Making Texture Work for You

Textures can also be very complementary and give photographs character. Textures are complementary if the texture is somewhat similar to the texture of your subject’s clothing. When both of these elements come together, it appears as if the wall and your subjects are part of a set, instead of you just using an arbitrary wall that you found. For example, think of a creamy white smooth wall as the background for a bride wearing a silky off-white wedding dress (15.21). The photo looks synchronized and well put together.

15.21. With a creamy white wall acting as a background for the bride in her silky off-white dress, the photo looks well put together.

Let’s take a look at a more abstract example using a volcanic rock formation in Oahu, Hawaii (15.22). The texture of the rock and the curves reminded me of silky clothing similar to the folds of a wedding dress. Mostly, I was drawn to the drama and uniqueness of the rock. Although this is the ground and not a wall, the principle is the same. So I took the photo from a high perspective and the ground became the background, just like a wall would (15.23). My wife stood to the left, out of view with an off-camera flash pointed at the bride to create separation with light. That allowed me to darken my exposure without worrying about the bride being too dark.