highresolutiontextures.com

5 hi-res grunge textures made from pancakes

2lip — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:48:11 +0000

You might ask yourself, what kind of a stupid title is that - grunge in combination with pancakes? The idea for these textures just popped up, when I was standing in the kitchen and making…you guessed it: pancakes. I just looked at the first one I made and thought that the color and structure resembles some rust textures that you see floating around the web, so I quickly grabbed my camera and made a few shots. Crazy idea, but the results look pretty interesting in my opinion.

I hope you find those useful! Let me know what you think and maybe you can share some more unusual texture ideas in the comments. I am always open to suggestions.

pancake texture pack (.zip file, 40 MB, 5 files)

new kids on the (texture) block

2lip — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:57:28 +0000

It was pretty quiet here for the last month, due to the fact that I was busy working on other personal projects and client work. But I promise to make up for my absence by posting a bunch of articles over the coming days, starting with this one here. I would like to present you 2 great new texture sites that have emerged recently.

The first new site is called Texturelovers and has been set up by Max Stanworth, who also runs the well-known blog Design Shard. Texturelovers was created with the purpose of archiving only the best textures from around the web, which are free to use for commercial as well as personal design projects. Next to that, the site also contains an inspiration section and covers tutorials on how to utilize textures and creating stunning effects. Head on over there and see for yourself and I am sure you’ll find some pretty amazing content.

The second site that recently came to light, is Free Stock Textures and the title already says what you can expect. The site is run by Paul Wozniak and Eva Sajdak, 2 amateur photographers who are doing a great job assembling a nice collection of textures. Popular categories include nature, wood or grunge and they have implemented a nice color picker tool from where you can access texture categories of different colors - what a great idea! Check out this great resource!

4 hi-res mussel shell textures

2lip — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:11:20 +0000

Summertime is here and this calls for different kinds of textures. Last week, I spent a lovely day at the beach with my fiance and while walking along the coastline, we collected quite a few mussel shells. At home, I made a big pile and created these textures from it. I hope you find them useful. Enjoy!

Update: One of my twitter friends - @hilsatlvsonline - just pointed out that the exact name is cockle shells. Thanks for the taxonomy lesson

shells texture pack (.zip file, 36 MB, 4 files)

Interview with professional photographer Tyson Crosbie

2lip — Wed, 06 May 2009 12:34:38 +0000

I am very pleased to present to you the first interview here on HRT. A few months ago, I noticed some outstanding textures in the HRT Flickr pool and I wanted to find out more about the artist, Tyson Crosbie. Turns out, he’s a professional photographer from Phoenix, Arizona, and he agreed to do this interview and share some details about his artwork and the process behind it. So let’s hear, what he’s got to say:

HRT: Tyson, thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview. To start off with, could you give us a little introduction of yourself by telling us where you are from and what your background is?

Tyson: I was born in Ogden Utah on 5.6.78 and grew up outside of Eugene OR. Retruning to Utah to get my BFA in 2005. I’ve lived in Utah, Oregon, Missouri, Texas and Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. I currently reside in Phoenix, AZ where I run my photography studio and create an annual body of work best described as abstract expressionism.

HRT: I noticed your work, when you posted some great texture images to my Flickr group. These photos are part of the “Phoenix 21” series. Can you tell us a bit more about this project? How did you come up with the idea? What’s the story behind those pictures?

Tyson: Phoenix 21 is the second annual series of work created out of Phoenix, as I’ve lived here for 2 years. A lot of my work is rule based and the idea for creating an annual series came out of the work itself. I’d been shooting in all these different cities and moving around a lot, nothing was cohesive yet and I still had the view that my work was largely just an exercise. That all changed when I got to Phoenix, I felt more a part of a place than I had previously and decided to make this my home.

To me the rules of the project help restrain me and allow for more creativity than having no bounds. For example the first abstract series I did was done in parking lots, only straight lines and only primary colors; and even that project swelled to 35 images. I use the lower numbers now to force myself to edit to the absolute limit, the absolute best images.

HRT: Can you explain the different process stages from the moment you take the picture until the photo is being printed on RA-4 paper (without giving too much away of the magic involved, of course)?

Tyson: After I take the photo until it is printed is really easy; I color balance the photos and then send them to my printer. There isn’t a lot of magic involved. I’m a purist at heart even though I choose to shoot digitally I still treat the camera like a film camera. I shoot and print full frame and I print as close to what was there as I can. I currently shoot with an old Canon xti and a 50mm 1.4.

HRT: What is it that you are looking for, when searching for textures? What are you favorite spots or locations?

Tyson: I look for a myriad of things, over the last ten years I’ve developed several languages to represent emotions, narrative and allegory through color composition and marks (texture). They are all highly personal and raw. When preparing to shoot for the day I’ll meditate on a single emotion or event and then keep that in my mind the whole time I’m walking. I’ve become so focused that I don’t see or hear people around me, I’m just observing every surface around me for the one holy moment that captures exactly what is in me.

