Distressing Using the Underneath Texture

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Distressing Using the Underneath Texture

I'm struggling to come up with a good title for what I'm going to explain in this tutorial. If you think of a better title, please let me know smiley

Oftentimes I'll place a graphic over a paper or texture and want some of the bottom layer to show through, particularly if there's wood, or something similar underneath. In this tutorial I'll show you a super easy way to achieve that effect.

To begin, I've placed this black word art over a notebook style paper. I would like it to blend in a little better, to be a more realistic part of the paper.

Open the Layer Styles panel and on the main Blending Options page we're going to use the little continuum at the bottom.

Drag the arrows back and forth a bit to get a feeling for what they do. The real trick you need is to hold down Alt while clicking on the arrow, it will separate the arrows and you can get finer control. You can see the stripes coming through now, giving the word art a little more dimension.

This trick works extra great when used with wood textures. I've opened this wood texture in Photoshop and placed a colored pattern over the top.

Now, I'll do the same trick with the Alt key. You can see that the parts of the pattern that are over the really dark parts of the wood have disappeared making it look like I really painted on the wood.

Good Tutorial. I think your title works, Marisa....but maybe the word "distressing" is misleading. I'd probably call it "Adding a realistic painted/stamped pattern or element over a texture" which is super wordy. LOL.

Never knew you could accomplish this this way! Thanks!

must give this a try! thanks!

I love this! I can't seem to find the equivalent technique in Photoshop Elements though. Do you have any suggestions? The blending layers seem to all be preset. I did take 2 layers of the same background and laid the wood layer over my element to achieve the look, but I'm not sure that's a permanent solution.

Thank you for sharing!!!!

Good tutorial smiley Thanks

Wow, awesome trick, thanks for sharing!

Oh, this is great! I was just wondering the other day how to preserve texture of underlying layer! Thank you!

Fabulous tut! I never understood the sliders down there and how to use them effectively. Now I have a reason to use them more often.

I never looked at those sliders. I play with blend modes a lot in the layers panel--I've gotten a similar effect using various blend modes with two layers, but this seems to save a step. Thanks Marisa!

Great tutorial! I am going to try this. Thanks.

Marisa, Thanks so much for sharing this tip! I, too, never knew what those sliders were for! There is always so much to learn in Photoshop! Keep the great tips coming, please! smiley

Nice 'hidden-tool' trick, Marisa!
I agree with Erin Crouch about the use of 'distressing' in your title...maybe, if you were to add other texturing options to your tutorial (like via overlays and blending) you could use the title 'Texture using layers' or something similar.
Or maybe just plain: 'Textures down under' (though that might sound like it's from Australia) or 'Under Textures'.

Very interesting result. smiley smiley

love the look thank you.

Thanks Marisa! Great tutorial & very smart.

I just looked at this tut, great one. Will try it. Thank you, Marisa!

I love this effect--thanks!

wonderful tutorial

In doing a quick search, it looks as if they are referred to as "Blend If" sliders. Apparently they allow you to exclude certain luminosity levels to create a realistic blend. So maybe that could be a way to refer to it? Realistic Blend. Can't wait to experiment with this method!

Very usefull, thanks!! I didn't know this but definately have to try this trick. ❤😁

I love this concept for journal cards!!! Thanks

Question will this work using PSE 21?

You'll have to try and see.

Hi Marisa ! Here is Dominique from France.
This afternoon I tried your "How to make corrugated carboard" tutorial. After that, I took one of your flowers and tried the tips of the Alt touch. Wonderful ! my flower is stripped for now.
For your title I've thought of "How to insert one image into another ?", "How to imbed an image in a background ?", or "How to overlay a pattern (word art) in a background ?"
Thanks to you and your team for all these beautiful papers and graphic and so on. And, of course, for these tutorials too.

Thanks Dominique!

Thank you, Marisa!