Today I wanted to share with you how adding a texture to a photo can dramatically change the focal point of a portrait.
My style of photography is to incorporate bright and bold colors into my final images. As a photographer, I’ve really made an effort to define my “style” throughout the past few years. I realized that no matter how many fancy actions I purchased, or how many vignettes I added to a photo, I always reverted back to one way of editing…
Color. Bright. Bold. Clean. Simple.
To me, these kind of photos are timeless. You’ll be able to look back on them in fifty years and not be distracted by a style of post-processing that was “cool” at the time. You’ll just be able to see it as it was… and be able to focus on the subject and its beauty.
Although I don’t veer away too often from my style of clean post-processing, sometimes I feel that an image speaks to be processed in a slightly different manner. For me, this usually means adding a texture in order to re-focus the emphasis on the subject, and to minimize anything else in the photo that could be distracting.
Here’s an example of a photo I took last fall of a redheaded beauty (No special treatment to her hair color, folks. That’s just 100% pure rehead shining through!) I really loved the colors in this photo and how her creamy complexion blended in nicely with the color tones of the finished photo.
While I was searching for a photo to use as a good example for applying textures, though, it stood out to me, because at a second glance, I noticed that the orange of the trees was the first thing that caught my eye when I looked at it.
In order to re-emphasize the subject, I simply change the focus from this…
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To this…
With this edited photo, I applied a texture that still utilized some of the background colors, but that muted the overall background and added some visual texture. As you can see, little miss Catherine is definitely the main focus (and isn’t she stunning!?).
And just for a better comparison, here’s the before and after…
Although I still like both final photos and feel that either one would look amazing as a wall portrait… I’m naturally still drawn to the original… but that’s just my preference!
What do you think? Which photo do you prefer?
*If you’re like me and you love those bold colors, be sure to contact me about booking a spring session so you can have some photos of your own!
*For any photographers who are wanting to experiment with applying textures, I highly recommend visiting Jessica Drossin Textures for some inspiration. You can also download one of her free textures, Autumn, here.
Happy editing!
~Jen
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