HRT: What are the 3 most important things to take into account when taking texture photographs or photographs in general?

Tyson:

Observation: If you don’t see it you can’t photograph it.
Evolution: Build on your previous experience and use your successes and failures to inform your current work.
Just do it: This is the hardest one, just getting up and doing it when you have a million other things going on. Make time to just go out and do it as often as you can.

HRT: I know that you think that the tools of a photographer are not nearly as important as his understanding of light and time. Could you elaborate a bit more on this thought?

Tyson: I think gear is usually a waste of money and time. The basics of photography can be learned in a couple days and gear can get in the way of understanding. It is only through a lifetime of practice that you’ll even come close to consistantly capturing those holy moments when the two dimensions of the photograph transcend even the reality of being there.

HRT: Nonetheless, I think the readership of HRT would be interested to hear what equipment you are using most of the times.

Tyson: My work is currently all shot with a 50mm 1.4 on a Canon xti body. I don’t use lights or any other gear (I don’t even use a camera strap), while I’m shooting for the texture series. In my studio I use two 400 and one 1600 Alien Bees strobes with various lighting tools: softbox, umbrellas, reflectors etc.

HRT: To conclude this interview, do you have some tips for aspiring photographers?

Learn your history. It will inform and inspire you long after you learn the mechanics of a camera.

The abovementioned Phoenix 21 series can be seen here!

You can find out more about Tyson on his personal website tysoncrosbie.com or his video blog Lying to Tell the Truth and if you want to connect with him, follow him on Twitter - @tysoncrosbie or befriend him on Flickr - tysoncrosbie.

Many thanks to Tyson for doing this interview! For me, it was a great experience and interesting to see how other photographers treat the subject “textures”. What do you guys think? Do you want to read more interviews in the future? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.

Feature: DPS article with 10 tips for shooting graphic textures

2lip — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:10:48 +0000

Digital Photography School, one of the biggest blogs about photography, has a great article with 10 tips for shooting graphic textures. This is a must read for all aspiring texture photographers, if they want to find out, how they can achieve better results.

Visit the article here!

Earlier, I also wrote 2 articles about how to take your textures to the next level and you can find them here:

Now grab your camera and start trying out some of these techniques. Feel free to post your results in the comments!

Spray paint: a collection of 9 hi-res textures

2lip — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:02:44 +0000

Here is a nice and colorful collection of hi-res spray paint textures on different metal surfaces. I found these on several garage doors on my way home from my first skateboarding photography session, when I had take a detour with my bike. This proves that it can be very beneficial from time to time if you go off the beaten track and as a consequence discover something new. Let me know, what you think of these images.

spray paint texture pack (.zip file, 36 MB, 9 files)

6 hi-res wood textures

2lip — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:03:42 +0000

I was on a skiing vacation in Austria and came back with lots of wood textures. Here is a collection of the most outstanding ones. This pack includes 6 high quality images of various sorts of wood or bark. I hope you have fun working with these!

wood texture pack (.zip file, 35 MB, 6 files)

6 colorful antique fabric and wood textures

2lip — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:16:23 +0000

A few weeks back, I went to an antique market in Belgium and besides looking for some hidden gems at the different stands, I was able to take some nice pictures of old wooden chests and antique chairs. I really love, how colorful some of these textures turned out to be, but look for yourself…

antique texture pack (.zip file, 25 MB, 6 files)

Hi-res textures of concrete, clay and slate

2lip — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:37:49 +0000

Here is nice little texture pack, which includes various images of concrete, clay, slate and bricks. I made these shots in and around the old house of my girlfriend’s grandmother in a village Germany. There were a lot of houses with their outside walls being covered with slate or clay, so I was surrounded by beautiful textures.

As always, you can either download the single images or grab a .zip file with all 6 photos at the end of this post.

concrete texture pack (.zip file, 24 MB, 6 files)

Upload your textures and get featured!

2lip — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:13:36 +0000

A few of you may already have noticed that since last friday, a new page has been added to the top navigation. This means that from now on, you are able to submit your own textures and upload them directly to my server. If you would like to gain some exposure for your photos, this is the time to get started!

The links illustrated below take you to an upload form, which takes care of handling the file(s).

Check out the submission site for all the details about file types and size. Depending on the number of submissions, I will feature the best textures here on this blog on a regular basis and if you include some personal information along with your images in a .zip file (your name and website address), I will of course link to your site or portfolio. If you want to have a special license model attached to you photos, please make sure to inform me about it, so I can mark the textures accordingly.

I am really looking forward to seeing your hi-res textures flowing in. Many thanks in advance to your contribution!