Cinematic Lighting Techniques

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Shadows are an essential technique of film noir. Lighting is the very essence of filmmaking. The way that a scene is lit can create an emotional response in the viewer every bit as profound as the music that accompanies it. Lighting can help define characters, and defines an entire genre in the case of film noir. Professional lighting techniques in the art of the cinematic film range from very subtle to ostentatious.

2. Hard Lighting
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Hard lighting refers to lighting in which the shadows are very clearly defined. Shadows are an integral part of film noir, as the physical presence of shadows underlines the psychological uncertainly of characters who combine good and evil to become shadowy figures in the emotional geography of the film.

Soft Lighting
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Soft lighting has more nuance and creates far more diffuse illumination. Soft lighting can also soften the hardness of certain characters to stimulate a positive emotional response to them in the audience.

Frontal Lighting
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Frontal lighting attempts to extinguish all shadows. The result is a rather flat image that loses dimension. This can give the scene a poster-like unreal effect.

Side Lighting
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Side lighting does the opposite of frontal lighting in that it seeks angularity rather than flatness. Side lighting is very effective at producing emotional resonance in a character by highlighting noses, cheekbones and lips. This effect is usually accompanied by hard shadows cast to the other side of the actor.

Backlighting
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Backlighting attempts to provide a greater feeling of depth by making the object of the film stand out against a diffuse background. This lighting technique can

create feelings of the locale overwhelming the character. Backlighting also helps to create a sense of dislocation and disorientation in the character or scene.

Underlighting
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Underlighting is light that comes from below the subject. Underlighting is used quite effectively to produce scenes of horror because it can produce a grotesque effect on the features of a face.

Key Lighting
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Key lighting has no side lighting to diffuse the shadows and so a face can appear as a slash of white in the darkness surrounding it. The key light provides exacting illumination of the subject and is sometimes accompanied by fill lighting.

Fill Lighting
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Fill lighting is used to soften the shadows produce by key lighting. When fill lighting is used with backlighting, it can produce a striking image of a dark character within a dark setting.

Silhouette Lighting
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Silhouette lighting creates dark, strongly outlined silhouettes against a bright background. This is an effective technique for introducing unknown characters to

Lighting Effects & Mood

By Rachel Levy Sarfin, eHow Contributor updated: June 30, 2010

Lighting effects play a large role in the mood of films and shows. Lighting can be a subtle way of changing the mood in a film or television show. Lower lighting can indicate a number of darker moods, from horror to sadness. Brighter lighting can show happiness, and soft lighting signifies romance. Different light colors, created by filters, can also create certain moods. Lighter colored filters express a more sanguine mood, whereas darker colored filters hint at gloom.

1. History
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Since the beginning of cinemas development, cinematographers and gaffers have been using lighting effects. However, these lighting effects were not necessarily used to create a certain kind of mood. During the first decades of the 20th century, filmmakers focused on illuminating actors in the most flattering ways possible. World War II marked a return to the use of natural light, which gave films a grittier, more realistic tone. The advent of television introduced bright, even lighting for sets, giving programs an upbeat look.

Lighting Keys
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A lighting key describes the choices cinematographers have at their disposal for illuminating a film set. There are two kinds of lighting keys: high key and low key. High key, as the name implies, uses bright illumination to give the film a more natural and realistic look. This tone can lead the audience to better identify with the characters. Low key lighting makes use of shadows and pools of light to introduce feelings of suspense, horror or mystery.

High Contrast Lighting

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High contrast lighting uses harsh streaks of light in combination with bold, black streaks to create an atmosphere of tension and anxiety. This technique also creates many shadows, which provides an eerie and haunting look. Utilizing high contrast lighting will heighten the films sense of drama, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats.

Colors
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Colored gels, when placed over lights, can also change the mood of a film. Blue gels will give the shot a cooler look, which could hint at sadness or depression. They could also foreshadow a chilling event. In contrast, red or orange gels make a shot appear warm. Warmth can connote romance or happiness.

