Adding texture to your photographs has become en vogue in the past few years. With the popularity of canvas gallery wraps, I am a big fan of adding some texture to a handful of photographs that may end up on canvas. I have had a few photographers ask about the textures I use, so I thought that I would post here.

First, you will need a texture file to use. I take a lot of photographs of interesting textures and create my own, but some of the time I am looking for something specific and I will turn to a set of actions that I purchased from Bruce Dorn and Maura Dutra. In order to use these actions (or to use a file of your own) you will need to understand layers and layer masks in photoshop. Basically I will add the texture as a layer on top of the photograph. Sometimes I change the layer style, and sometimes I leave it as is (it depends on the photograph). I adjust the textured layer and then I’ll use a layer mask to paint away the texture in certain areas of the photograph (the faces, for example).

Textures aren’t for everyone, but for me they add a certain reality to the photograph. I really like the use of texture in this one- the first file is the original, the second is the file with texture: