The answer is "only occasionally", it's a nice way to bring focus to your subject without using a vignette or edges. The best images to use them on (in my humble opinion) are "portraits".
I am a fairly recent convert to textures, it was after seeing Jed and Vicki Taufer at WPPI Boston and in Vermont, seeing how they used them - in a very subtle way that enhances the photo (not over power it).
Let me share three images from Vicki that made me a texture convert.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsaYyq7bYA_srfOkx-E6ISVAlgTuxlEBraBiH03hm7gYHbXNq23p25fIaFtzTZj9AxB28lAl4xcmEELB3xkhvJxzz_t9Ww03Lt_yw6L-wxuSFBX8zlfHbsuanOfcD-P2dCFBgpBmFRccw/s400/Vicki_Texture1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRrTimP6aRBHFHtctI__fa6uyce5nC-J_FN6bfukzfwKStkBeX5NfQHUeMtM4Df9veXKnkp4GAq4a3fO5RoVyLZdiuuUclkBOm6Nsn4Kb_sjEQdLNtAX7NBipxhyeJLMTOiIZ1ovCVESY/s400/Vicki_Texture2.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv8n1dfS03_yBtIKRfuDGjlgB9N4UfI9ZILutKk9vuc83EpU43PRnYqMX6BXKFM_AVch5hfXdB-4jx45s302vXc4XzFQk66bzZGIVEG6EbWjoGKjDrl0ZVrsXr7drJ4R3HDUzW7OGFsJE/s400/Vicki_Texture3.jpg)
(Click on any image to view larger & see more detail. They'll open in new window.)