There are a certain things that will never die in photography, like timeless black and white images and candid images documenting raw emotion.   Trends, on the other hand, seem to come and go…rearing their ugly heads long enough to be embraced by the middle masses, overused and abused, then shunned by the next generation of photographers.  An example of one of those terrible trends is the selective coloring of, for instance, a bouquet.  The bride is black and white but the boquet is in color making it look like she’s lost all color from her face.  Looking lifeless is not so flattering and thankfully this trend has seen it’s last days.

Rarely I’ll come across a new trend which really speaks to the heart of an image and doesn’t ruin the shot when done in small doses.  The newest round of trends is actually quite beautiful and I think will stick around for a while.  It’s called texturizing.

Texturizing is the art of adding layers of textures to an image and selectively increasing or decreasing their strength using the layer properties in photoshop.  The images are generally photos of objects that have a consistent texture, like concrete, wood, or grass.  This technique is not going to instantly make an image look amazing, but when applied to an image that is strong in composition and well exposed, the result is an image with a timeless quality.

Here is a before and after of the texturizing effect:

The before which has slight exposure balancing, toning, and highlight recovery:

The final textured image with the people removed and vignetted to make the image appear more intimate:

In the final draft the toning and texture give the image more moodiness and depth.  With care and intention behind the texturizing, the image can become much more than just a moment in time but a thoughtful piece of art.