The Daily Texture for 03/26/2015
Distant Past
Today's Daily Texture is filled with rich browns, gold, cream and a tiny touch of minty green. The flat portion at the bottom of the texture offers a ground level area for you to place your subject...whether it be a full-bodied subject like this cheetah, or a table top subject such as a still life. As you can see, I've turned the zoo photo below into an elegant work of art using this texture/background.
First, I masked all of the busy background away from the cheetah and positioned her on top of the texture, paying careful attention to place her tail at the edge, just as it is in the original photo. I then duplicated the texture layer and placed it on top, setting it to multiply at 100%. My goal here was to darken the base where she sat, to better merge her into the flat portion at the bottom of the texture. Multiply darkened everything, so I then masked away some of that texture layer on the top portion only, with heavy removal of the texture layer on her face area to keep that brighter. I then duplicated the original texture and placed it on top, setting it to soft light at 100%. This further darkened the bottom and edges. It also darkened her face too much -- but rather than masking away that layer, I duplicated the texture yet again, and set it to color dodge mode at 100%. This brightened her face and upper body, while leaving the darkened edges and base like I wanted. Now you can only see a hint of her feet on the "ground level" of the texture, which is exactly what I wanted for the final image, while maintaining the brightness on her face and eyes.
First, I masked all of the busy background away from the cheetah and positioned her on top of the texture, paying careful attention to place her tail at the edge, just as it is in the original photo. I then duplicated the texture layer and placed it on top, setting it to multiply at 100%. My goal here was to darken the base where she sat, to better merge her into the flat portion at the bottom of the texture. Multiply darkened everything, so I then masked away some of that texture layer on the top portion only, with heavy removal of the texture layer on her face area to keep that brighter. I then duplicated the original texture and placed it on top, setting it to soft light at 100%. This further darkened the bottom and edges. It also darkened her face too much -- but rather than masking away that layer, I duplicated the texture yet again, and set it to color dodge mode at 100%. This brightened her face and upper body, while leaving the darkened edges and base like I wanted. Now you can only see a hint of her feet on the "ground level" of the texture, which is exactly what I wanted for the final image, while maintaining the brightness on her face and eyes.
Like this texture? Buy it here for only $2. Commercial Use OK.