Photoshop Lesson Five (Working with type)

Lesson Five: Working with type

You can do so much with Photoshop to enhance your web site or publication, and we have so little time to cover it in this class. But here's one more technique you might find really handy: adding text to photos.

I. Working with text in Photoshop: creating text

1. Download this relaxing wildnerness canoeing photo (or use one of your own) and open in Photoshop. You'll be annoying the original photographer by adding text to this nice sunset.

2. Choose the Horizontal Type Tool (big solid T) from the toolbox.

3. Click in your image where you wish to place text. Not that it matters; you can move it around later. Type away like a mad word processing-freak (common at end-of-semester term paper time). Or you can drag a frame (bounding box) first, to constrain the type to a certain size, just like InDesign, PageMaker, QuarkXPress, or whatever you perhaps have used in the graphic arts world. You can even bring up an InDesign-style character/paragraph panel by choosing the options from the Window pull-down (A coincidence as Adobe sells both Photoshop and InDesign?). Or just be content with the basics on the top menu bar.

Drag over to highlight type and change style. Note that text has automatically set itself on a new layer (choose Layers from Window pulldown). You also can double-click on the right side of the layer icon (big T) to choose text.

Geezer note: A layer is a metaphor going back to the days when graphic artists actually set up clear acetate sheets in layers over their art work, so that they could add color or other effects without changing the original image. Photoshop does the same thing in its inimitable pixellated way.

Change size, alignment, etc., from the contextual menu bar at top, or open the Paragraph or Character panel from the Window pulldown. Note the panels offer more options.

The opacity slider in the Layers panel will allow the background layer to show through--cool effect for adding type to photos.

Don't like the color? With the foreground color box chosen at bottom of toolbox (type is foreground, doncha' know), choose from the Colors or Swatches palette.

Really important note: If you leave the type layer you've been working on, you have to go back to it to work on the text again. As well, you have to move to the background layer to use other Photoshop features.

Note: It's obvious that light colors won't show up well on light background, etc. The photo you can download from step one above is helpful because it has some really dark areas to make text stand out.

4. Choose an appropriate font and type size and type "North Country Canoeing." Change to a a lighter color in the Colors or Swatches panel (If not showing, go to Window pulldown, Show Color or Swatches).

5. As the type pops onto its own layer, you can move it around independently. Choose the Move tool, and drag around. You can even drag over the text and edit; choose Copy, Paste, check spelling, etc., from the Edit pull-down, and do those noble deeds.

To use Photoshop's Preset special effects, you need to Rasterize the type (Layer pulldown, and Rasterize; see below for more information). This converts your type from a vector graphic to a graphic based on pixel resolution, like a photo. Now choose Styles panel (see illustration), and give something a try. Works best with larger sizes and fatter fonts. Note: type style options don't work on rasterized text.

Reminder: While 72 points = 1 inch in the paper world, it is not necessarily an inch in Photoshop's world. It depends on resolution, expressed in fractions of the whole. If you have a photo saved at a resolution of, say, 400 ppi (pixels per inch), that means 36 pts. (half inch) is 200 pixels tall. However, if it's saved at 100 ppi, the type is only 50 pixels tall.

Note: Anti-aliasing can be set to crisp (sharper), strong (fatter), or smooth (what do you think?). There's also a sharp option, but I can't see the diff from crisp.

6. Check out the text warp feature. With the text chosen (vector graphic, not rasterized), click the Create Warped Text icon at top. Choose options as your frivolous nature dictates.

Transform from the Edit pulldown allows you to scale or warp text by dragging.

7. Decide you don't want some text? You can delete the letters, but better to just delete that layer. Drag it to the little trash can icon at the bottom right of the Layers panel.

II. Working with text in Photoshop: more on rasterizing

Rasterizing text.

You can turn type from vector-based to bitmapped (Photoshop) pictures by rasterizing the layer. Choose the type layer you want to rasterize, and then Rasterize from the Layer menu. Why rasterize? Now you can paint, sharpen, smudge, erase, or whatever with your type, mucking about just like with the rest of your photo.

