A different look at a cat photo this week!
This is a fun capture of Toulouse. He is tumbling out in the sunny summer garden totally focused in a wand toy and I was trying capture cats in motion.
It is a fun shot but there is a lot of grass surrounding my favourite tabby. So, I was curious about making the background a bit more interesting. (Just for fun.)
Could I do it without disturbing the playful mood? Let’s explore and see.
Light and Easy Edits
You all know I will always suggest a light touch when you edit a cat photo. Small edits and adjustments can be deleted if you feel you have gone too far, but big steps all at once might disappoint you. Why? Because they don’t seem to work with your vision for a cat’s portrait or shot and this unique vision is your own.
My action shot of Toulouse is a touch blurry but still a lot of fun isn’t it? I cropped it close to keep the focus on the tabby cat and carefully sharpened the cat ‘shape’ a little bit.
- I recently joined Anthony Turnham’s mailing list. He is a British photography based in New Zealand like us. When I joined his list I got a free set of five skies and five textures to play with.
This is part of one of the textures that I am using in my photo >>>
You need to adjust the opacity (how much you can see through) until you get the effect you are after. 100% means you see only the texture. 25/30% will give you an effect like the one I achieved with with Toulouse (below). The texture adds as almost painted in oils quality to it.
This post gives you a detailed layers and overlays how-to workshop with a video.
Editing Tip
Remember that not every adjustment you make needs to be obvious and edits can do more than correct a mistake. Some are gentle and subtle or simply add visual interest or fun.
This last shot of Toulouse shows how you might push the creative envelope into new territory, just to see what happens. The cropped cat photo has a texture overlay of 35%. I didn’t get the light right when I took the photo, so I explored with a texture.
Exploring allows you to see what works for you and what you feel fits with your creative ideas.
How Do I Add A Texture to an Image?
Adding a texture is straightforward on a computer.
You add a second layer on top of the image and adjust its opacity so it is more, or less, see-through. This graphic below gives you a good idea of what layers look like in your software, or even on your smartphone.
Layers might not be on your to do list right now but at some point I hope you might like to explore them.
If you want to really explore textures Anthony has a detailed video here that goes into the creative ‘art’ side of textures and their impact. (30 mins approx.)
Cat Photographer, Instructor and Writer
Professional Member of the Cat Writers Association,
Winner of the Kuykendall Image Award
Published at the Guardian newspaper
It’s so cool how the layer look brought out details I missed in the original.
Those were fun and congratulations on your Certificates of Excellence!!!
Brian’s Home ~ Forever
Thank you Brian and Family!
Great advice. Those are amazing shots!
That first texture layer really improved upon an already nice picture of Toulouse!
Did you remove the texture over top of Toulouse? (like a mask?)
No. For some reason this doesn’t work in Luminar like the project I did with Sienna where you can. I am going to investigate and see if I can as this is a new idea for me with the software.
I like the edits you made. XO
Thank you Ellen!