t work, no matter how much texture covers it.

4 Once happy with the image, I begin to add textures. I have many textures of my own but also use Shadowhouse textures as well. These are free to download, but I always make a donation to the site. For this example I have used Shadowhouse textures only. Some images end up with only 1 or 2 texture layers, some have more. I use mainly the ‘hard light’, ‘softlight’ and ‘overlay’ blending tools at different opacity levels. It depends very much on the way the subject behaves with each texture layer as to how much opacity I apply. Some of my own textures require masking out of the subject, many of the Shadowhouse textures don’t. Experimentation is the key.

This is the first layer added to the Hornbill.

The second layer added with opacity to suit.

The final layer used on this image.

5 Sometimes I crop before adding the textures, sometimes after, usually because I forgot!


6 If using Shadowhouse textures, I find the layer usually requires resizing. I now use the Transform tool and resize them as a layer on my base. By doing this I can make the layer fit my predetermined idea for cropping without actually making the crop. I find this way I can control the final quality much better. The transform tool is extremely handy and I use it more and more, especially for flipping parts of an image. For instance, on the recent photo ‘Kite’ http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...930#post702930, I selected the left eye, copied it onto a separate layer, used the free transform tool and flipped it. Then blended it into the bird so it ended up with 2 nice eyes. I did a similar thing with the left wing, as the right wing wasn’t visible.


Like most post production, it is far from an exact science, and in fact the final result depends to a great degree on the vision and method of application of the photographer. Very much like painting in oils and watercolours … some you can add and paint over, some you have to subtract and the way you apply the layers and opacity are like the way an artist will use his/her brushes. At least that is what I feel.

This is my final crop and how I would present the image online. When I go to print I decide on the type of paper to suit the image, Photorag and German Etching are 2 I'm using at the moment.

Hillary, this is great. Informative step by step view, and the screen shots are a great help. Thanks so much for taking the time..............:S3:

Hilary, Thank you so much for sharing your work flow with us all. Very nice and informative!:S3:

I hope it helps others explore what is possible with their images, nice to be able to give something back to the great members of BPN. :S3:

Hilary,

Greetings. Wow, thank you so much for the explanation of your workflow. I particularly like the itunes part :bg3:.

Great presentation. Thank you!

Cheers,

-Michael-

Hilary, fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing. This kind of community openness is one of the great things about BPN in my opinion. Wonderful job, will be added to the workflow sticky!

P.S. - I always work with iTunes too! Great way to keep the creative juices flowing.

Hilary, thanks so much for sharing this with us. The sharing, educating and learning is really what makes BPN so special.
I love the richness to your texture work, and have always wondered how you pull it off. Very nicely presented and easy to follow.
I too, am one who uses music to help inspire creativity while in the studio work mode.
Love the balance between going out in the field and enjoying the outdoors, and then switching to the creative studio environment in the evening. :S3:

Hilary, thanks so much for sharing your workflow. Your images are inspiring to me because they are so well thought out and you can tell a lot of love goes into each one.:S3:

Thank you everyone.

Great workflow, Hilary! It's interesting reading how somebody else uses textures. Thanks for sharing! :S3:

Thanks so much for this, Hilary. You've got me playing with all kinds of textures :S3:

Hillary....Thanks for this...I am just starting to use textures in my images and this helps alot!