Photoshop Tip: Storing textures as Patterns

Whenever you open a texture in Photoshop, go to Edit>Define Pattern. You don’t need to make a selection to use this option, so it’s very quick to apply each time.

Now, when the time comes to choose a texture to overlay on to an image, simply go to Layer>New Fill Layer>Pattern.

The blend mode can be chosen as well as its layer’s name and Opacity, and then it’s a case of choosing your archived texture from the list of Patterns.

Textures are placed on to a new layer, and can be easily swapped with others at any stage just by double-clicking on its Fill Layer.