How to Photograph Your Own Textures

Published January 12th, 2012 in Tutorials - 7 Comments

Textures are used all the time by designers for both web and print projects. A effective use of texture adds character and makes a design more interesting and appealing (for some examples see our post 35 Websites with Outstanding Use of Textures). At Vandelay Premier we provide high resolution textures to our members and customers, and there are of course countless other places where you can buy textures. However, creating your own textures is also an option, and in this article we’ll provide some tips to help make your texture photography more effective.

For the purposes of this article, we’re assuming that your goal for photographing textures is to use them in your own graphic design, or to distribute them to other designers. Someone who wants to photograph textures for the art of photography may approach things differently. We’re primarily interested in photos that will be highly useful for incorporating into graphic design. Scanning textures is also an effective option for flat objects like paper and fabric, but for this article we’ll focus on photographing textures.