How to Use Household Objects to Create Texture in Photoshop

[treehouse presents] 0:00 [Quick Tips: How to use Household Objects to Create Texture in Adobe Photoshop with Allison Grayce] 0:02 Hi I'm Allison Grace. 0:06 In this Treehouse quick tip, we're gonna learn how to use random objects 0:07 found throughout the average household to create our very own 0:10 custom texture in Photoshop. 0:13 We'll do so by hunting down flat surfaces with scratches, stains, and patterns 0:15 that we'll then scan in and layer on top of our design in Photoshop 0:19 to create a subtle grunge texture. 0:23 I went ahead and scanned the objects I found throughout my house 0:26 and have them opened up in Photoshop. 0:29 Out of the objects I scanned, I think the cutting board and the wooden box 0:31 scanned the best and will have the most interesting texture. 0:34 So we're gonna move forward with those two. 0:37 Let's go ahead and crop this image and then rotate it. 0:39 Next we're going to bump up the levels by going to Image, Adjustments, Levels. 0:45 Now this really brings out the contrast in the photo 0:58 allowing the scratches, texture, and stains to show up in the photo. 1:01 Now it's not going to look very pretty but this is what we want. 1:05 Let's go ahead and sharpen this image. 1:08 Go ahead and save this jpeg in a convenient location. 1:12 Fireworks is the best program for working with PNGs. 1:26 What we're going to do is actually convert this jpeg to Alpha 1:29 by going to Filter, Other, Convert to Alpha. 1:32 What this actually does is make the lightest colors transparent 1:38 and the darkest colors opaque. 1:42 This works well because the scratches and stains 1:44 are going to be darker than the surface 1:46 which will give the texture a really natural, realistic look to it. 1:48 Once you've done that, go ahead and save out the image as a Fireworks PNG 1:52 and then open it up in Photoshop. 1:59 You can see in the image where the transparency is occurring, 2:01 where the checkered background of the Photoshop document shows through. 2:05 Go ahead and drag this image onto your design. 2:09 So you can see we're already seeing a really neat transformation 2:13 but it's a little bit harsh. 2:16 We can change its blending mode like so 2:18 but if you notice it actually changes the color of the background. 2:21 Which looks okay but I actually prefer to simply duplicate the layer 2:24 and give it a color overlay that's the same color of the background. 2:29 Notice how this diffuses the intensity of the texture quite significantly. 2:42 Go ahead and play around with a number of layers, 2:46 the blending modes, and position of the layer to get all sorts of unique effects. 2:48 I'm going to follow the same steps 2:57 but use the scanned image of the wooden box this time 2:58 and see what kind of result we can achieve with this texture. 3:00 Let me get another really fun texture that we can call all our own. 3:05 Now there are plenty of textures we can download on the internet, 3:13 but it can be fun and rewarding to create your own. 3:16 Challenge yourself to open your eyes 3:18 and see the art in even the simplest of household items. 3:20

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