Today's Daily Texture is another one perfect for those weddings, and other subjects requiring a softer touch, such as flowers {as I have used it here}, our friends with fur and feathers, and even babies!  It's filled with beautiful cream, yellow, peach, and rose pink tones.

I had a couple requests for a soft texture which could be used for wedding images.  So I came up with these two - one vertical and one horizontal - for those of you who might need them!  They are also fabulous for other images which might have a pastel tone/look.  I used the horizontal texture on a butterfly image {because I don't "do weddings"...my hat goes off to those of you brave enough to do them!}.

I used the texture as a background, as well as in various layer modes on top of the image, and I think it worked out very well!  

Today's Daily Texture is an abstract, blocky one, filled with the colors of the upcoming fall season.  I paired this texture with one of my eagle photos, and it worked great!  However, I decided not to stop there...I took the merged image into my painting program and decided to paint the eagle, as well as add some more detail and color to the background.  

The sharp lines in this texture are perfect for architecture, just in case you have a building or city scene you might want to try mixing it with.  I realize this texture might be a bit too abstract for some of you, but here's a TIP:  If you like the colors and tones but not the abstractness of the texture, run it through a gaussian blur filter {or any blurring/softening filter} in your software to tone down the blocks.  

Here's another Daily Texture/Background for those of you who love the SEA and wish to create some dramatic art!  I paired this energetic background with a photo of one of my bald eagles.  She was actually landing in a pine tree and had pine needles in front of her foot on the left, and she had a branch across one bottom edge of her tail.  Rather than do a lot of cloning to clear up those issues, I used masking to blend her right in with the "water", so those areas are now immersed in the background.  

As always, I placed her photo on TOP of the background and then did my masking.  I did use Topaz Remask on this one to get more of a precise mask around her feathers.  Then I actually masked away some of the feather tips and edges of her wings to allow her to blend nicely into the background.  I find this additional masking of the edges to be an important step - sometimes when using Topaz Remask or other software which can "cut out" a subject, once placed on the background or texture it can look "pasted on".  I don't like that look at all, so after I do the initial mask with the software, I will then use a low opacity brush {with hardness set to -0- to give me the softest possible blend} to further work on the edges and make them fade right into the background.

After masking, I duplicated the texture and placed it on top, setting it to soft light at 100%.  This brought more light to her head and made the colors deeper and richer.  It also brought some of the color tones from the texture into her feathers, which helped create a cohesive look.  I masked some of that layer off her belly area, as it brightened that area too much.  After I merged the layers, I then boosted the color using a Topaz filter called "Boost".  This really made the entire image become deeper and explode with vibrant color, just like I wanted for this piece of eagle art!

TIP:  Remember, you can always adjust the color tones of ANY of these textures and backgrounds in your photo editing software {or in Topaz Labs software, if you use it}.  The tones in this texture are a purplish blue and tan, but if your subject would look better with a turquoise blue or sea green, simply work with it in your photo editing software to adjust the tones to better match your photograph before you begin your project. :)

For Today's Daily Texture, I took a step back and calmed down with the color and wild brush strokes I've been playing with lately.  I wanted a certain look for this owl photo, so I wanted a texture that was not quite as busy, since his feather pattern is very busy already.  I chose the lovely autumn colors because I'm inspired by the cool days we've been having, and the falling leaves we're already experiencing.  It's my favorite time of year!

On this one, I placed the owl on top of the texture and masked away his background, revealing the texture from underneath.  Then I duplicated the texture layer, and placed it on top, setting it to multiply at about 60%.  Then I duplicated the texture layer again, and set this layer to soft light at 80%.  I liked the lighting, however the soft light layer made the colors too vibrant, and I wanted to match my tone to the owl for this art.  So I desaturated just the soft light layer completely.  This toned down the color, but left a nice glow of light on his face and eye.

Today's Daily Texture is filled with brilliant red, peach, orange, yellow and shades of green.  I used this colorful, abstract texture with the next installment in my Colorful Expressions series, the Black Monkey in the same method as described in my last video on using colorful textures with photos.  {see my Youtube channel link in the sidebar}

Today's bright and colorful abstract texture was used to create the next work in my Colorful Expressions series...the Zebra!  See my video demonstration {link the sidebar on the right} on Youtube for working with these bright, abstract textures to see how I made this one. :)