During 2020 I ran a photography challenge over on my travel blog looking at different techniques throughout the year. I was not expecting that the year itself would prove to be a challenge in that the Covid-19 pandemic hit us and not only put paid to any travel plans, but also altered the way in which we conducted our lives. This year I am going to look at those techniques again using new photographs as and when I get the opportunity.

March was about one of the six visual keys which help to create a great photograph. Texture is another method of bringing life to your photos. While the structure of an object is its form, the material from which it is made constitutes its texture. Is it hard or soft, smooth or rough?  You are aiming at translating texture visually, bringing life and energy to a photo through shape, tone and colour. Study the texture and forget about what it is you are photographing. Texture becomes the subject here.

A visit to the Eden Project last week enabled me to focus on textures, ranging from natural grasses and plants to man-made objects. Some soft or furry, others smooth or shiny, rough or spiky.

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Some of the plants in the Mediterranean biome were very interesting with their hairy leaves, though getting close and choosing the right angle to illustrate these hairs can be difficult, I swapped my lens to a prime 45mm 1:1.8 which is a fast lens and also gives me a lovely blurred background. And remember, try playing with angles.

It was a fun exercise, though I am sure some people wondered what on earth I was focusing on. Getting in close is important for seeing textures as is looking for unusual patterns or contrasting colours. I particularly liked the ‘fencing’ which was made from smooth stainless steel shapes and rough rope that lichens had formed on.

(Please click on an image to scroll through the gallery and enlarge the images)

If you would like to have a look at the different techniques covered throughout the year then you can see them here. Please note that I am not running this as a challenge, but merely using the old one as inspiration for my photography this year.