Note: Once you rasterize, the type options (size, font, etc.) are no longer available. But you can always go back from the History panel.

7. Type "Grab your paddle now!" (or another less corny phrase), style to about 60 pt Impact, Helvetica Neue bf (boldface), or another fatter sans serif font. Center, color, as desired.

8. Still working in this layer, choose another tool (not the Type Tool). From the Layer pulldown, choose Rasterize type. Now you can add a gradient. (Although I admit you can do some pretty cool effects using the Styles panel. But we need choices.)

9. Choose the letters with the Magic Wand tool; hold down the Shift key while clicking to add each letter. OR take the shortcut: In the Layers panel, with your cursor over the Layer Thumbnail of the layer your working in (left side), hold down the Control Key (lower left) and click. Choose Select Pixels. Or hold down the Command Key, click again on the layer thumbnail, and they'll be selected automatically. Photoshop just knocks itself out to accommodate our every whim. To select foreground and background colors:

1. Click on the foreground or background square at bottom of tool box, or from the Color panel, to choose. Note that you need to click on the foreground or background boxes to make them active before choosing colors; default is foreground.

2. Double click (if choosing from the Color panel) box to choose color from the Picker. Or eschew the Picker and choose color from color ramp at the bottom of the Color panel, or from the Swatches panel.

I prefer choosing from the Swatches panel. Steps:

a. From the Color panel, click on upper left box, the foreground color, to highlight (a black box surrounds it).

b. Go to Swatches panel. Choose foreground color.

c. Go back to Color panel. Click to choose lower right box, background color.

d. Go to Swatches panel. Choose background color.

An interesting alternative to harmonize your colors is to sample colors from the photo. Choose the Eyedropper tool from the toolbox; sample foreground and background colors.

10. Now choose the Gradient tool (it might be under the Paint Bucket). With Radial Gradient chosen (first icon at top), drag over type from middle to right to see sunburst effect (you may wish to change foreground and background colors). When ready, choose Deselect (Apple+ d). Choose the Move tool (upper right) and drag the rainbox text to bottom center.

11.Okay, I agree with you that it's not a wonderful design but, hey, this is practice. You'd do a lot better on a "real" one, right?

12. Save as jpg.

III. Working with text in Photoshop: making photo type.

I know you're ready for for a potty break, but this exercise is so exciting yet so easy that you'll completely forget about your mundane physical needs. Ever seen those keen letters that look like they're cut out of a photo? Used to be a toughie. With Photoshop it's the big easy (and I'm sure people do this a lot in New Orleans). Here's what we're looking for. (Note: the following instructions are based on a Photoshop tip from Lorna Olsen at ITS, so thank her if you see her.)

1. Open a New document in photoshop, size about 4 inches by 2 inches horizontal, resolution about 200 ppi.

2. With Text tool chosen, type some short headline. Style this to a large (72 pt or more), fat font. I chose bragadoccio; Lorna says impact also is good, or your own choice. Experiment, but note that thin fonts really don't display the effect very well. Save.

3. Still with the text file open, open a saved photo you want to appear as background. I'll include this one for starters, but I'd really prefer that you choose your own photo. Selection is important, though; not all photos work used this way.

4. With the marquee tool (upper left), Choose the part of the photo you want behind your type. Copy. Close photo file without saving.

5. Choose your type's layer, if not chosen already. With your cursor on that layer in the Layers panel, click at left and choose Select Pixels, as you did above to create the gradient. Type should be marqueed (those "marching ants").

6. From the Edit menu, choose Paste Special and Paste Into.

7. Use the Move tool (top or upper right of toolbox) to drag the image about until it appears behind the letters as you think it looks best.

8. Note: you may have to adjust image size of your photo before Copying and Pasting Into, so that proportions look right. Of course, you can also Paste a photo into text written into another photo.

9. Yes, you're excused to use the facilities.

10. Submit for grading (jpgs, please!): One image with syled and/or gradient type; one image with photo type.