CAN YOU FEEL THIS??

    When I mentioned this month's theme about textures, to a friend, she responded, "That's going to be kind of hard, isn't it?"   She was right, but I'm not easily dissuaded when it comes to photography.

    TEXTURE.  How can we "feel" texture in a two-dimensional view?  What is texture and how is it relevant to picture-taking?

       📷   When talking about photography, texture refers to the visual quality of the surface of an object, revealed through variances in shape, tone, and color depth.  It is an element of art that refers to the way an object feels to the touch or looks as it may feel.  It brings life and vibrancy to images that would otherwise appear flat and uninspiring.   

    That description certainly resonated with me.  One of my primary goals in sharing my work is that the viewers will find inspiration!  As I wrote in many prior posts, I want my blog followers to feel something when they read the content and view the photos I publish. In this case,  that is meant literally!

    People will relate the images they see to their encounters to form a connection to the subject.

    There are many things in our daily lives that have texture.  🍓🍭🏈  When captured in a picture, it can make it much more interesting. We relate to that which we know.

  

Soft, smooth,rough, and sticky are all examples of textures.   🍦  🍌     When examining smaller, everyday objects like flowers, shells, tree bark, peeling paint and 🐞🐌 insects, texture can be used to help highlight just how intricate these objects are.  We aren't used to seeing tiny things on a grander scale, so when taking photos, texture helps tell the story of what we've often overlooked by making them the focal point of eye-catching shots.  It can also give you some new and creative photography ideas.

    A little research produced an enormous amount of information! One website listed 400 words to fit the category. I could not find a definite number of words to describe texture.  Some, such as food and architecture, had their own adjectives describing composition.

    When I gather information for the article, it can be overwhelming and time-consuming.   ⌚   I may have been able to get this posted a few days ago, had I stopped with what I had already written. However, I would have lost out on things I learned for myself. I found out that some subjects had textures of which I was unaware.  In addition to the self-interest advantages, I  felt that you too, might benefit from the  information.  

I learned that there are 3 types of textures:    ✋tactile,   👀  visual, and  👂  audible.  Audible?? I never thought of that before! It refers to how an object or a room sounds. 

     I found so much new information that it kept me interested in finding more. There are enough resources about the topic. I could spend much more time studying it even if I do not write any more about it here on the blog.

     

Texture in geology is about a rock's micro structure in relationship between the materials of which a rock is composed.

 

 I unearthed  😋 information about soil texture and something I'd never heard of and failed to comprehend very well--texture linguistics. 

💻There is a process called Mipmap used in 3-D computer games and other imaging systems for texture filtering. (If you don't understand, you can research all of this info on Wikipedia.  I investigated, but still do not comprehend some of this new information!)

    I've played a flute for over 50 years, and had a music major in college, [ only for one semester] but never heard that music has texture.  📯🔔🎼🎹🎵🎻🎷

Texture in music is how the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials are combined in a musical composition determining the overall quality of the sound.

    I even came across a YouTube musical video intended to be used by elementary-age students to help them understand the word. ( check ScratchGarden.com) It had the old "bouncing ball" over the words. {For those of you old enough to recall, we saw that used in some musical cartoons on TV when we were children.}

    Some artwork, while 2 dimensional, sometimes does have 3, although not considered so by most people. In the art world, there are visual textures and implied textures. A painting may apply heavy brush strokes or incorporate something in the medium to produce a piece of art that one can almost feel.  

   

Sculpture offers the opportunity to feel the work that other forms of art do not provide.

In Photography, the texture is implied due to the flat production of photos.  Check out these two photos. 

The green slime is visible only in the second picture, but having that information would help you to make a choice about if and where you may want to dip your toes!

   I came upon this unusual creation while photo-hunting in The City of Brotherly Love. Is it a masterpiece, or a compilation of junk?  How many objects can you identify that were installed into the work?  Personally, I like it, and found it to be quite creative.  There was no information about it, such as the designer, nor even a title. It was simply there on a traffic post near City Hall.                                                                                                                                                                  Texture is considered one of the 7 elements of photography, along with line, shape form, space, value, and color.  Two prior blogs were about the use of color: See  "Smell the Pastels" and Color my World  July 2022.    Future blogs may center on the additional 5 elements I've not yet addressed.

I may revisit the topic of Texture. It is a fascinating aspect of photography.   I need to hone my skills so that my photos will reveal texture more often, more clearly, and more detailed.

    How might you apply what you have just read?  Were there any shots you could "feel" more than others?   For now, I hope you found some inspiration.