How to add texture to your pictures without Photoshop
Manuela Thames is our resident Self Portrait Instructor here at Gather Academy where she runs ‘Fine-Art Self Portraiture’ workshop, a 5-week exploration of self, identity, story and concepts.
She is thrilled to announce she is running it again this September with updated content and more video tutorials than ever before! Workshop begins September 7th, 2021 and you can find more details here: Telling Your Story through Self-Portraiture
My name is Manuela, and I am an instructor with Gather Academy. I am currently teaching the Fine Art Self Portraiture workshop and love helping other photographers find the joy in exploring and experimenting with being behind and in front of the camera.
One of the things I enjoy doing with my own work is creating textures and layers in my photos using double exposures or long exposures. I love creating movement in my images.
Another way I create textures is by manipulating my prints and photographing them again.
Today I would love to share with you a few examples of how I added texture and details to my pictures without using photoshop. For example, in the first two photographs I used white flour.
Both pictures are self-portraits, the first a self-portrait with my husband. I printed out the prints and then used flour to create texture and movement. I then re-photographed them and lastly did some minor editing in PS to create the final version.
The next two pictures are part of my Trauma series which you can view on my website www.manuelathames.com
The whole series was created by initially taking a variety of self-portraits in my living room using a black sheet as the background. I used long exposure to create some of the movement in the pictures. I then got prints of the ones I liked and started the process of creating each individual piece by adding elements or tearing the prints apart and putting the pieces back together to create a different picture.
In the first one right below, that’s exactly what happened. In addition to the tears, I also added some dust (from my bookshelf) for a dusty, scratchy old look to the pictures, the photographed it again.
The next one was also created using long exposure and later adding dust to the print, but in addition I used white string and placed it carefully on the print in the position that I wanted them to be.
Your creativity is limitless. The fun of it all is the experiment and the process. Try something new, even if you are not satisfied with the results at first. The process of creating matters more than the result.
In the next long exposure portrait of my Trauma series, I added, in addition to dust, a piece of white tape and placed it over my mouth.
And finally, I often use objects from nature to place on my print. Here are two examples of using dried flowers.
I hope these examples can inspire you to have fun with your creativity and try something new!
