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Textures

Textures are a great way to add an 'analog' feel to a digital image. They can be relatively subtle, such as adding a 'paper' texture that simulates the fine pattern or fibres of art paper, or more dramatic, simulating the look of an old photographic 'wet plate' or unusual printing materials like tin or wood. Textures can also replicate the appearance of a scratched, stained or faded print.

To add them manually you need an image editor that supports layers and a selection of texture files – you can photograph textures yourself and build a collection.

Alternatively, you can use software with filters for blending in texture files (Skylum Luminar) or programs with a library of textures built in, such as Alien Skin Exposure X, ON1 Photo RAW or Analog Efex Pro (DxO Nik Collection).

How to customise Analog Efex Pro presets

August 23, 2020 by Rod Lawton

Analog Efex Pro, part of the DxO Nik Collection, has some great vintage film effect presets, but you don’t have to use them exactly as they are provided. It’s very easy to customise and adapt these presets to give exactly the kind of look you want.

Filed Under: Featured, Nik Collection, TutorialsTagged With: Analog Efex Pro (Nik Collection), Control point, Film simulation, Grain, Nik Collection (DxO), Presets, Textures, Toning, Vignette

Preset picks: ON1 MacArthur preset

June 23, 2019 by Rod Lawton

Preset picks: The ON1 MacArthur preset stacks two instances of the ON1 Textures filter and adds the Dynamic Contrast filter to give the look of a textured, sun-faded vintage colour print.

Filed Under: Featured, ON1 Photo RAW, TutorialsTagged With: Contrast, Textures

How to get great black and white in DxO PhotoLab… but you’ll need FilmPack 5

January 20, 2019 by Rod Lawton

DxO PhotoLab can create superb black and white imagery, both in terms of image quality and in creative control, but you need to get the DxO FilmPack 5 Elite add-on to do it. This does make things more expensive, and it does feel a bit like you’re paying for some things that other programs offer […]

Filed Under: PhotoLab, TutorialsTagged With: Analog, Black and white, Borders and frames, Contrast, Film simulation, Grain, Light leak, Textures, Toning, Vignette

How to add age and drama with texture effects

August 13, 2017 by Rod Lawton

Texture effects

Digital images don’t have much texture. Your subjects might, of course, but the way cameras render tones is glassy-smooth (at low ISO settings anyway) and sometimes a little sterile. Adding a texture digitally can make a picture look more interesting, more tactile and more ‘hand made’. Textures can be very subtle, like the fine texture […]

Filed Under: UncategorizedTagged With: Analog, Textures

How to use the ON1 Photo Texture and Border filters

July 1, 2017 by Rod Lawton

ON1 Photo Texture and Border filters

ON1 Photo RAW has a huge library of preset effects and you can try them all out just by browsing through the categories and clicking on the ones you like the look of. But that doesn’t really get you any closer to figuring out how its effects filters work and how you can use them […]

Filed Under: Featured, ON1 Photo RAW, TutorialsTagged With: Borders and frames, Textures

6 tips for getting an authentic analog film effect

November 29, 2016 by Rod Lawton

Modern cameras can reproduce the world with utter, clinical accuracy. The trouble is, it turns out that’s not what we wanted after all. A lot of the time, what we actually want is the faded, distressed, imperfect look of analog photography. So here are six top tips for getting that analog film effect ‘look’ with […]

Filed Under: Featured, General, Listicles, Nik Collection, TutorialsTagged With: ACROS (Fujifilm), Analog, Analog Efex Pro (Nik Collection), Bokeh, Borders and frames, Corner shading, Film simulation, Grain, Textures, Vignette

Did you know you can stack filters in Google Snapseed?

September 11, 2016 by Rod Lawton

I am a huge fan of Google Snapseed. I’m not a huge fan of what Google has done with it, dropping the desktop Snapseed app and then the online Snapseed editing tools built into Google+ Photos. This has been replaced by a separate Google Photos option with much simpler editing tools. Thankfully, Snapseed still exists […]

Filed Under: Featured, TutorialsTagged With: Black and white, Borders and frames, Mobile photography, Textures

How to use the Nik Collection Analog Efex Pro Camera Kit

November 1, 2013 by Rod Lawton

Analog Efex Pro is part of the DxO Nik Collection, the set of plug-ins for Photoshop, Elements and Lightroom Classic that DxO took over from Google. I rate this as the best set of plug-ins ever made, and practically a must-have for digital image-editing fans. It’s a tool for simulating the look of old films […]

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Filed Under: Nik Collection, TutorialsTagged With: Analog Efex Pro (Nik Collection), Bokeh, Borders and frames, Film simulation, Light leak, Nik Collection (DxO), Presets, Textures

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