Tips for Applying Textures
Here are some tips on how I apply textures (in Luminar, but these tips work in any app):
I usually start with minor edits to the base image in Develop RAW, just to balance the light mostly. I don’t do much more because I want to get the texture on it next and take a look at it.
Once the new texture layer is applied, I reduce the opacity to about 25% to start. This gives me plenty of visibility of the image underneath, and I can always go back and change the opacity if I want to.
I experiment with Blend Modes to see how they look and if any one of them jumps out at me, I apply it.
Usually I will do masking next, assuming it is needed (depends on the photo). This gets the texture into the right places, and lets me get a good visual on how it will look as a combined image. Sometimes it looks better when an already-busy section of a photo has a lower opacity (or no) texture, leaving the higher-opacity parts for sections of the photo that are plain, such as an empty sky.
If you don’t like the color of the texture, you can use Color Balance, Color Temperature, Curves and other filters in Luminar to change the general color of it, so it more closely resembles the look you are trying to achieve.
You can stack multiple textures for even more creative results, and blend them with blend modes, opacity, and masking.
Once I feel like the texture or textures are all set, I will merge the layers so I have a new combined image at the top of my stack, which I can then edit.
Consider applying additional filters/effects on the merged layer. I generally experiment with color tones, contrast, details and light until I am happy with it.
Have fun!
Interested in getting some textures? Check out my texture packs below and have fun creating some art!
This collection of 19 beautiful, hand-crafted rusted textures will add color and artistic effect to your photos. They are all in JPG format for ease of use. They come as a digital download in a single ZIP file, which is about 265MB in size. Double click to open it once it is downloaded.
This collection of 10 beautiful, hand-crafted textures will add color and artistic effect to your photos. They are all approximately 6000x4000 pixels and are each about 10MB in size. Also, they are all in JPG format for ease of use. They come as a digital download in a single ZIP file, which is about 100MB in size. Double click to open it once it is downloaded.
Textures included (see image below): Faded yellow paint, Green grunge, Grungy wall, Mossy rock, Mossy stone, Rust, Rusty stone, Stucco, Weather cement, Yellow grunge
If you prefer video, you can check out this tutorial where I walk through a full workflow example, using Luminar Neo.
