Playing With Textures
It’s been a while since I played with textures in my images, the last time dating back to my Fellowship panel in 2009. Since then, one of the signatures of my work has been the distinct lack of heavy editing, post processing or manipulation. The images I post are very true to the images I actually take. This isn’t down to any elitist stance or puritanical belief that “un-retouched” images are somehow better than images that have been processed in Photoshop, but more down to me being incredible lazy (or efficient – it kind of depends on your point of view) and wanting to avoid having to spend lots of time in Photoshop after a shoot. But recently, I downloaded some Flypaper Textures and since I have new images to play with, I thought I’d try them out.
Colour is something I really pay attention to when shooting. It serves so many roles; it can help portray a mood or draw attention to an object (amongst other things). When shooting this set with Raphaella McNamara, I used a blue cardigan because it was so congruous to the aquas and blues of the sea and the sky. So when I found some textures with similarly complimentary colour tones, I thought they would work well with the images (and I feel they do). The fly paper textures, which are free to download, install into Photoshop via the Adobe Extension Manager and are scripted/automated so adding them to an image is so quick and simple – I kind of wish I had them back when I was doing my Fellowship! I’ve yet to print these out, so have no idea what the final image will actually look like. My guess is these are probably going to be suited more towards an art paper than the Epson Premium Lustre which is my mainstay, but I’ll just have to wait and see.
The shots were taken on Long Strand in West Cork on a very dull and overcast day. The beach is a super location, but the waves are VERY unpredictable. One second they’re just lapping at your toes and the next, you’re waist deep in water – or at least Raphaella is 
This is just an out-take shot (no texture) of Raph trying to keep her and the cardigan dry
another gorgeous set from you Ciaran! x
Thank you
The blue cardigan really brings it all together. The textures help hide the fact that the day was dull and overcast, but the colour and composition is very strong anyway.
I had a look at downloading the free textures, but they don’t seem to be free on the website you linked to. Maybe they’ve started charging for them?
That first shot is superb! Thanks for sharing
Nice set Ciaran. Although it is rather difficult to take a bad picture of the lovely Ms McNamara
I’ve never used public domain or purchased textures in images as I thought that the whole image had to have originated with the photographer for exhibitions, what’s your thoughts on that?
Cheers Kevin and John
@Kevin – I don’t seem to be able to find the free ones there any more either? I have a copy of the download if you want it?
@Tim – To be honest, I haven’t given it much thought. I think the use of textures is so widespread now that it’s almost the norm. As for how many of those textures being used, actually originated from the Photographer.. who knows?