Textured image, a mini tutorial

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>Several people asked me how I had arrived at <a href="../photo/9476338&size=lg">this image</a>, so I thought I'd share the technique, even though it is nothing really innovative.</p>

<p>It is important to plan everything ahead with certain concept already in your mind, and also to have a good image to start with. This picture was taken soon after it had stopped raining, when surfaces are clear, sprinkled with isolated drops of water, and contrasty. I took it with Canon 5D Mark I, a very cheap M42 lens, 135 mm, here at aperture f=3.5. The shallow depth of field isolates the flower and the still fairly sharp droplets.</p>

<p><img src="http://podstawczynski.com/gallery/small_tutorial/1.png" alt="" /></p>

<p>With the wand tool, I selected the parts of the plant that I wanted to stand out in the picture. I applied some smoothing and feathering to the wand selection (Alt+Command+R). The selection was copied, and then pasted into a new layer. I then made a copy of the background layer and applied some Gaussian chaos to it; this gave me even more blurred background without affecting the fragment we copied and pasted here. I further isolated the flower itself (without the leaf), and again changed sharpness level between the layers (this can be seen in the final stack of layers below).<br>

<img src="http://podstawczynski.com/gallery/small_tutorial/2.png" alt="" /></p>

<p>After having taken the picture of the flower, I went a few steps away from Cork's Fitzgerald Park to a nearby street where, on the backs of B&Bs there are many interesting walls, surfaces and textures. I photographed this blue-tinted wooden door. I overlaid the image of the door on the stack I had had so far (i.e. background, blurred background copy, and the flower). Then I made a few "holes" in the wood texture by making it transparent with erasers of different shape, size and softness. The sharp protrusion we can see in the transparent part on the left was important, as it allowed me to "entangle" the leaf over one of the gaps between wooden planks.<br>

<img src="http://podstawczynski.com/gallery/small_tutorial/3.png" alt="" /></p>

<p>I also took another texture there. This time it was just some rough and stained wall. I overlaid this on the top of the stack, and poked some holes again.<br>

<img src="http://podstawczynski.com/gallery/small_tutorial/4.png" alt="" /></p>

<p>For some local contrast, sharpness and warmth boost, I also needed a fragment of the wet leaf, so I copied it from the already-copied flower, and pasted again.<br>

<img src="http://podstawczynski.com/gallery/small_tutorial/5.png" alt="" /></p>

<p>All was there to left was to change the contrast and tonality between various layers, and to add some warmth locally to the leaf (the top layer).<br>

<img src="http://podstawczynski.com/gallery/small_tutorial/6.png" alt="" /></p>

<p>Here are the input and output images:<br>

<img src="http://podstawczynski.com/gallery/small_tutorial/0.png" alt="" /></p>

<p>I hope this was of some help to all who asked. I am sure there are simpler or more efficient ways for at least some steps here. Please feel free to ask questions or comment.<br>

Best,<br>

Adam</p>

 

<p>Plus a note I forgot to add: the wood and wall textures are blended with the stack below using the overlay mode.</p>

<p>Thank you. I'm going to try it. I only have Paint Shop Pro 5 .... but it works the same, just takes longer.</p>

<p>Greg</p>

<p>Pretty cool Adam. Thanks for putting the tutorial together. I'll give this a try as soon as I get a chance.<br>

Thanks again,<br>

Neil</p>