The Photoshop Guru's Handbook - The Guru Studio: Session 8

Xtreme Textures

Alright then, let's begin...

To begin with:
Create a new document - 128x128 pixels
Make it RGB
Background = Transparent
Resolution = 72

Step 1
The Base Texture
Start off with your Background and Foreground colors as black and white.
Open the Filter Menu and go to Render / Clouds.
Then open the Filter Menu again but go to Render / Difference Clouds. Repeat difference clouds about 5 times.

Now go to the Image Menu and choose Adjust / Auto Levels.
(shift + ctrl/command + L)
You'll notice that applying the Auto Levels will bring out a lot more definition and contrast in your clouds. It has that same effect on anything you apply it to, remember that.
What we are looking to produce here are thin strands of black or white squiggly lines, running through our clouds. If you don't achieve this the first time just delete the contents of the Layer and repeat the Clouds and difference Clouds steps again.

Difference Clouds 1 Here's what mine looked like after I had applied the Auto Levels to it.
Use this as a reference if you like.

Because the Clouds Filter is a random effect, the results will be completely different every time you use it. Since it doesn't take that long to apply the filter don't be afraid to do it over until you get the exact clouds effect you're looking for.

Adding some color to the Base Texture:
Now open the Image Menu and choose Adjust / Hue and Saturation. (ctrl/command + U)
Click on the Colorize check box option to activate it.
Turn the Saturation level down to 35 and move the Hue slider to around 25. We're looking for a shade of tan; light or dark it doesn't matter.

Difference Clouds Color Here's what mine looked like after I had applied the Hue and Saturation to it.
Use this as a reference if you like.

When you've achieved this, Duplicate this layer. Then turn OFF the eye for the duplicate layer (Layer 1 copy) so it is no longer visible.

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Step 2
Adding Dimension
Activate Layer 1 again by clicking on it.
Open the Filter Menu and choose Stylize / Emboss.
Apply these settings:

angle = 135
height = 2
amount = 300

Here's what mine looked like after I had applied the Emboss Filter to it.
Use this as a reference if you like.

Now activate Layer 1 copy, by clicking on it, and apply the Emboss filter to this layer also. Use the same height and amount settings as before but change the angle setting to -45 this time.
Now set the Layer Blend Mode for the Layer 1 copy to Difference mode.
Now one more thing, open the Filter Menu and choose Sharpen / Unsharp Mask. Apply it with these settings:

amount = 100
radius = 1
threshold = 0

Apply the sharpening to "Layer 1" as well, using the same settings.

Here's what mine looked like after I had set the Layer Blend Mode for the Layer 1 copy to Difference mode.
Use this as a reference if you like.

Note:
What we have essentially done here so far is to manually produce a similar effect to what the Lighting Filter can do, with one important exception.

Creating our Texture manually using the Emboss filter and the Difference blend mode, instead of using the Lighting filter, has given us a lot more control over how pronounced our effect can look.
You can test this by simply adjusting the Opacity level for the Layer 1 copy layer. See how the Texture seems to go from a flat looking pattern to a slightly more 3 dimensional looking one?
Albeit the Lighting filter can achieve a much higher degree of a 3D effect than we have here, but we don't need that type of effect for the kind of texture we're looking for.

And remember this too, we can at any time go back and edit our effect by simply fooling with the Opacity levels; unlike the Lighting filter which is a 'one-time-deal'.

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Ok, we're finished with making the Base Texture.
Now lets move on to the meat and potatoes part of creating our texture...

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