Welcome to our P52! This project is designed to get you out with your camera once a week in a meaningful way. Each week I will post a prompt for you to consider. The prompts are merely suggestions, and you are free to shoot off topic if you wish. All images posted must be taken by you, be safe for work, and be taken with this project in mind. Please do not post archive photos. For a further discussion of the guidelines, please refer to this thread, and you can find the previous weeks linked there if you missed them. Feel free to join in at any time of the year, and you may go back to missed weeks if you still wish to participate.
Week 17: Texture
This week you will have to hunt a bit. We are going to be looking for ways to add and highlight texture in our images. I personally often shoot for softness most of the time, and seeking out texture is a bit more difficult for me. Still, it is in the difficult things where we grow.
To start, you will have to find subjects that are naturally textured; this does not exclude man-made items in anyway, but by and large we will focus on things that are visually tactile. Though we can work to bring out natural texture through lighting and editing, it’s difficult to add in texture where there isn’t any to start. Strong directional light across your subject is one the best ways to highlight textures, allowing a play of shadow and light. You can also look for layers like we did in Week 5; although layers may not inherently be textured, they are a great starting point for looking for textures. Buildings and architecture are a great way to get started if you are looking for something different than nature, as well as many around the house items like books, tools, and furniture.
While this week is fairly self-explanatory, here are a couple of things to consider when editing (if you do so); keep in mind, often less is more, and we still want to end up with a pleasing image at the end, so don’t go overboard with any of these techniques. Work in small increments and aim to still have a feeling of naturalness within the finished image. Note that I edit in Lightroom Classic, so if you use a different editing program, your sliders may be named something different.
Keep in mind, textures also include soft things, and even wet things, although “wet” is not technically a texture. When approaching a softer image, think about how you can emphasize and convey softness vs hardness. How would your edit or lighting differ from a hard item or scene? Smooth is also a texture; is there a way you can showcase smoothness in an image?
This week is really mostly just about getting out with your camera and keeping your eyes open for textures in the world around you. It’s an observation week with a slight focus on editing, rather than honing a new skill. We will get back to some more techniques in May, so enjoy the relatively easy week.
Week 17: Texture
This week you will have to hunt a bit. We are going to be looking for ways to add and highlight texture in our images. I personally often shoot for softness most of the time, and seeking out texture is a bit more difficult for me. Still, it is in the difficult things where we grow.
To start, you will have to find subjects that are naturally textured; this does not exclude man-made items in anyway, but by and large we will focus on things that are visually tactile. Though we can work to bring out natural texture through lighting and editing, it’s difficult to add in texture where there isn’t any to start. Strong directional light across your subject is one the best ways to highlight textures, allowing a play of shadow and light. You can also look for layers like we did in Week 5; although layers may not inherently be textured, they are a great starting point for looking for textures. Buildings and architecture are a great way to get started if you are looking for something different than nature, as well as many around the house items like books, tools, and furniture.
While this week is fairly self-explanatory, here are a couple of things to consider when editing (if you do so); keep in mind, often less is more, and we still want to end up with a pleasing image at the end, so don’t go overboard with any of these techniques. Work in small increments and aim to still have a feeling of naturalness within the finished image. Note that I edit in Lightroom Classic, so if you use a different editing program, your sliders may be named something different.
- Pull the contrast slider up. This will increase the micro contrast between shadows and highlights and give your image a more three dimensional aspect, highlighting textures within the image
- Increase the texture slider. It will increase medium sized details as a bit of a sharpening tool
- Increase the clarity slider. Clarity also works within the midtone contrast, and also affects luminance and saturation, so too much of this will start to introduce some wonky effects
- Pull up the Dehaze slider. I personally don’t use the dehaze function a lot, but depending on the scene you have in your image, it may help you to enhance textures just a bit more.
Keep in mind, textures also include soft things, and even wet things, although “wet” is not technically a texture. When approaching a softer image, think about how you can emphasize and convey softness vs hardness. How would your edit or lighting differ from a hard item or scene? Smooth is also a texture; is there a way you can showcase smoothness in an image?
This week is really mostly just about getting out with your camera and keeping your eyes open for textures in the world around you. It’s an observation week with a slight focus on editing, rather than honing a new skill. We will get back to some more techniques in May, so enjoy the relatively easy week.
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