Painting a picture…

An early morning walker created a wonderful photographic opportunity along San Francisco’s waterfront. I like the way she held her umbrella as protection from the bright sun. She was bathed in golden light that was more suggestive of a painting than a photograph.

This idea was something I wanted to explore further with a little creativity in Photoshop. There was rust from the chains that caught my attention, and inspired the warm toned texture layers throughout the composition. I wanted to give the image a painterly look, which is the feeling I had when I made the picture.

Try adding a texture layer or two to your photographs to give your images more depth and drama! A texture layer can be any photo of a texture that you like. For example, aged peeling paint from the side of an old building, rusty metal from a vintage car door, fading paper or a love note written long ago. Anything goes with texture layers! Start with a photo and a texture layer that are relatively the same size and experiment with various blend modes.

Tip – Hold down the shift key, and use the plus or minus keys to scroll through the Blend Modes to see the effect each has on your image. Be a photographic artist!