Combining Lighting Techniques

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Many movies combine lighting techniques to create a variety of moods. For example, a lighting director could choose to light a romantic scene with red gels over the bulbs, although the next scene could call for low key lighting to show that the characters are in danger. The lighting director does not decide on his own what moods to create. He uses the script as a guide to illuminate the set.

Light Source: Lighting for Mood

Previous Image Next Image The main difference between straight and artistic video lighting is mood. Mood-setting moves beyond technical competence and into lighting design. It's not hard to do if you know how to control three basic lighting components: key, contrast and color. First, of course, you need to be clear about exactly which mood you're after: sunny, dreamy, macho, scary or any of a score of other emotional states. For instance, midnight lighting is equally dark, blue and contrasty for both strolling lovers and lurking vampires. Beyond the basics, though, romantic and horrific are different animals. So let's see how to paint emotional light pictures, using contrast, color and, first of all, key. As used here, "key" doesn't mean the main light on the subject, but the proportion of light to dark in the image. We'll work indoors, where you normally do most of your lighting and have the most control.

High-Key High-key images are basically light-toned with darker accents. This doesn't mean low contrast; a good high-key lighting design includes a full range of tones from white to black. Usually, high-key lighting feels warm, cheerful, expansive and energetic. Look at the great screwball comedies of the 1930s and you're sure to find high-key lighting. To achieve this "open" look, typical high-key designs feature thorough key and fill lighting for the subjects, plus lots of light on the walls and floors. Small areas remain darker to punctuate the overall design. If you're working with a limited kit, soft boxes or umbrellas are particularly effective because they deliver wide, even light that helps light the background. In fact, it's hard to keep them off it. High-key can also mean heat and glare. For emotionally hot interiors, start with a basic high-key light plan and then adjust it by upping the contrast or the overall brightness, by either slightly over exposing or by pumping up the brightness in postproduction. You can take high-key in the opposite direction: toward a cold, hard, feeling suitable for prisons, bus depots and futuristic settings. The quickest way to achieve this look is to put away your lights and use ceiling fluorescents alone, preferably in a grid ceiling, if you have one. The shadows will be diffused, but they'll show up under your subject's eyes and chins. If you lack fluorescents, then get your soft lights as high as possible and block the performers to stand beneath them. Low-Key Low-key lighting produces mainly dark images accented by lighter areas. Film noir classics and dramas like Casablanca use a full gray scale from black to white, but the darker tones predominate. The basic flavors of low-key lighting are dramatic and powerful. To set the mood, work as much as possible with spots, softening fill lights with screens or spun glass sheets. Backlighting is important, both for the light accent it provides and to separate subjects from the backgrounds. The real secret of low-key lighting is in those backgrounds. Keep furniture and other objects partially in shadow, and don't wash the walls with light. Instead, use controlled patches and shafts of light to create patterns on the background. To look realistic, these light areas should be motivated, that is, there should appear to be light coming from windows, doors or practical lighting fixtures. Cookies (solid boards with silhouette patterns cut into them) can splash backgrounds with trees, Venetian blinds or simply mottled patterns to break up the light. Use cookies sparingly because they can look hokey. By taking low-key lighting to extremes, you can deliver spooky, mysterious and menacing feelings. In this approach, you reduce bright areas to the minimum needed to understand the image or, for extra suspense, even below that minimum. This makes the audience strain to identify that huge shape that is lurching toward the plucky heroine. Minimal lighting does not mean poor lighting: make sure you still get a good exposure.

