NZPhotographer Issue 53, March 2022

MAKING YOUR OWN GRUNGES WITH BRUSHES
Another way of creating grunges is to actually make
them in Photoshop. Traditional grunges are usually
made by importing brushes into Photoshop. A nice set
of free brushes I can recommend are from Brusheezy!
To create your own grunge, create a new blank
canvas in Photoshop (file>new>from template
(choose your photo size) and select your colour. I
have chosen white as it’s a contrast of the black or
grey paint I will be using to create the grunge, the
background layer actually deleted later on.
When you import brushes they will download in a
zipped file. Open it and then choose the OS file for
Mac or the other file for PC. Double clicking on that
file will automatically import the brushes in Photoshop
and if you click on the brush tool and look at the listed
brushes you will find the grunge brush collection. Once
you’re set up, start playing with the imported brushes.
The grunge 1 brush is a great place to start as it looks
like watercolour splotches.
Below is the grunge I made using grunge brushes 1, 3,
and 5. I created a new layer for each brush, playing
around with the hardness, size, and opacity of each
brush.
As you experiment with your own grunge creation,
remember that a grunge made from scratch will
use more than one brush and will also usually blend
multiple brushed layers so enjoy experimenting.
Once I was happy with my grunge, I removed the
background layer and saved it as a .png file. I then
opened my original image of the basketballers and
placed the grunge file over the top as you can see on
the right.
CONCLUSION
Texture in an image can convey anything from
emotion to the visual representation of touch.
Grunges are often used for atmospheric images but
more and more we see them used to enhance colour,
and to create the sensation in your mind that you
can feel the texture of what you are seeing. Once
the domain of fine art photographers, with today’s
software and a few experimentations you can make
your own. Have a play and get your grunge on.
So what’s best? A grunge you make from scratch in
Photoshop, a photo you take, or one you download?
It’s totally up to you! To begin with, it’s easier to find a
free copyright free background to use as your grunge
than to make one, but sometimes you want a texture
that you can’t find anywhere else. It is in this instance
that I urge you to try downloading different textured
brushes in Photoshop and getting creative, there is
nothing wrong with grunging up a few photos for fun!
66 March 2022 NZPhotographer