Text Styling & Adjusting Images Behind Text

Topics covered in this Photoshop for Web Design tutorial:

Adding a drop shadow to type, Darkening a background photo to make text more legible

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this exercise, you will learn more about text styling. You’ll learn how to make text pop and be more legible when over a photo, by adding a shadow or darkening the image.

1. In Photoshop, close any files you have open.
2. Go to File > Open or hit Cmd–O (Mac) or Ctrl–O (Windows).
3. Navigate to Class Files > yourname-Photoshop for Web Class > NYC and double–click About Page - Ready for Headings.psd.

Adding a Main Page Title

The page needs a main title (or heading) to say what it’s about. We’ll add it above the main column of text, placing it over the cab photo.

1. If the guides are not visible, show them by hitting Cmd–; (Mac) or Ctrl–; (Windows).
2. If the gray columns are not visible, go into the Layers panel and show the columns layer by clicking the box on the left where the eye would be.
3. Select the Type tool .

4. Before we add the new text, it’s important to remember that Photoshop’s type styling (font, color, etc.) defaults to the text you last selected or edited. Before we make a new type layer, let’s pick up some text styling that’s most similar to what we want: white text that’s left aligned.

   In the Layers panel, go into the footer folder, and next to the Source: Wikipedia layer double–click on the layer thumbnail (T). This will highlight the text in the layer.

5. Press the Esc key to deselect the text. (If you see a dialog asking if you want to commit or cancel, click Commit Text.)

   Even though we made no changes, Photoshop has picked up that type styling.

6. In the Layers panel, select the cab layer so the text will be added above it.
7. At the bottom left of the large cab photo, line up the cursor with the second guide from the left.
8. Click once and type NEW YORK CITY in all caps.
9. With the cursor still in the text, hit Cmd–A (Mac) or Ctrl–A (Windows) to select all the text you just typed.
10. In the Options bar, change the font to Arial Black (or Arial Bold).

11. Still in the Options bar, hover over the Font size icon .

    Click on the icon and slowly drag to the right to increase the size of the text until it’s the same width as the column of text below it (8 gray columns wide). You don’t have to be precise, but for Arial Black, around 83 px looks good. For Arial Bold, around 93 px looks good.

12. Select the Move tool .

13. If needed, move the heading into position so it looks like this:

    

    TIP: Use the Arrow keys to nudge it 1 px at a time. Hold Shift while hitting the Arrow keys to nudge it 10 px at a time.

14. In the Layers panel, hide the columns layer by clicking the eye .
15. Hide the guides by hitting Cmd–; (Mac) or Ctrl–; (Windows).

16. In the Layers panel, make sure the NEW YORK CITY text layer is selected.

Adding a Drop Shadow to Type

Let’s make the title text stand out more by adding a drop shadow.

1. With the NEW YORK CITY text layer still selected, at the bottom of the Layers panel, click the Add a layer style button and choose Drop Shadow.
2. Move the dialog that opens to the side so you can see the title in the file.

3. With the dialog still open, drag anywhere in the document to move the position of the drop shadow.

   It’s pretty awesome that you can visually move the shadow if you want. Many people who have been using Photoshop for years don’t know this trick because it’s not obvious that you can do it!

4. We want a subtle shadow that just helps pop the text off the background. Set the following settings, but do not click OK until we say so!

   Opacity:	70
   Angle:	90
   Distance:	7
   Spread:	0
   Size:	25

5. Uncheck and re-check Preview to see the before and after. The darkness around the text helps it stand out from the photo.

6. We like this, so click OK.

7. In the Layers panel, under the NEW YORK CITY layer, click the eye next to Drop Shadow off and on to see the changes. Make sure you end with it on.

   NOTE: To edit the effect later, double–click the effect and you can change any setting.

Darkening the Background Photo to Make Text More Legible

Another way we can make text more legible over a photo background is to darken the photo. We want a subtle darkening effect, so we’ll apply a gradient that gets darker the farther down it goes on the photo.

1. Before we add the gradient, we need to set the foreground color to black (because that’s the color we want to use in the gradient).

   Towards the bottom of the Tools panel, above the Foreground/Background colors, click the Default Foreground and Background Colors icon (or press D on the keyboard).

2. In the Layers panel, select the cab layer.

3. At the bottom of the Layers panel, click the Add a layer style button and choose Gradient Overlay.

4. In the dialog that appears, to the right of the Gradient preview, click the small down arrow to see the gradient presets.

   

5. In the Basics folder the second icon is Foreground to Transparent. It should look like a black to checkerboard (transparency) icon. Double–click on that icon to choose it (which will close that pop-up panel).

   The image should now be visible on the top, changing to black on the bottom.

6. Set Scale to 60% to make the gradient smaller (it more quickly changes from transparent to black).

7. Lower Opacity to 40% to lighten the effect.

8. Drag on the image to move the gradient down a bit, so it’s mostly behind the type.

9. Check Preview off and on to compare with and without the gradient.

10. Click OK. Nice!

Styling the Section Headings

1. Select the Type tool .

2. At the top of the main text column on the left, select the first line: Unlike Any Other City

3. In the Character panel (Window > Character), set the following:

   Font:	Arial Bold
   Font size :	20 px
   Color:	Click the Color swatch and set the color to #b5413b
   All Caps:	Click the All Caps button

4. Press the Esc key to commit the changes.

5. In the column on the right, select the first line: Popular New York Attractions

6. In the Options bar at the top of the screen, set:

   Font:	Arial Bold
   Font size :	18 px
   Color:	Click the Color swatch and set the color to #b5413b

   NOTE: The Options bar at the top of the screen is convenient, but only has basic text settings. To see all the other options, use the Character and Paragraph panels.

7. Press the Esc key to commit the changes.

8. To keep the Layers panel looking clean, collapse any layer groups that are open.

9. Save the document by hitting Cmd–S (Mac) or Ctrl–S (Windows).