Two ancient lighting techniques work well in scary scenes. First, key the menace from directly behind to create an anonymous silhouette. Then light the heroine from below (as if with the candle she's carrying). As with cookies, keep these effects under control unless you're striving for an extreme effect. Low key can also mean warm, cozy, safe and romantic. Using a fire as the motivation for key lighting is the most obvious technique. Practical (meaning visible in the frame) lights work just as well. Whether talking in a restaurant booth or on a living room couch, a couple in a circle of warm (i.e. bright) light with darker tones around them looks great. Contrast The range and gradation of the tones from black to white in an image determine the contrast. A wide brightness range (often called a long gray-scale), means that every level from dead black to pure white is present in the image, though this can be harder to see in color than in black and white. Generally, a long gray-scale is preferred, but to create a soft, passive or misty atmosphere, you sometimes want to avoid black and white extremes and confine your tones to the midrange. To do this, make sure you have plenty of fill light on subjects and broad, even background lighting. Here again, soft lights work best because they deliver naturally low-contrast lighting. If gray-scale is the range of tones, gradation is the size of the jump from one tone to the next. Normally you want as long a gradation as possible, something like 14-plus steps between black and white. However, for a harsh, stark, brutal or macho feeling, try reducing the number of steps from black to white. To do this, reduce fill light and splash hard bursts of light on backgrounds. Both contrast range and gradation are easily managed in post, so you may want to light normally for both moods and then make adjustments later. Color There's nothing like color to influence mood, whether hot reds, sunny yellows, soothing blues, living greens or violent purples. The production design usually sets the color, but you can enhance it with colored gels over your lights. Again, warm firelight is the obvious example. Subtler effects include very pale warm gels to give a feeling of glamour or a hint of blue in the backlighting to suggest romantic moonlight. When working with color, don't forget that the background lights don't have to be perfect in color temperature. For instance, standard household bulbs (around 400 Kelvin warmer than halogen lights) can look great in bedrooms, living rooms and other areas where you want an appealing color tone. And don't forget the emotional effect of off-camera lighting effects. The ghastly yellow of the bar neon or hotel sign can be truly unpleasant. The revolving red squad car light says dangerdanger-danger.

Moody Blues To sum it all up, first decide what mood you're shooting for, then decide whether to go high-key or low. Fine-tune subjects and backgrounds to achieve the right feeling, then use contrast and color for the finishing touches. Good shooting! Contributing Editor Jim Stinson is the author of the book Video Communication and Production. [Sidebar: Mood and Style] Don't confuse mood with style. Where mood is the emotional cast of the image, style is the esthetic approach to it. Lighting styles fall into four basic types: Naturalism imitates real-world illumination as closely as possible. Realism employs subtle techniques to enhance its effects, though it still looks natural to viewers. Realism is typical of TV dramatic series. Theatrical realism is still accepted as real, although it uses more assertive techniques like rim lighting and wall patterns. This is the Classic Hollywood style. Expressionism frankly strives to convey strong feelings, whether the result looks real to viewers or not. [Sidebar: Mood It in Post] Increasingly, editors are enhancing the mood in postproduction. With digital editing, you can make extensive changes in: Contrast Increasing or decreasing it to make action punchier or love scenes softer. Color Saturation Dialing the color intensity down to a "steel engraving" look or all the way to black and white or else up to the candy-apple richness of '40s musicals. Color Tint Adding overall color casts from monochrome hues like sepia, to cool or warm color casts for night or day effects, to more subtle shifts. Selective Color Shift Changing one or more particular colors for special effects.

It is an established fact that the lighting of a room influences its ambiance. Whether you are at home, your office, at a restaurant or at a hotel, the lighting of a room sets the mood. Mood lighting is the latest trend in home decoration. It brings to life every corner of the room and makes you respond accordingly. This is why you relax in the bedroom, are busy and productive in the office and entertain in the living room. As soon as you walk into a room, you respond unconsciously to the lighting of the room. The whole point of mood lighting is not just about having enough light, but it is about setting the mood of the room by appropriate lighting. We at Estelles Lighting,Inc. , realize this fact and give our customers the option to choose the type of light that will put them in the required mood or in the right frame of mind. Obviously, a room's size, color, furniture layout etc play an important role but it is the lighting that gives the

