Please note that the Coffee Pot Textures shop is closed at present.

I will be providing some free textures from time to time.

If you are interested in purchasing the Winter Warm textures as displayed in the Shop please feel free to CONTACT me.

Thank you
Kathy

Winter Tree

Hello Everyone,

Have you ever seen a tree that has an interesting shape but you'd like to dig it up and put it in a more interesting spot to photograph. Well that's how I felt about this tree. Sitting right beside a main road with ugly weeds in front of it made it very hard to photograph it with a pleasing result.

The shape of the tree appealed to me though so I took the photo and had a play with some of the textures in the Winter Warm pack. My goal was to replace the blue sky with warm textures and make the shape of the tree and it's branches the centrepiece without distraction.

The original photo.

I tried many different textures and combinations of blend modes until I got the look I wanted and finally settled on these three, using a combination of soft light and multiply blend modes with varying opacities.

Once I had the tones I wanted and slightly cropped the photo I then added some photoshop filters as well.

Firstly - Filter - stylize - emboss  - changed blend mode to overlay and reduced the opacity.

Secondly - Filter - brush strokes - ink outlines - blend mode overlay and again reduced the opacity until I was happy with it.

The two filters gave the image an almost textural feel as if it's made of cloth and raised.

I then added a radial gradiant layer to lighten the center and darken the edges.

The result is quite dramatic and may not be to everyones liking but I think it achieved my goal of making the bare branches of the tree the definite focal point and eliminating the distracting sky and field by changing the whole tone of the image.

(click to view larger to see the full effect of the textures and filters)

What do you think?  Comments welcome.

Do you have an image of a tree that you have enhanced using textures that you would like to share?  Leave a comment with a link to your image so we can all see it.

Common, break the ice and be the first to show us your creative work.

Cheers
Kathy

August 2012 Free Wallpaper

Hello everyone,

I can't believe that yet another month has gone by.  I have created a free wallpaper for you for August.

Click the following links to download them.


* Screen resolution 1920x1200
* Screen resolution 1920x1080
* ipad3

This is the first time I've made wallpapers so any feedback on how they fit your different screens would be helpful eg: is the calendar or the url cut off? Thanks.

Hope it's a good month for everyone.

Kathy

Competition Winner

AND THE WINNER IS..........................................

Hans Kawitzki for his entry - Pride of India.

BEFORE

AFTER

click to see larger

Hans' use of textures to replace a distracting background illustrates just how much the mood of a photo can be altered with the use of the right texture/s.

Congratulation Hans, you will receive an email shortly with a link to download the Winter Warm collection of textures.


RUNNER UP......

Steph from the UK.

Steph says, "...I decided to compliment the classic antique-look of the brown butterfly by overlaying it with a vintage paper texture".

BEFORE

Texture used.

 AFTER

click to view larger

Love the vintage look Steph has obtained with this combination.

Congratulation Steph. As runner up you will receive a sample of 6 of my textures, 3 from Winter Warm and 3 not yet released. You will receive an email shortly with details of how to download them.

Congrats to both of you and thanks for your entries.

Kathy

Featured Photographer

Introducing Award winning photographer, Barb Leopold.

Barb applies textures to a variety of subjects and her work is both creative and artistic.

Barb recently purchased the Winter Warm collection and has used several of them in the processing of the following beautiful images.

“Your textures are a dream to work with, I just love them, and you have saved me all the hard work of making them too.... “   Barb Leopold.

Shell Still Life

Expecting

Click on the image names to see them in greater detail on Barb's Redbubble site or

or to see more of her work go to her Portfolio

Remember, only a few more hours left to get your entries in for the COMPETITION to win the Winter Warm collection.

Thanks again for visiting

Kathy

Win a Collection of Textures

Want to win a set of 24 high resolution textures. Collection 1 - Winter Warm.

Keep reading.

There are several ways in which textures can modify and enhance an image.

Three of these are:
1. Mood
2. Age
3. Tone.


For example.

1. Mood.

This is Molly. In this first example I have used a texture to give her a dreamy mood. Click to view them larger to see the full effect.

 (texture is from Collection 1 - Winter Warm)

2. Age.

A texture was added to this image to create an aged, vintage look.

(texture used was Kim Klasson's Embrace)

3. Tone.


This time I have given Molly a warm tone by using a different texture from the Winter Warm collection.

The last example was originally a colour photo, converted to black and white but still lacking the richness of tone that I was seeking.  Two textures were used to create a much richer tone to the image and also add a textured background to what was otherwise a blank sky.

(textures used Kim Klasson's paper2, crackerjack)

Competition.

If you would like to be in the running to win a pack of my textures, Collection 1 - Winter Warm, then email me your best before and after photos where you have used one or more textures of any kind to change the original photo's mood, age or tone.

Your photos will only be used to display on this blog for this competition and will not be used or displayed in any other way or for any other purpose without your permission.


Photos should be 600px max on the long side, file size max of 150k, jpg.

Remember you must send the before and after photo. You do not need to show the texture/s used but you can if you wish. You can also include a little about the process if you wish.

Email to:  kathyt.thompson@gmail.com   Subject - Mood Competition
(don't forget the dot between kathyt and thompson)

Entries must be received at the above email address by 12 midday, Monday 30th July, Australian Central Time.

Winner will be announced on this blog about 8pm the same day and the winner will be notified by email.

Details of the prize texture pack can be seen HERE

Looking forward to seeing your images,
Kathy

Some details have been edited 07/23/2012 for the purpose of clarification.

Textures for Photography - SHOP OPEN

Textures for Photography.

Coffee Pot Textures Shop is now Open.
The first pack of textures made by myself is now available for sale.

See the SHOP for details.