When I recently posted this image, two [and two], on Flickr, the wonderfully kind and talented Matt Penning asked where I was getting the stone layer used to create the photo’s texture. I posted a response, indicating that the stone layer was nothing more than a sidewalk that I had photographed. All is fine and well. To my surprise, however, I learned that many didn’t know how to create a textured photograph. So…

1) Photograph something around the house or around town that has texture — a sidewalk, a broken window, a tree trunk. Make sure that you shoot in the highest resolution possible, raw if that is an option for you.

2) Bring the photo into Photoshop and desaturate it. (Click on “Image” then “Adjustments” then “Desaturate.”) Save your texture file for future use.

3) Open another photo in Photoshop, a photo that you want to be the cornerstone of your image. Proceed as you would in any other processing situation. Sharpen, heighten contrast, etc. and then save a copy of the “completed” image.

4) Now you are ready to add in texture. The easiest way for a beginner to do this is to place the images side by side on your screen. You’ll need to make sure that the images are similarly framed — both horizontal or both vertical. If they are not similarly situated, click on the texture image and then rotate the canvas. (Click on “Image,” “Rotate Canvas, ” and then either of the 90 degree options.) If you love the texture and think you might be using it again, you might want to save it as both horizontal and vertical. I don’t, but some might find that easier.

5) So we are all lined up horizontally or vertically, but now we need to make sure that the two images are the same size or, if not the same size, the texture image is larger than the main image. Go to “Image” and then “Image Size” to line up the numbers. If you can’t get the numbers to match, you probably have images of differing dimensions (4×6, 5×7, 8×10 etc.). In order to fix that crop your images to similar sizes.

5) Make sure your “tools” section is open. (Click on “Window” and then scroll down and check “tools.”) The top icon on the right-hand side of your tools is the “move tool.” Click on it to make it active.