How to Create a Custom Brush from Metal Chips for Texture Work in Photoshop

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Hello!

I’m a product photographer / Graphic designer specializing in end mills and other milling/turning tools. For some of my compositions, I like to incorporate the metal shavings (also known as chips) that are produced when these tools machine a part. I often use them as a textured background element in my photos.

I’ve always wanted to create a custom Photoshop brush from an image of these chips. The goal is to make it easier to remove and then selectively paint the chips back in where needed during post-processing.

In the reference image I’ve linked, I want to clear out the center area to make room for a logo, then use a brush to paint some chips back in around the edges to maintain a natural look.

Could someone walk me through the best method for turning a detailed image like this into a clean, usable brush? Any tips on isolating the chips, cleaning up the image, and setting up the brush would be really helpful. Also, if you know of any how-to videos you've found helpful creating a brush.

Thanks so much!

[Chuck Uebele]

For starters, rather than use the image that you have I would just photograph a few random chips. That way you can paint over them and not have brush seams show.  It's all a matter of setting the brushes jitter for rotation and maybe a little size. There are lots of tutorials on making brushes, but that's where I would start. Kind of like a hair brush.  You can look that up and interpolate that for your use

[Chuck Uebele]

Actually, it's a bit harder than I originally thought, as a brush can only have one color, and you want from black to white for the shades of the chips. The only thing I could think of is using the pattern stamp brush, but that is pretty limited for rotation. You could use a scripted fill along a path, but that's still limited. The only other option I could think of is using a special script that I wrote that allows you to define a area to fill then uses the scripted fill to randomly fill that area. And that is getting more involved than I think you want. Maybe someone will have a better idea.