how to add a texture in photoshop

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What are Photoshop textures?

Photoshop textures are used to create backgrounds, add grit and texture to designs, and create photo effects. In this post, you'll find:

How to enhance photos using textures
How to apply texture to elements within your designs
How to create your own custom textures
How to create Photoshop brushes from your textures

Textures can be extremely useful resources for web and graphic designers, and Photoshop allows numerous possibilities. In some cases, you may create a texture from scratch in Photoshop, but in most cases, you'll be using a texture from a photo, whether it's your own photo or one you've downloaded.

Related: 5,000+ Free Photoshop Gradients for Designers

Here we've featured 30 different tutorials that teach various aspects of creating and working with textures.

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Photoshop Texture Tutorials

How to Add Texture to a Photo in Photoshop

One of the most basic ways to use a texture is to apply it to a photo. There several different reasons for doing this, but one option is to create a vintage look. This tutorial provides a good overview of how to use textures with your photos. As you can see, the photo below has been given a vintage postcard look thanks to the use of texture.

How to Make an Old Paper Texture in Photoshop

Want to create your own custom texture? You're in luck because this tutorial shows how to start with a piece of paper and create a nice texture that can be used in your own designs or as a photo overlay.

How to Create a Dusty Texture from Scratch in Photoshop

This tutorial is similar to the previous one in the fact that it leads you through the process of creating a custom texture with a scanner, and then applying that texture to your work in Photoshop. If you've never created your own custom texture, this is definitely a tutorial that you'll want to follow.

Enhancing Your Portraits with Textures

Before applying a suitable texture, you have to analyze the picture and then apply a suitable texture with little customization as well.

5 Simple Tricks to Enhance Your Textures in Photoshop

This tutorial shows how you can get the most out of texture photographs. This simple technique will help you to simply beautify the ugly-looking textures quickly and easily. This is relevant whether you're photographing the texture yourself or using a photo that you've downloaded.

Creating an Embedded Concrete Effect Using Only Layer Styles

Here you'll learn how to create this beautifully textured effect. You will be able to create a nice background by adding the grunge effect and then add a particular layer style to make it appear more beautiful. This is a great technique for designing posters in Photoshop.

How to Make an Awesome Grungy Paper Texture from Scratch

Bittbox shows how to make this standard paper texture much more awesome. You will learn to customize an ugly-looking texture into an awesome grungy paper texture. You will add layers to the texture and customize it using the brush tool.

How to Create Photoshop Brushes from Old Newspaper

By following along with this tutorial you will create brushes that can be used over and over again to apply a nice texture to your designs and photos. Custom brushes can save you a lot of time.

Unique Textures without Using Brushes

This tutorial from Bittbox shows how you can easily create awesome textures of your own. You can then use these textures for all different purposes in your own designs. You will be able to add a primary image to a secondary image separated by a layer and then adjusting the opacity to achieve the desired results.

How to Photograph Textures for Designers

Have you ever photographed textures to use in your own designs? It's really not very difficult, but there are a few details that you need to know if you want to get crisp photos that will result in high-quality textures. Be sure to read this article and you'll be ready to create custom textures.

Texturing of Old Paper

Paper textures are so incredibly versatile. This tutorial is definitely worth following. You will have to do some work on the old-textured paper effect to achieve the desired results.

The Ultimate Wood Texture Tutorial

Want to create your own wood texture from scratch? It's possible with the help of Photoshop and you can learn the process in this tutorial. You will learn to create and customize the wooden texture just from scratch. You will also learn to add and craft an artwork layer on the wooden piece and customize that artwork layer.

How to Digitally White Wash a Wood Texture in Photoshop

If you're working with a photographed wood texture and you'd like to lighten the color, this tutorial shows how to get a nice white washed look.

Textured Crumpled Paper

With this tutorial, you'll work with textures to create this realistic look. You can play with different photoshop layers to create a completely different, beautiful, and realistic picture.

Use Texture Effects to Create Beautiful Compositions

This tutorial shows how to use texture to compliment a beautiful design. Add a beautiful texture in the background, add different shape layers, and customize those shape layers to create a picture with stunning composition. Use this technique to design wallpapers in Photoshop.

5 Awesome Techniques for Using Textures in Your Designs

Learn how to apply the texture to this colorful retro design. Along with some customization, you can easily add a suitable texture to any picture. By altering the customization, you can achieve a variety of different results.

