Every now and then I go into a phase where I’m really into textures. Textures (to the photographic community) are images of surfaces or objects (grass, lights, gravel, sand, cracks, peeling paint, etc) that are layered over top of your photo and tweaked to add a cool effect. Sometimes they’re over-the-top, sometimes they’re subtle, but they can add a really neat twist to a photo that, although it’s good on its own, now has a little more punch.

Here’s the original photo before any textures are applied.

And here’s the photo after the textures are applied.  I think it’s a photo of some gravel, and another of a dirty wall with some cracks.  It’s not for everyone, but it’s kind of a cool option to play around with.