Texture

Here’s a fun example of how to use texture to create an interesting image.

I was walking along a trail in the redrock country of Utah, surrounded on all sides by big, undulating stone shapes. By themselves, of course, they can be wonderful subjects. But when I saw this dead tree coming up from a group of rocks, the contrast in texture was stark, especially against the clouds that added yet a third texture.

Another treat was that there were three distinct values of light and dark (white in the clouds, midtones in the rocks, and near black in the tree) so there was great contrast as well. You’ll also note that I am using the rule of thirds, both horizontally in how I place the tree off to the right, and vertically by having the tree top two-thirds up the image.

The result is a nice convergence of simple elements where texture can be the hero of the image.