From the course: Photoshop 2020 Essential Training: Photography

Overlaying textures selectively - Photoshop Tutorial

From the course: Photoshop 2020 Essential Training: Photography

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Overlaying textures selectively

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- [Instructor] Blend modes are an excellent way to apply a texture on top of a photograph. In order to do this, I will select the texture layer, make it visible, and then change the blend mode to either Overlay or Soft Light. I think Soft Light is a little bit better in this case. But I don't really like the way that the texture is being added to the flower here. I really like it in the background, but it's a little bit too much here. However, if I add a layer mask to the texture layer and then tap the b key to select my brush tool, use the left bracket to get a little smaller of a brush, and paint with black in the mask, I'm going to hide not only the texture but also the color from the texture that's being overlaid to the rest of the image and warming it up. So if I toggle that on and off, you can see that the flowers aren't getting that warmth, and I just don't like the way it looks a little bit too blue in here. So in order to maintain the color from the texture while losing the texture itself, I need to do something different. I'll right-click on the mask and just delete it for now. And then because this texture is a smart object, I'll add a blur, and when I add the Gaussian blur, it will add it as a smart filter. I'm going to increase the radius to 40 pixels and click OK. Now we can see that there's no longer a texture, but I'm still getting that nice, warm color from the texture file. So if I select the mask for the smart filter, use the keyboard shortcut option + delete in order to fill it with my foreground color, now I'm hiding that Gaussian blur which was blurring the texture. Then I can select my paintbrush, tap the x key so that white is my foreground color, and with the mask for the Gaussian blur selected, I'm going to paint with white, and that is going to reveal the blur. Now I'll get a little bit smaller of a brush, and I might want to tap the 5 key in order to decrease the opacity, and then I can selectively hide the texture in the areas that I don't want it in the image while I'm still maintaining any of the color that I'm overlaying with that texture layer. So if I just toggle that on or off, there's without the texture and there's with the texture, and if I toggle off the blur, it shows the texture in the flower, and toggling it on hides that. So the next time you want to add a texture to an image but you don't want that texture to be visible throughout the entire image, don't try to hide it using a layer mask. Instead, convert the layer to a smart object, add the Gaussian blur and just reveal the blurred area in the areas that you don't want the texture.

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