Texture

Texture is the picture element which tells you what a subject would be like to feel. It gives the picture that quality which helps you differentiate the rough from the smooth, to tell if it would be soft or hard. It is the indentations on the surface that give this information, and it is their presence in a picture which can be shown up by a pattern of shading.

Texture is, in a sense, just like form, only on a smaller scale. Both rely on lighting to provide shadows and highlights across the surface of the subject. For texture, you would get the maximum benefit if you can getthe pits and furrows of the surface to be in the deepest shade possible. This is possible if you use raking light which is light that hits the surface from as oblique an angle as possible. If you can manage side-lighting this could be the perfect solution. And for vertical surfaces, lighting that is directly overhead (top-lighting) can also work well.

Because texture tends to be found on a minimum scale, and relies on good resolution to be seen, it is best accentuated by getting in close to the subject, otherwise the texture can be lost. Sometimes this will mean using a long telephoto zoom setting, but more frequently it involves whatever macro facilities you have available to decrease the focusing distance. Once you have the picture cropped in tight, simple subjects such as the grain of a piece of wood, or the peeling paint on a window, or the fibres ina bath towel - all can make fascinating abstract studies.