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Putting Special Effects on Text
There is tremendous scope for creative use of text in Photoshop.
Effects can be put on text, all sorts of techniques can be applied, justification is available and type modified in other programmes can
be imported.
Properly handled, type is revitalized and turned into unique Photoshop fonts.
- Create a new file by going to File > New.
Enter a Width of 4" or 10cm; a Height of 2" or 5 cm;
Background: White. OK.
- Have the foreground and background colours on default of black on white
(press D and X).
- Press F7 to bring up the Layers palette.
- Select the Type Tool in the toolbox.
In the options bar, use the settings shown.
- Click on the new background and type in the words 'Quickly NOW'.
The foreground colour of black will be used on the type. Any colour can be chosen as the foreground colour before starting to type.When the cursor is over the type, it changes to the Text cursor symbol; when the cursor is away from the text, it reverts back to the normal Move tool symbol and the text can be moved around the screen.
Position the text centrally.
- To change the colour of the text now, select the text and in the options bar, click on the black colour patch to bring up the Color Picker. Choose a red. OK.
- Go to Layers > Layer Style > Blending Options. BIG isn't it? Another one of Photoshop's large dialogue boxes. The only way to make them smaller is to increase the screen resolution of the monitor through Control Panels.
With versions of Photoshop older than CS, a text layer must be converted to a regular layer first.
In such cases, go to Layer > Rasterize > Type, then go to Blending Options via the small arrow in the top right corner of the Layers palette.
- Under Styles, click on the Drop Shadow name, which brings up the
Drop Shadow options.
Try these settings:
Adjust the Angle to 130º
Distance to 18
Spread to 7
Size to 5. Then try other settings to see the difference they make.
- Check the Inner Shadow box on the left then click on the Inner Shadow name to bring its individual adjustment box on to the screen.
Adjust Angle, Distance, Size and Choke to see what difference they make.
Effects do vary with different size and thickness of letters.
Whatever Angle is set, it applies to all the different effects. Angle cannot be set individually.
In this example, the Opacity of the shadow has been set at 50%.
The Type Layer Effects remain in the Layers palette. They can be saved and edited at any time.
Text with Bevel and Shadow
- Create another file the same size as the previous.
- Choose a foreground colour of a turquoise and Verdana font at 60 pt in Bold.
- Pidif (remember the jargon from the Bits and Pieces page?) the word TABS. This word has straight lines, curves and diagonals so shows up the effects from all viewpoints.
- In the Layers palette, click on the small arrow in the top right corner and choose Blending Options.
- Click on the Bevel and Emboss name.
Try various settings in the Bevel and Emboss box and finish with those in the illustration.
In the Shading box, Shadow Mode: Opacity has been set at 60%. OK
- Now click on the Drop Shadow name.
Set: Opacity at 50%
Angle at -150
Distance at 40
Spread at 0
Size at 8 (size means blur)
There is an infinite number of permutations with these settings.
Regular text of 12 or 14 point is too small for such layer effects to be of any use;
most of them need to be restricted to titles
and headlines of some size.
Any effects used will be listed in the Layers palette.
Double-clicking on one of the names will open its dialogue box ready for more editing.
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Do More Great Things With Text
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