30+ Excellent Photoshop Textures and Backgrounds Tutorials

What are Photoshop textures?

Photoshop textures are used to create backgrounds, add grit and texture to designs, and create photo effects. In this post, you’ll find:

1. How to enhance photos using textures
2. Paper textures
3. Wood textures
4. Age/vintage textures
5. Paint splatter textures

Textures can be extremely useful resources for web and graphic designers, and Photoshop allows numerous possibilities. In some cases, you may create a texture from scratch in Photoshop, but in most cases, you’ll be using a texture from a photo, whether it’s your own photo or one you acquired.

Here we’ve featured over 30 different tutorials that teach various aspects of created and working with textures.

Enhancing Your Portraits with Textures

Textures can also be used to give a different look and feel to your photos, and it’s easy to implement. Before applying a suitable texture, you have to analyze the picture and then apply a suitable texture with little customization as well.

5 Simple Tricks to Enhance Your Textures in Photoshop

This tutorial shows how you can get the most out of texture photographs. This simple technique will help you to simply beautify the ugly-looking textures quickly and easily.

Creating an Embedded Concrete Effect Using Only Layer Styles

Here you’ll learn how to create this beautifully textured effect. You will be able to create a beautiful background by adding the grunge effect and then add a particular layer style to make it appear more beautiful.

How to Make an Awesome Grungy Paper Texture from Scratch

Bittbox shows how to make this standard paper texture much more awesome. You will learn to customize an ugly-looking texture into an awesome grungy paper texture. You will add layer to the texture and customize it using the brush tool.

Unique Textures without Using Brushes

This tutorial from Bittbox shows how you can easily create awesome textures of your own. You can then use these textures for all different purposes in your own designs. You will be able to add a primary image to a secondary image separated by a layer and then adjusting the opacity to achieve the desired results.

Quickly Build an Abstract Background of Colored Bars

Abstract backgrounds can be useful in a wide variety of settings. This Psdtuts tutorial shows how you can create an attention-grabbing background in just a few minutes. You will be able to create a beautifully colored background from scratch.

Texturing of Old Paper

Paper textures are so incredibly versatile. This tutorials is definitely worth following. You will have to do some work on the old-textured paper effect to achieve the desired results.

The Ultimate Wood Texture Tutorial

Want to create your own wood texture from scratch? It’s possible with the help of Photoshop and you can learn the process in this tutorial. You will learn to create and customize the wooden texture just from scratch. You will also learn to add and craft an artwork layer on the wooden piece and customize that artwork layer.

Creating a Mac-Type Background in Photoshop

With this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create an awesome abstract background that you can use for wallpapers, websites, and other projects. You will be amazed to find how different layers can affect and enhance the beauty of the picture.

Textured Crumpled Paper

With this tutorial, you’ll work with textures to create this realistic look. You can play with different photoshop layers to create a completely different, beautiful and realistic picture.

Grungy Metal Texture

Creating a stunning grungy background can be quite simple, and this tutorial shows how you can do it. You can easily draw different shapes on the canvas, add a suitable background texture and customize the whole picture to produce a wonderful grungy metal texture.

Use Texture Effects to Create Beautiful Compositions

This tutorial shows how to use texture to compliment a beautiful design. Add a beautful texture in the background, add different shape layers and customize those shape layers to create a picture with stunning composition.

Waves Background

Another awesome and abstract background can be created by following this tutorial. You will learn to transform an ugly-looking waves filter to a beautifully contrasted wave filter. You have to add different layers, gradient overlays and customize the picture as a whole to achieve the desired results.

Creating Colorful Disco Lines Effect

This tutorial from 10steps shows how to create a colorful abstract background that will certainly get attention. You will be able to create a disco line effect by drawing a single vertical line. You will also learn to enhance a text using reflection tools and different layer styles.

Create Smoke Effect on Grungy Wallpaper

This smokey effect has a nice texture to it. You will learn to hide all the unwanted spots in the image. You will learn all the settings and customizations needed to produce a smoky effect in any picture.

5 Awesome Techniques for Using Textures in Your Designs 

Learn how to apply the texture to this colorful retro design. Along with some customization, you can easily add a suitable texture to any picture. By altering the customization, you can achieve the variety of different results.