room personality. Mood lightings are easy to use and to setup. We supply and manufacture all the lighting elements you need- chandeliers, scones, lamps, ballasts, tubes, pendants required to express the mood in accordance with the layout of your furniture. By using these lighting patterns with various levels of illumination and color of light source, it is possible to provoke a wide array of moods in a person like: activity, coolness, warmth, happiness, intimacy, restfulness. The lighting elements can be used to further enhance the moods by dramatizing the elements of interior design. The level of illumination affects the mood of a person and their productivity. This makes it important to analyze the layout prior to setup. For example, higher the level of lighting, higher is the productivity in the room. People are more alert and productive as opposed to a lower level of illumination. When the level of illumination is low, it creates a relaxing and intimate atmosphere in the room. Estelles Lighting is committed to providing our customers with the best commercial, residential and hospitality light fixtures and bulbs. Our products are energy efficient and are environmentfriendly. We also provide our customers with a lighting designer and lighting specialist that offer solutions as per your needs. We even offer free survey of existing lighting installations. Once you have chosen the purpose of your lighting fixture, there are several questions you need to further to consider. This will ensure that you make the right decision. * How high is the ceiling? If the ceiling is too low a long pendant light would look ridiculous. Alternatively if there is a high ceiling an extension rod may be needed. * What colours are present? * How much daylight is present? * How much energy will be needed? If you have considered all these questions then you should lastly consider: aesthetics. * Does the style of light suit the style of the room? An easy way to ensure that you choose the right style of lamp is to just remember the phrase like attracts like.' An ultra chic and contemporary floor lamp would not suit a colonial style room, it would look mismatched. As you can see there are several aspects you need to consider when choosing the right lighting for your room. It is important that you consider these so that you decide on the perfect lighting fixture for your home. About Estelles Lighting: Estelles Lighting, Inc. is acknowledged in the market for our professional approach in the supply of Light fixtures. We supply all kind of lamps, ballasts, tubes, and nearly all types of associated accessories. Estelles Lighting ,Inc. expansive warehouse stocks most if not all kinds of light bulbs that are at guaranteed to have competitive prices with quick delivery. For more information visit http://www.estelleslighting.com

There is no doubt about it that lighting can really affect your mood. If you only take natural lighting for example think about how much of a difference it makes to peoples moods when the sun is out and it is a glorious day compared to when it is overcast, dark and dull. When the sun is shining everyone seems happier, people walk about the streets soaking up the sun whistling to them selves, everyone seems in a better mood. The same applies to the lighting in your home, different levels and different ways of lighting really affects the mood of the house and of the people in it. It is great that we have the option of so much lighting in our homes for it is very beneficial to our lives, for example we need a different level of lighting when we are working than when we are relaxing at night. Here is a look at how to create different moods in your house. Work Mood whether we are working on a college project, helping our child to read, or working hard on a work presentation we need a lot of lighting to help us see what we are doing. We need more light because we need to focus and pay attention to the small details on the paper or computer. Whether it is in the office or the study or the bedroom for working it is good to have the ceiling lights on full and a desk lamp as well if possible. Romantic Mood setting a romantic setting is very different than the full blown light situation you have for work mode. Romantic lighting entails as little lighting as possible but enough to see the other person in the room, you dont want to be eating your romantic meal in the dark. Candle lighting is fabulous for romance, and add some back lighting too such a lamp in the corner. Entertaining Mood if you have guests around for tea and biscuits or maybe you are hosting a dinner party the lighting needs to be somewhere in-between the romantic mood and the work mood. It cant be too dim that its romantic but it cant be too bright that your guests feel like they are being interrogated. For this mood you could have the ceiling lights on but maybe dimmed slightly, and the wall lights on as well. There is no doubt about it that lighting can really affect your mood. If you only take natural lighting for example think about how much of a difference it makes to peoples moods when the sun is out and it is a glorious day compared to when it is overcast, dark and dull. When the sun is shining everyone seems happier, people walk about the streets soaking up the sun whistling to them selves, everyone seems in a better mood. The same applies to the lighting in your home, different levels and different ways of lighting really affects the mood of the house and of the people in it. It is great that we have the option of so much lighting in our homes for it is very beneficial to our lives, for example we need a different level of lighting when we are working than when we are relaxing at night. Here is a look at how to create different moods in your house. Work Mood whether we are working on a college project, helping our child to read, or working hard on a work presentation we need a lot of lighting to help us see what we are doing. We need more light because we need to focus and pay attention to the small details on the paper or computer. Whether it is in the office or the study or the bedroom for working it is good to have the ceiling lights on full and a desk lamp as well if possible. Romantic Mood setting a romantic setting is very different than the full blown light situation you have for work mode. Romantic lighting entails as little lighting as possible but enough to see the other person in the room, you dont want to be eating your romantic meal in the dark. Candle lighting is fabulous for romance, and add some back lighting too such a lamp in the corner.

