Photo Recipe: Using textures to add a vignette

This has been the never-ending winter.

Snow.
Cold.
Rinse.
Repeat.

I set a goal for myself to use my Lensbaby for all of January.  It was fun at first, but after a while, because I was stuck inside due to the NEVER-ENDING WINTER, I had run out of things to shoot.

And then, miraculously, we had a day that was 45 degrees F.  The clouds parted, the angels sang and I took the Lensbaby outside looking for something other than snow to photograph.  I found this flower between my yard and my neighbor's yard.  I have no idea what it is, which is embarrassing since I have lived here for almost 15 years, but we won't worry about that.  I just liked what I started with:



I liked the blur.  I wish I had placed the flower a little more off-center, but with an impatient puppy, it was good enough.

I wanted to make sure that attention was drawn to the flower, so I wanted to add a vignette.  I went to Love that Shot's Olde World Collection (because I am in love with the textures) and chose "Calais."  Calais reminds me of an old parchment with ink spilled all around the edges. I added it to my photo in soft light mode, at 75%.  Here is the result:



I liked the vignette, but I am never satisfied with subtlety, so I went back to the Olde World Collection and grabbed "Sicily."  I added it in overlay mode at 50%.  And I was in love.



I really liked the strong vignette and glowy center so that your eye is drawn to the flower.  And I loved the colors that the textures added to the photos.

Two simple steps and my photo became much more interesting.



Check out the products and workshops that Love that Shot has to offer!