TRY-IT: Define Pattern

[DannyRaphael]

I saw an image the other day that prompted me to do a little experimenting with the Edit > Define Pattern command.

In a nutshell:
* Select an area of your image that you think looks interesting and put it on a layer by itself
* Optional: Modify the selection by making it bigger, smaller, rotate it
* Optional: Modify the selection by applying filters or effects
* Make another selection using the Rectangular Marquee tool and Edit > Define Pattern...
* Create a new layer and Edit > Fill (pattern) to fill it with the new pattern
* Let your creativity kick in using blend modes, layer masks, etc.

For this TRY-IT I've linked and uploaded several images that represent the steps.

1. (linked image) The original: Click HERE.

2. (image) With the Rectangular Marquee tool, select an interesting section of the image.
2a. Layer > New > Layer via Copy, creating Layer 1.
2b. Layer 1: Ctrl + click on the layer name in the Layers palette. This "loads the selection" ("marching ants" around the rectangle appear).
2c. Layer 1: Ctrl + T. This invokes the Free Transform tool. You can use this tool to make the selection bigger, smaller and/or rotate it by dragging the handles as desired. I chose to rotate this clockwise just a bit.
2d. Press Enter when you're happy with your transformation.
2e. Ctrl + D to deselect.

3. (image) Layer 1: The result of rotating the selected area.

4. (image) Optional: Layer 1: I applied the Find Edges filter. You can doctor this selection (or not) any way you like.

5. (image) To define the pattern, use the Rectangular Marquee tool again to a select around the area you want converted to a pattern. This is represented by the red lines in the image.
5a. Edit > Define Pattern... and assign your pattern a name. I start the name I assign to patterns I create with the # character so I can distinguish them from the ones supplied by Adobe. This is purely a personal preference.

6. Create a new layer (Layer 2).
6a. (image) Edit > Fill (specify Pattern and select the pattern defined in 5a). The pattern is applied to Layer 2.
6b. Duplicate the Background and drag Background copy to the top of the layer stack. Experiment with blend modes until you get an interesting effect. In the example I changed Normal to Exclusion.

7. (linked image). Click HERE for the final result.

Disclaimer.

I'm not saying that image 7 is particularly spectacular, because I don't believe it's all that great in and of itself. The point was to illustrate the Define Pattern technique and give you some ideas on what's possible.

The rest is up to you. Happy experimenting and have fun.

Have fun.
~Danny~

[DannyRaphael]

A more practical application, perhaps

Click HERE for the original.

In the first example, the steps used were nearly identical to those above for defining the pattern.

Instead of changing the blend mode of the Background copy layer, I left it as Normal, but did add a Layer Mask to that layer. Setting the foreground color to black, I airbrushed the Layer Mask to reveal the patterned layer below.

When I finished the Layer Mask work, I decided to try something different so I clicked on the Pattern layer and changed its blend mode from Normal to Color Burn. This deepened the colors in the Pattern layer a bit.

Then I added a Threshold adjustment layer above the Pattern layer by holding down the Alt key and clicking the Add Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Palette. (Holding down Alt causes the New Layer dialog to be displayed.) I clicked the Group with Previous checkbox so the Threshold would only affect the Pattern layer.

I fiddled with the Threshold slider, settling for 63.

In the second example you will see that I made the pattern considerably smaller in the Free Transform step. Sometimes this works, sometimes not.

Your mileage will vary!

Hope you have some fun with defining and applying custom patterns.

~Danny~