Adding Textures & Glows to your Photographs in Photoshop

Special Effects

Photoshop makes it simple to add texture, glow, or imperfections to our digital photographs. Why would you do this? Some photographic subjects lend themselves to various special effects or enhancements. Photographs of old building like the one I took in Prague, Czech Republic above can be made to feel older with a subtle paper texture added. The emotion and mood of the performer in the image below can be enhanced with a bokeh color glow. As with any art form, how far to take these effects is completely subjective. I tend to prefer a more subtle approach.