Improving Texture and Lighting in Your Digital Photography

By Amy Renfrey


There is very much to learn in photography. Not only do we require to master our camera but we must appreciate how light manifests as a photo. We need to realize how lighting works in photography because we can employ this information to shoot stunning pictures. Beautiful images refers to clarity, power, vibrancy and better lighting.

A most ideal way to turn out to be expert in photography is to start photographing different textures. Types of textures may include timber, steel, foliage and brick. These things can really accentuate strength and an interesting light very rapidly and without difficulty. We can learn a lot from shooting these surfaces of different things. Once we get the true lighting to draw attention to these textures our images suddenly pick up and come to life. You can check these textures a variety of ways. I suggest shooting these appealing different textures with well-balanced light spread evenly across your photo. If you can't get well-balanced lighting then shadows may work to an advantage.

A very effective photo that has appealing textures are dead leaves drapped over a wooden exterior. You can stay until the sunlight has gone down in the sky to get some shadow areas below the leaves. You will find that your shadow will become part your placement of subjects within the photo. What this means is that shadows can work to your advantage.

A rustic appearance and feel is a good place to start. Taking photos of aged wood fence posts with rusty nails and wires can really bring wood as a texture to life. You see what we want is make the wood and the nails look so they look authentic. In other words make it look powerful by improving the depth of the photo. We would like the viewer to feel like they can lean in and touch the texture.

In order to create this reality in your photos you need to construct a small list of things to photograph. The fence line and rusty nails are a good starting point. You may also like to take photos of differences in textures such as metal and wood. A steel band wrapped over a wood fence can make for a wonderful picture. A distinction in textures such as this can be shot in an antique tone and monochrome for extra drama and interest. They can also be shot in a selection of other tones that you can invent yourself in Photoshop or Lightroom.

What is a tone? A tone relates to light and colour. Saturdated colour, deep tones mean that your image may have a lot of black and grey tone, shadowy yellow and dark orange to it. Light tones may mean that your photograph has lots of shades of pale shades. In rustic photography, where we want to photograph wonderful different textures, we often find that saturated tones are a factor.

Deep tones can draw attention to the shadow. In order for your images to look like they have bona fide live texture then we should draw attention to the strength and light range contained within your photograph. You may choose a dark or dark tone to give that nail more rust or that metal band around the wood more brightness.

When we use more contrast in our rural photography we get a superior looking texture. This is since the contrast in the light brings up the detail of the surface of the textured subject. The lighting works to bring out the detail in the lighter parts and deepen the shadow in the dark areas.

A means to creating successful textured surfaces is to keep your composition uncomplicated. Genuine textures, such as foliage and wood, work most ideal when there is nothing to clutter the shot. Simply capture the main subject and make sure there are no distracting things in the backdrop or the forefront. Once you've done this you can work to raise the contrast, perfect the light and deepen the tones. There is nothing worse than a messy shot.

Old abandoned vehicles are an example of how you can capture wonderful textures in your photography. When my spouse and I were traveling to a country town we accidently came across an long forgotten abandoned utility. This automobile was from either the 1940s or the Fifties. It looked like it had been left for years and years. As soon as I saw this car I got very excited. The minute I saw it I knew I wanted a antique looking photo.

I knew that the steel, oxidation and washed out paint would look absolutely brilliant in sepia. Once I took a series of images of the old utility I then viewed the image the photo in Lightroom. I increased the white and highlights, boosted the blacks, and experimented with the tone curve. What does this imply? It simply states that I manipulated the tone of the shot to emphasise the appealing points of the car. I wanted to enhance the bright metallic against a muted, natural setting. Once you alter the lighting all of a sudden your textures come alive.

Based on how you want your different textures to appear, you can utilise bright or dull light. Filtered luminosity is always best because it offers us additional choices in the long term. Bright light can create highlights and shadows that highlight contrast. This can really work to your benefit.

Gentle light can work very well for different textures because it emphasizes the detail. it can give your texture a more three dimensional look. If you are taking photos of an old fence post then the lack of intense brightness will bring out the grains of the wood. You will get to see the patterns, lines and shapes of your surface a lot more in subdued light. In harsh bright sunlight you may lose these fine points completely.

If you want to take pictures of stunning textures and not be concerned about the small detail, then a country scene with excellent contrast may work beautifully. A fence line sitting in dense grass can be a wonderful textured image to begin with. Once you position the camera so that the fence line is running into the distance you not only have beautiful different textures but you have great composition.

There are a lot more things you can do to accentuate your different textures. There is a cell phone app called Instagram. It has recently joined forces with Lightroom. This is a marvellous thing! Instagram is an app that produces antique, sepia, black-and-white and the whole other diversity of tones for your photographs.

Instagram gives you the variety of antique tones. In other words if you use an antique tone over your photo it looks like it was photographed in 1977. Once Instagram meets Lightroom, you have the option of producing a unique look and feel over your photos with rustic and interesting textures.

Instagram also offers you the choice of unique borders. You can have a stark deep black border to accentuate the deep hues and tones in a photo of dried golden leaves. Or, you can have a supple white border to match the soft tones of a photo of a car park. Or you might have no border whatsoever.

Remember that creating textures is straightforward. Once you have photographed it then the enjoyment begins. Make sure that you choose contrasting things like dead foliage or metal. Shoot them at the same time. Then try adjusting the contrast and lighting of the image once you open it up in your prefered editing software program.

I urge that you let imagination and curiosity be your guides. Open up your picture in your favourite editing program and try a number of various methods. Add to the differences between light and dark, reduce the yellow, reduce the blue, modify the white balance etc. These are just examples of techniques that I attempted when I was learning how to enhance my different textures in my photos. I got to a place where I understood what I preferred and created many different possibilities for myself.

These different alternatives I created gave my shots a look and feel that I loved. Some were greatly saturated in deep yellows and warm tones. Some were a slight sepia, and some were a very sharp contrast in the monochrome medium. These lights, colours and looks, applied over rural subjects, made my textures come alive. Rusty fences took on a powerful presence. Metallic bands wound tightly over timber fence posts seemed interesting and from the past. Hanging metal bells looked classic and ageless.

Just think about surface and daylight first. Then your editing comes afterward. Think about the light and how it interacts with your setting to emphasise physical surfaces. Think about how lighting behaves and makes things appear different at various times of the day. Photograph unique natural and man-made different textures together. This will let you to explore differences between light and dark contained within your textures. The examination of light will allow you to bring out the depth and the detail within the photograph. Then apply some simple photo editing. This will enable you to vary the tone. Fine tuning the colour and light gives you the opportunity to create some very inventive photographs.

This is an exercise in inventive pursuit. This is not about winning awards or being better than anyone else. This is about how this makes you feel. You can impress people later on but first learn to interpret your light on how it works with the textures in your background. Once you've done this you can shoot extraordinary textured photographs. Have fun and happy shooting!




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