Overlaying textures

Overlaying textures onto photographs is a good way add some interest to your existing photographs. adding a texture to your photographs can add extra detail, enhance the image or even transform the original image depending on the overlayed texture which you have used. In order to create these images and overlay the textures, I used photoshop however this process can be done within the dark room. I created these images within photoshop as it meant i was able to experiment with creating as many different images as i liked without being limited to the images which I had from the film photoshoot which i carried out. I enjoyed creating these images as I had the freedom to layer any two photographs which i felt fit together well and it meant i was able to be creative with this. 

this is one of the images which i created by overlaying textures. The original image used here is a photograph of the corner of TSB's building. I chose to photograph this building as it is an old building and it shows off the old architecture within the centre of Bradford. I like this photograph as it also features some people in the foreground which provide scale and show the size of this building. The people within this photograph show that this building is large and as I was photographing from the bottom of this building looking up at it, this adds to the fact that the building is tall and by photographing looking up towards the building, it gives importance to this building making it look superior to other things within the area. The texture which I added to this photograph was a photograph which I took of some pebbles on the ground. I took this photograph as the pebbles were all smooth, round and nicely formed without jagged edges. This means that although the pebbles show texture however they are also smooth so the texture is not too harsh. I chose to use this photograph as a texture on a photograph of this building as the building itself shows a lot of curves and rounded aspects of the building so i felt that the roundness of the pebbles fit in nicely with this. i feel that had i have used an image of jagged stones or something of that nature, this would not have fit in with the original photograph as well as the one which I used. I also feel that the colours featured within the two photographs work well together as they are both quite muted colours which blend together quite nicely to add a nice effect to the image and I feel that adding the texture to this image enhances the original image. 

This is another image I created by layering a texture on top of another photograph. The original photograph used here is a photograph of City hall and I have layered this with a photograph I took of tree bark. I used this image as the image layer as i felt that the texture of the tree bark added to the look of the city hall building and as this building itself is old, I feel like the rugged texture of the tree bark helps to age the building. With each of the images used here, before layering them together, I edited the levels slightly in order to enhance the look of each photograph before editing them together to create the final image. I chose to edit only the levels when preparing these images as I wanted the imaged to remain true to the original photograph without changing it too much as I knew i would be editing two different photographs together so editing each individual photograph more than I did, i feel would be over editing and the end result would end up not looking great. As the brown colour from the tree bark has been added to the photograph of city park, this has meant that the colours from the original photograph are now a lot more vibrant than they originally were and as i previously stated, the only editing i did to each of the photographs was slightly altering the levels of the photographs. Before layering the images, the colours within either of the photographs was not as vibrant as they are now. This means that the colours within each of the photographs compliment each other nicely in order to make the colours within the overall piece a lot more vibrant and eye catching. Overall I am very pleased with the way this image has turned out as I like how the texture of the tree bark adds to the look of the age of the building. I think this is one of my favourite images which I have created while experimenting with overlaying textures.

This is another image i created while experimenting with overlaying textures within photoshop. The original image used here is a photograph of the pavilion within city park with bradford ice rink within the background. I chose to use this photograph as my main image as this image shows juxtaposition as the pavilion in the foreground is a new building whereas the ice rink in the background is a much older building therefore the original image used here shows the juxtaposition between old and new buildings. The texture I used within this image is a photograph i took of some purple gravel. This is a photograph of coloured gravel which is usually used for decorative purposes such as within fish tanks or something however I found it laying around my house so i felt that as it was an interesting colour, it would make for a more interesting texture photograph then normal coloured, grey gravel. When overlaying this texture to the image, I was aware that purple gravel did not have much to do with the image which I overlayed it with and it does not really relate to anything within the original photograph, however I chose to use the purple gravel as my overlayed image as i felt that it as so different that it completely transformed the original image. The purple colour has changed the colour of the entire photograph apart from the sky area as the photograph was taken on an overcast day meaning that the sky was dull and white. this meant that the purple colour from the texture layer was not picked up on this part of the image however other sections of the image such as the buildings were more capable of taking on the colour from the layer. When adding the layer to this image, I made sure the opacity of the layer was turned down meaning the detain in the gravel and the purple colour were more prominent. I feel that this works well as it gives a false pattern to the buildings and adds a new, unique and quite abstract look to this image. Overall i am very pleased with the way this image has turned out. 

This is another image i created while experimenting with overlaying textures within photoshop. The photograph which i started with when creating this image was a photograph of one of the university buildings. This photograph was taken from a low angle meaning that the lower half of this photograph is filled with grass. Taking the photograph from a low angle also means that the building is given slightly more importance as it appears to be towering over you albeit from a little bit of a distance away within this case. The image I used as the overlay for this image was a photograph I took, again of free bark, but this time with ivy growing around it. I felt that this would be an appropriate photograph to use as the texture for this image as although tree bark and ivy does not have a lot to do with an education establishment such as this university building, the original photograph was taken at such an angle that half of the photograph is showing grass. This means that i thought that the nature theme of the tree bark and ivy and the grass fit in well together. I feel that this texture works well for this image as i really like how the tree bark and ivy is shown on the side of the university building. I feel that this is the thing that you see first when looking at the photograph so at first glance it could look as though this was the only section of the photograph which was edited then when you look closer you can see the large leaves of the ivy present within the grass. I am very happy with the way this image has turned out as i feel that the nature theme i worked with within this photograph works well however the nature theme does not completely distract from the theme of architecture which runs through each of the photographs i have taken for this project.