Guide to Creating Bokeh Textures

Another approach to creating a bokeh background. "Bokeh" refers to the texture produced by the camera lens when out-focused at a place from where light is emerging. You can also achieve the bokeh texture by using the brush tool in photoshop. Blurring the bokeh texture and making few customizations will help you achieve the bokeh texture in the image that appears to be real and beautiful.

Reverse Grunge: Easy Texture Technique in Photoshop

Using the eraser tool you can create interesting and unique textures. You will use the eraser tool to remove the particular aspect of the image and achieve a reverse grunge effect in photoshop. For that purpose, you have to solid color that is mostly filled as well. There are few other customizations as well to achieve the desired results.

Create a Photo Composite with Filter Forge and Photoshop

You'll need the Filter Forge plugin for this tutorial, but it's a great resource for working with textures. Composite photo refers to several photographs combined and merged on a single surface or plate. You will learn to get rid of unwanted white shadow or white edges around the smart object. You will use the layer as an overlay to produce a composite image in photoshop.

Apply Texture, Age, and Weathering Effects in Photoshop Using Machine Wash Deluxe 2

This tutorial also uses a plugin that you will need to follow along. You will be taught to use simple Photoshop tools to create a texture, transform the picture into an older version or add the desired effect.

Create a Chilling Abstract Using Photos and Textures

This tutorial shows you how to create a heavily-textured poster design. You will create a creepy horror design from scratch. You will learn to create the shadow of the smart object by adding a layer, use different blending tools to blend different objects such as the skull or piece of wood, use soft brushes to paint shadow, adding different objects to the picture, and customizing them according to the rest of the picture, using the brush tool to enhance brightness and other such related photoshop tactics.

Snow and Dust Particle Effects in Photoshop

The snow and dust particles created in this tutorial can add some texture to your designs or photos. You will do it all yourself by using simple photoshop tools without adding any texture or using any plugin.

Antique a Photo Using Textures in 3 Quick Steps

Learn how to create an antique vintage effect with the help of a texture. You can create an old movie effect by simply adding an adjustment layer to the picture. Then, we will apply a few textures to enhance the antique vintage effect.

Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation Using Ice and Fire Textures

This is another photo manipulation tutorial that shows the possibilities of using and applying textures in your own design work. You will create new effects by applying different textures, using curve layers, and doing a few simple customizations.

Easily Create Seamless Photo Textures You Can Tile

Tileable textures can be extremely useful, and this tutorial shows how you can make your own from a photo. You will work on a simple image to create a flawless texturized image that can be used as a background for different web layouts.

How to Create an Amazing Watercolor Artwork in Photoshop

The watercolor effects used in this tutorial give it an awesome textured look. You will insert different smart objects such as a watercolor brush to add watermarks, use layer masks, adjust the hue/saturation layer, and other related customizations that will help you achieve the desired results.

Create a Colorful Grunge Portrait in Seconds

Learn how to use texture to grunge up a portrait. Apply a layer mask and paint the whole portrait uniformly to achieve the desired results.

Design an Interesting Human Face Manipulation with Tree Roots Texture in Photoshop

Texture is just one element of this design, but this tutorial shows a practical way that you can use textures every day in your work. In this case, the texture is used to enhance a photo manipulation.

Create an Abstract Photomanipulation with Tree Bark Textures and Brush Elements

Learn how to use simple textures to create a beautiful design. You will learn to add a bark texture to a portrait and blending it properly along with the necessary customization.

Photo Manipulation Using Ice Texture, Moon, and Human Face in Photoshop

When you think of textures, ice is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But this tutorial shows an awesome way to use ice texture to enhance a beautiful photo manipulation.

Final Thoughts

These Photoshop texture tutorials show practical and realistic ways that you can start incorporating textures into your own designs and photos. If you've never created your own custom textures before, I highly suggest that you follow along with a few of the tutorials that walk you through the process of creating a texture from scratch. It's a lot of fun!

For more Photoshop tutorials, please see:

Background Design Tutorials
Poster Design Tutorials
Advertisement Design Tutorials
Text Effect Tutorials

Steven is the founder and editor-in-chief of Vandelay Design. Launched in 2007, Vandelay Design is one of the leading web design blogs and has reached more than 50 million visitors. A veteran of the industry, Steven has also been a regular contributor at other websites like Smashing Magazine and Envato's Tuts+, and was a contributing author for the Smashing Book. Connect with Steven at LinkedIn.