Here at DPS, we’ve already covered how to use textures in your photos to give them a completely different look and feel, but now it’s time to get inspired and create your own textures – all around your house.
Finding Textures
I typically shoot landscape photography. And when I’m shooting a landscape, I’m looking at the big picture – where the horizon is, where the sun is at, the reflection on the water – everything. However, textures aren’t about the big picture, though, they’re about the detail. And we’re not always used to looking at the details. A wall for us is usually the background – or something that’s just in the wall. But walls can make for some great textures, like this:
The walls in my house are old plaster walls, so mine might have a bit more texture than yours (and a bit more peeling paint, apparently, too – that’s artistic, though, right?), so try looking up and down instead. The ceilings in my house range from subtle textures…
…to something with a bit more oomph:
Both make for great textures, they just give the resulting photo different looks.
Finally, my favorite texture I’ve found around my house is from the tile floor near my back door. Because our garage is in the back of the house, this door gets the most use, so not only does the tile of texture, but the dirt that gets tracked in the house adds just that little extra bit of lovely texture:
Making Textures
A classic texture is just a crumpled up piece of paper:
Be sure to take the photo with the right light. If you have the light shining directly onto the paper, there’s not going to be as much contrast between the hills and valleys of the paper.
There’s more to do to paper than just that, though. Try burning the edges, or splattering it with tea or coffee.
About the Author: Jennifer Jacobs is an amateur photographer who runs iffles.com – a site for photography beginners. She’s also addicted to flickr and you can follow her stream here.
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