Entertaining Mood if you have guests around for tea and biscuits or maybe you are hosting a dinner party the lighting needs to be somewhere in-between the romantic mood and the work mood. It cant be too dim that its romantic but it cant be too bright that your guests feel like they are being interrogated. For this mood you could have the ceiling lights on but maybe dimmed slightly, and the wall lights on as well.

1. Magical Methods for Adding Mood to Your Photos

Andrew Gibson on Jun 17th 2010 with 11 comments With todays modern digital cameras, its easy to take a well-exposed photo. But how do you take it a step further and capture an image that encompasses the mood you felt at the time? In this tutorial Im going to explore some techniques you can use to inject mood and emotion into your photographs. There are several methods you can use to express the feelings that a scene evoked in you. They all involve creative input from the photographer by exploring these techniques you will stop taking photos and start making them instead. It all starts with being selective about what you photograph. Just because you can take a photo doesnt mean you should. Good photographers are selective about what they photograph. You should be too your photos will improve. For example, if you find a beautiful location that you want to photograph, but you happen to be there at midday, you know the light isnt at its best. Coming back in the late afternoon or early morning when the sun is low in the sky and there is a beautiful, raking light illuminating the scene will really improve your photo. This one technique alone will dramatically improve your photos. But most photographers know this already so here are some more ideas for you to explore.

Step 1. Use a Wide Aperture

Try using the widest aperture on your lens. If you use zoom lenses, this will be between f2.8 and f5.6. This technique works best with standard and telephoto lenses because these lenses have less depth-of-field.

The idea is to focus sharply on your subject and throw the background out of focus. This is a technique used in portraiture focus on the subjects eyes and use a wide aperture so that part of the face and the background is out of focus. The out of focus background is moody because we cant see what its supposed to be. We have to use our imagination to fill in the gaps. The technique works best when the background is darker than the subject shadows are moodier than bright highlights.

This photo was taken with an 85mm f1.8 prime lens. I used a close-up lens to get close to the dandelion. The combination of the wide aperture, close focusing distance and telephoto lens gives a very narrow depth-of-field that has thrown the background completely out of focus.

Step 2. Shoot in Low Light

Try shooting when the light is low. Low light is moody and evocative. If youre shooting static subjects like landscapes you can put your camera on a tripod and use a cable release to avoid camera shake. If youre shooting something that moves, like people, youll need to use a high ISO and a wide aperture to get a shutter speed fast enough to avoid camera shake. Dont be afraid of high ISOs noise can add mood to your photos, just like grain did when people used film.

In low light you can also use slower shutter speeds to introduce blur into your photos. Its another way of creating a moody image. Andrew F is good at this. You can experiment with hand holding long shutter speeds of around two seconds take a look at Chris Friels landscapes to see what I mean.

This photo was taken at dusk in the city of Potosi, Bolivia.

Step 3. Adjust Your Colour Temperature

Shoot in RAW and adjust the colour temperature in post-processing. This means you can decide the optimum colour temperature afterwards and dont have to worry about setting it correctly in camera. It also gives you another significant advantage you can make more than one interpretation of an image. Your RAW file is just a starting point, much like a negative in the hands of a skilled black and white darkroom printer. Take a look at the following photos. They were produced from the same RAW file, but with different colour temperatures. One has very warm colours, the other a cool palette. Both photos are extremely moody but the mood in each is completely different.

Portland Bill, Dorset, UK: Processed with cool colour temperature.

Portland Bill, Dorset, UK: Processed with warm colour temperature.

Step 4. Shoot Into the Light

Backlighting is a dramatic and moody type of lighting. It works because the exposure range is outside what your camera can handle. There are several approaches you can expose for the light source (normally the sun in the sky, but it could be a flash in a studio or a window indoors) and if the light source is strong whatever is in the foreground will be silhouetted or semisilhouetted. Another approach is to expose for the foreground, and the background will be overexposed. Two different techniques, two different types of mood. A third approach is to shoot a backlit portrait and use flash to light your subject from the front or side. This technique is used when you dont want to overexpose the background too much and still show detail in your subjects face. For moody photos, avoid HDR techniques in backlit situations. You create mood when there are details in the photo that get filled in by the viewers imagination. HDR photos provide all the detail, and leave nothing to the imagination.

