7 Adding Text
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First choose the type tool in the toolbox and then, in the options bar select either normal (solid color) text or text mask. Then select either a horizontal or vertical orientation for the text. Select other properties such as font and size but be aware that you can also change these properties after the text has been created. Click on the image where you want to create the text then type your text - press the Enter key on the numeric keyboard when you have finished. Make sure that the layers palette is visible and you will notice that a new text layer has just been created - you can tell it is a text layer by the 'T' symbol.

When you have finished typing the text and have pressed Enter on the numeric keypad then your text will now exist as a separate layer - you can confirm this by opening the layers palette with Window>Show Layers. Note that the new layer is a type layer, as indicated by the letter 'T'.

While the type layer is selected you can use the move tool to move the text to the desired location in the image. If you want to change the text in version 5 then just double-click the name of the type layer and the dialog box will reopen - don't forget to select the text if you want to change properties such as font, size or color. To change the text in version 6 then just make sure that the correct type layer is selected and then you can click the text on the image and edit it in its final position.

As explained in the Layers lesson, information about layers can only be recorded if you save your picture in the PSD format. Once you are sure that your image is finished, however, you should save it in the very compact JPG format. I suggest you turn on auto-kern and anti-aliased, though you can specify any font, size and color that you wish.

Anti-aliasing (lissé, in French) is a slight blurring of the edge of the letters to stop them appearing jagged. Here are letters typed without anti-aliasing and then with anti-aliasing:

      

Kerning controls the spacing between two characters. Although it is possible to control the spacing manually, this is for experts only - I suggest you turn on 'Auto-kern' i.e. use the kerning built into the font by the font designer. The shape of the letters 'A' and 'W', for example, means that the space between them may look too large unless they are kerned closer together. Look below to see how auto-kerning has slightly reduced the spacing between the letters A and W when they are next to one another. In the first line, auto-kern is turned off. In the second line auto-kern was turned on and the spacing between the letters has been automatically reduced. Auto-kern was also turned on for the third line but the spacing between the letters has not been reduced because the shape of neighboring letters does not allow this.

Tracking inserts uniform spacing between more than two characters in selected type. Again, this is for advanced work and I suggest you ignore the tracking option for the time being.

What special effects can be applied to text? With the type layer selected you can apply various menu items such as:

bulletTo switch between horizontal and vertical text use Layer>Type>Horizontal/Vertical.
bulletEdit>Free Transform or Edit>Transform... can be used to modify the text in many ways such as scaling, skewing, rotating... try them all!
bulletLayer>Effects makes available many effects including:
Drop Shadow:
Inner Shadow:
Outer Glow:
Bevel and Emboss:

 You should experiment with these, for the effects can be very attractive.

bulletThe type layer is not a regular layer and you cannot apply filters or work with selections as for a regular layer unless you first convert the type layer into a regular layer with Layer>Pixellize>Layer in version 6 (Calque>Pixellization>Calque). However, you should hesitate to do this since you cannot convert a regular layer back into a type layer and thus you will no longer be able to edit the text.

Now let's get some practice with the type tool. Download this image to your folder, open it in Photoshop, then add text to try to make it look like the picture underneath.


Some hints:

First, I used the type tool to create the text "Centre International de Valbonne" using Arial font, size 50.

Then, after making sure that the new text layer is selected in the Layer palette, I added an effect called with Layer>Effects>Bevel and Emboss (Calque>Effets>Biseautage et Estampage, in French). Choose Outer Bevel.

Then I used the type tool again to create the paradise text using Jokerman font (use a different font if you don't have Jokerman), size 40, with drop shadows. This is Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow (Calque>Style de Calque>Ombre Portée) 

Thirdly I used the vertical type tool to create the letters CIV with Impact font, size 200. To get the grainy effect you can use the grain filter (Filter>Texture>Grain) but if you choose this then you get a warning that the layer needs to be rasterized - that means converted from a vector format (mathematical formulas) to a bitmap format (just pixels). You won't be able to edit the text (change the font or spelling etc) once the text has been rasterized so check the text is OK before dismissing the warning.

Next I used the type mask tool (Impact font, size 100) to select an area in the background layer (make sure the right layer is selected). Notice that I am NOT asking you to do this in Quick Mask mode. You will need to press the Enter key on the numeric keypad after typing the text.

Finally I darkened the selected area using the curves control (Ctrl-M).

Once you have finished, you should save the image into your folder as a jpg (compressed) image. If you think you may want to do more work on this image then you should save it in the PSD  format otherwise the layer information will be lost.
 

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