The Photoshop
Written By Steve Patterson
In this Photoshop tutorial, we'll learn how to use the Displace filter and a displacement map to add an interesting texture to a person's face in a photo. The displacement map will allow us to wrap the texture around the shape and contours of the face, rather than having it look like we simply pasted a flat texture on to the photo. Displacement maps were first introduced way back in Photoshop 2.0, so unless you're still using the same version of Photoshop you bought 20 years ago, you should be fine. I'll be using Photoshop CS4 throughout this tutorial, but any recent version will work.
To create the texture effect, you'll need two images - the main photo that you want to apply the texture to and a photo to use as the texture itself. Here's the image I'll be applying my texture to:
The original image.
Here's the image I'll be using for my texture, a simple close up of a rock that I snapped outside:
The texture photo.
Here's how it will look after we've mapped the texture on to the man's face:
The final texture map effect.
Not what you're looking for? Check out our other Photo Effects tutorials!
Want an easier way to follow along with our tutorials? Download them as printable PDFs!
Let's get started!
Step 1: Select The Channel With The Best Image Contrast
Let's begin with the photo we'll be applying the texture to. Switch over to your Channels panel for a moment. You'll find the Channels panel grouped in with the Layers and Paths panels ("panels" are called "palettes" in earlier versions of Photoshop). Click on the Channels name tab at the top of the group to select it. You'll see three color channels listed - Red, Green, and Blue - along with a composite RGB channel at the top:
The Channels panel (palette) in Photoshop.
To learn more about color channels and the RGB color mode in Photoshop, be sure to check out our full RGB and Color Channels In Photoshop Explained tutorial. We're going to use one of these three
In this Photoshop tutorial, we'll learn how to use the Displace filter and a displacement map to add an interesting texture to a person's face in a photo. The displacement map will allow us to wrap the texture around the shape and contours of the face, rather than having it look like we simply pasted a flat texture on to the photo. Displacement maps were first introduced way back in Photoshop 2.0, so unless you're still using the same version of Photoshop you bought 20 years ago, you should be fine. I'll be using Photoshop CS4 throughout this tutorial, but any recent version will work.
To create the texture effect, you'll need two images - the main photo that you want to apply the texture to and a photo to use as the texture itself. Here's the image I'll be applying my texture to:
The original image.
Here's the image I'll be using for my texture, a simple close up of a rock that I snapped outside:
The texture photo.
Here's how it will look after we've mapped the texture on to the man's face:
The final texture map effect.
Not what you're looking for? Check out our other Photo Effects tutorials!
Want an easier way to follow along with our tutorials? Download them as printable PDFs!
Let's get started!
Step 1: Select The Channel With The Best Image Contrast
Let's begin with the photo we'll be applying the texture to. Switch over to your Channels panel for a moment. You'll find the Channels panel grouped in with the Layers and Paths panels ("panels" are called "palettes" in earlier versions of Photoshop). Click on the Channels name tab at the top of the group to select it. You'll see three color channels listed - Red, Green, and Blue - along with a composite RGB channel at the top:
The Channels panel (palette) in Photoshop.
To learn more about color channels and the RGB color mode in Photoshop, be sure to check out our full RGB and Color Channels In Photoshop Explained tutorial. We're going to use one of these three