Guide to Creating Bokeh Textures

Another approach to creating a bokeh background. “Bokeh” refers to the texture produced by the camera lens when out-focused at a place from where light is emerging. You can also achieve the bokeh texture by using the brush tool in photoshop. Blurring the bokeh texture and making few customizations will help you achieve the bokeh texture in the image that appears to be real and beautiful.

Reverse Grunge: Easy Texture Technique in Photoshop

Using the eraser tool you can create interesting and unique textures. You will use the eraser tool to remove the particular aspect of the image and achieve a reverse grunge effect in photoshop. For that purpose, you have to solid color that is mostly filled as well. There are few other customizations as well to achieve the desired results.

Create Bright Abstract Diagonal Lines Background

Yet another abstract background option. You can create a single abstract diagonal line using the simple photoshop tools and then duplicate each of those lines. You will learn to use free transform tool to customize the whole picture.

Create a Photo Composite with Filter Forge and Photoshop

You’ll need the Filter Forge plugin for this tutorial, but it’s a great resource for working with textures. Composite photo refers to the several photographs combined and merged on a single surface or plate. You will learn to get rid of unwanted white shadow or white edges around the smart object. You will use the layer as an overlay to produce a composite image in photoshop.

Apply Texture, Age, and Weathering Effects in Photoshop Using Machine Wash Deluxe 2

This tutorial also uses a plugin that you will need to follow along. You will be taught to use simple Photoshop tools to create a texture, tranform the picture into an older version or add the desired effect.

How to Create a Geometric Background Effect in Photoshop

This geometric background can be used for a wide variety of purposes in web and graphic design. You can practice different customizations and settings to produce a more refined image. You will be able to create colorful geometric shapes and customize them to produce even more beautiful image.

Manipulate a Portrait Photo to Create a Splatter Paint Effect

The paint splatter effect on this photo manipulation gives it an awesome textured look. You will learn to change the eye color in a portrait. You will use the lasso tool to cut the portrait image. You will also learn to erase the unwanted or distracting elements from the background. You will be able to add a suitable texture to the background once you finish this tutorial.

Create a Chilling Abstract Using Photos and Textures

This tutorial shows you how to create a heavily-textured poster design. You will create a creepy horror design from scratch. You will learn to create the shadow of the smart object by adding a layer, use different blending tools to blend different objects such as the skull or piece of wood, use soft brushes to paint shadow, adding different objects to the picture and customizing them according to the rest of the picture, using brush tool to enhance brightness and other such related photoshop tactics.

Snow and Dust Particle Effects in Photoshop

The snow and dust particles created in this tutorial can add some texture to your designs or photos. You will do it all yourself by using simple photoshop tools without adding any texture or using any plugin.

Antique a Photo Using Textures in 3 Quick Steps

Learn how to create an antique vintage effect with the help of a texture. You can create an old movie effect by simply adding an adjustment layer to the picture. Then, we will apply a few textures to enhance the antique vintage effect.

Create a Surreal Photo Manipulation Using Ice and Fire Textures

This is another photo manipulation tutorial that shows the possibilities of using and applying textures in your own design work. You will create new effects by applying different textures, using curve layers and doing few simple customizations.

Easily Create Seamless Photo Textures You Can Tile

Tileable textures can be extremely useful, and this tutorial shows how you can make your own from a photo. You will work on a simple image to create a flawless texturized image that can be used as background for different web layouts.

How to Create an Amazing Watercolor Artwork in Photoshop

The watercolor effects used in this tutorial give it an awesome textured look. You will insert different smart objects such as  watercolor brush to add watermarks, use layer masks, adjust the hue/saturation layer and other related customizations that will help you achieve the desired results.

Create a Colorful Grunge Portrait in Seconds

Learn how to use texture to grunge up a portrait. Applu a layer mask and paint the whole portrait uniformly to achieve the desired results.

Create an Abstract Photomanipulation with Tree Bark Textures and Brush Elements

Learn how to use simple textures to create a beautiful design. You will learn to add a bark texture to a portrait and blending it properly alongwith the necessary customization.