Noise Texture in Photoshop

Noise Texture in Photoshop

Tags: Beginner, Photoshop
I wanted to switch it up this week to do a quick tip on how to create noise (grainy) textures with Photoshop to add subtle detail to your next project. A lot of times I feel that its the small and subtle details that really makes a project shine. Let’s get started.

1. Fill Base Layer

Create a new document and create a new layer. Fill the the new layer with the base color of your choice. In my example I used blue (#142e51) for my base color.

3. Create Noise Layer

Create a new layer and fill this layer with white (#ffffff). Then add your noise filter to this layer (Filter > Noise > Add Noise…).

You can set the amount to 25%. The higher you go, the more noisy it will get. I like to keep mine minimal and not too harsh.

You will notice when you add noise, there are many small pixalated colors scattered on your layer. To make this gray scale, you must adjust your noise layer saturation level (Layer > New Layer Adjustment > Hue/Saturation…) or short cut (Ctrl + U) on a PC.

The window will popup to adjust your saturation. Turn the saturation level all the way down to -100.

4. Blend

Now its time to blend the two layers together. You can do this by selecting the noise layer and experimenting with your blending mode. Since I used dark blue for my base color, I invert my noise layer (Image > Adjustments > Invert) first before I experiment with my blending mode.
Note* if you chose a light base color, you can simply change your blending mode to multiply and adjust your opacity settings to get the effect to your liking without inverting your layer.

Once you inverted your noise layer, now go ahead and experiment with the blending mode. I chose the Linear Dodge mode with the opacity set to 45%.

Final

Here is the final image. I would like to encourage you to experiment and have fun with this technique!

Inspiration – Examples in the Real World

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