San Antonio de los Cobres, Argentina. See how the backlighting picks out the smoke and makes highlights around the people in the photo? You wouldnt get this effect with another type of lighting.

Step 5. Sunset and Sunrise

Photographing sunsets has the potential to be one of the most boring clichs in photography. But do it well and its a technique that you can use to make some incredibly beautiful landscape photos. It works best when there is water in the photo. This is because a good sunset lights up the sky with amazing colours, which are reflected in the water. The light from the setting sun is very warm. If youre photographing a sunset, make sure you look behind you to see what the sun is illuminating. There may be a photo thats even better than the sunset itself. The best light comes after the sun has set, especially if there is water in the photo to reflect the colours in the sky. If youre by the sea during the day and you find a beautiful location, imagine how it will look after the sun has set. It will almost always look better in this light, and its worth coming back in the evening to take photos. You can also take photos at sunrise. The light has a different quality at this time because the air is clearer and the colours will be different. Tip: < a href="http://stephentrainor.com/tools">The Photographers Ephemeris is a free tool for Windows, Mac and Linux that calculates sunset and sunrise times and locations anywhere in the world.

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. The colours of the sunset are reflected in the water.

Step 6. Use a Long Exposure

Im talking a really long exposure two seconds or more. This is a technique for landscape photos. Make sure the camera is on a sturdy tripod and use a cable release and mirror lock-up to avoid camera shake. If its windy, stand between your camera and the wind. Long exposures work best when there is something in the photo that is moving, such as the sea, water in a waterfall or grass blowing in the wind. The moving elements are contrasted against the still elements of the scene. You combine this technique with shooting in low light and shooting at or just after sunset. Its also effective in urban landscapes taken in the evening with cars moving through the picture. The lights from the cars leave trails. Take this kind of photos when there is still some light in the sky so that the sky retains some colour it will come out dark blue rather than black.

San Antonio de Areco, Argentina. A long shutter speed captured the lights of passing cars as light trails.

Step 7. Convert to Black and White

Black and white photos are moody. This technique is best used in conjunction with the others in this article. The idea is to make your already moody photo look extra moody by converting it to black and white. Learn how to convert your photos to black and white here: 7 Black and White Photoshop Conversion Techniques. Once youve converted your photos to black and white you can make them look extra moody by toning them. Sepia toning is good for landscapes and portraits. Blue toning is good for subjects with a cold feel such as winter landscapes. Learn how to tone your black and white photos here: Mastering the Art of Black and White Toning

I converted this photo of a flower to black and white and split toned it. The contrast of the white flower against a dark, out of focus background helps create mood.

Step 8. Add Textures

Adding textures is a good technique for creating moody photos. You can combine this with converting to black and white and toning. Like converting to black and white, its essential that you start off with a photo thats already moody. The aim is to go as far as you can and see just how moody you can make your photo. Use this technique selectively. It doesnt suit every photo, and if you add textures to all your photos it soon becomes boring. Ideal subjects are portraits, nude studies, still lifes and some landscapes. How do you add textures to your photos? Youll need Photoshop, or another editing program that supports layers. You simply paste the texture as a new layer over the original photos, and then adjust the opacity and layer blending modes to get the effect you want. We wrote a full tutorial on it here: Mastering the Art of Adding Textures to Your Photos. You can find textures to use here: 100 Terrific Photographic Textures

You can apply textures to part of a photo, such as the background. You do this by adding the texture as a new layer in Photoshop then erasing the parts you dont want. This is a good technique for a subject like portraiture you can apply the texture to the background but not the face.

I added selectively added texture to the photo, by erasing the texture layer where it covered my models face.

Get Moody!
Combine a few of these techniques, and the result will be a moody image that youre allowed to be proud of. Do you have an example youd like to share? Feel free to include a link in a comment below!