Type Tool Titles
In this lesson we’ll crack the door open just slightly into the wonderful world of type! Later in this series of lessons we’ll dive a lot deeper, but for now let’s talk about what you should and should NOT do when creating a title.
Note: Photoshop Elements versions 2018 and earlier do not have Tracking in the Type Tool Options, so the arrangement of type options will display in a different order than newer versions.
Video 03-06: Type Tool Titles (11:27)
In this lesson, we'll crack the door open just slightly into the wonderful world of type. I'll be using this photo and some additional files, which you can find in Part 3, lesson six of your class practice folder.
Our goal is to add a fun title to this cute photo of a girl and her dog. So click on the Type tool in the toolbar, and open Tool Options. Notice there are several other type tools, so make sure you choose the Horizontal Type tool. The tool Options contain all the settings for the type starting with the font you plan to use.
Open the menu to view all the fonts on your computer. If you want to see these font previews in a larger size, you can change the type size in Preferences. Press Ctrl K in Windows or Command K on a Mac, to bring up Preferences and click on Type in the list on the left. Open the font preview size menu and choose a different size. My favorite is Huge. So let's choose that and click OK. Now when I open the font menu, I can see the font previews a lot better.
Choose the font that fits the occasion. This isn't an elegant photo, but it is a fun photo. If you don't know which font you want to use just scroll through your fonts to see what you already have. I already know that I want to use a handwriting font called Halo Hand Letter. So I can either keep scrolling to find it, but I have a lot of fonts. So another option if you know the name of the font is to type it into the font field and access it that way. If you don't have the font Halo Hand Letter, just choose another handwriting font from your list.
Now that we have our font, we can check out the other fields below the menu. The grayed out field on the left is four different versions of the same typeface. And since Halo Hand Letter only has one version, that field is grayed out. The Size menu allows you to change the size of your font either by choosing a font from the menu or you can click inside the size field and enter the size you want. And I'll enter 30 and press enter to commit the change.
Leave leading and tracking at the default settings of Auto and zero. I'll show you how to use these two fields later on. On the right you can choose your color. Normally, the color chip in Tool Options will match the foreground color chip at the bottom of the toolbar. But if you want to change the color of your type, you can click on the color chip and choose a different color. If you don't see the color you want, click on the Color Picker icon in the bottom right corner. I'll move my cursor beyond the dialog box and click on my photo to sample a color. I'd like a nice warm dark brown color so I'll click over here in a shadow area of the dog. In the Color Picker in the large box, click to make any adjustments and click OK.
Further on the right we have a few more options. Some fonts have the option to choose Bold, Italic, Underline, or Strikethrough, but this one doesn't. So those options are grayed out. For alignment you have left, middle or right and I've chosen Left Alignment. And finally, it's a good idea to keep Anti-aliasing checked, which produces smoother type.
Now you're ready to Click on your document and type your title. When you click, a new layer is created in the Layers panel. I'll type "Me and my." If you want to move the type while it's still active, move your mouse away from the type until your cursor turns into a Move tool icon. Then click and drag on your document to move the type. When you let go of the mouse Photoshop Elements will automatically commit the type. If you recall from the lesson on setting up your preferences, the default setting in preferences, and let's go there right now, Ctrl K in Windows or Command K on a Mac, is for Photoshop Elements to automatically select the Move tool after committing text. That's actually very confusing in my opinion. So if you haven't unchecked that option in preferences, I recommend you do so now.
When you commit the type the type layer will show what you typed or at least as much as will fit on the type layer which is helpful if you have a lot of type layers. Anytime you want to activate the type, simply click on it with the Type tool and then to deactivate the type click Cancel or press escape. If you don't want to make any changes or if you've made a change and you want to save it, click the checkmark or press the Enter key to commit the type.
Another way to activate the type is to double click on the type thumbnail. And this is actually one of my favorite ways to activate type. This selects all the type on that layer. And then when I'm ready to commit the type another way to do that is to click anywhere on the type layer.
If you want to resize the type, activate the type, and then press and hold the Ctrl key in Windows or the Command key on a Mac to get a transform outline around the type. This outline works very much like the Transform tool to resize and maintain the original proportions. Keep holding the Ctrl or Command key and click and drag from a corner handle to make the type larger or smaller. When you're satisfied, let go of the mouse and then let go of the Ctrl or Command key and then commit the type. Let's finish our project by adding a few design elements including some alpha letters that spell the word DOG. You'll find these items in the Part 3 lesson six practice files. I'll take you through it pretty quickly because you've already learned most of these skills in prior lessons.
I'll start by moving a stroke outline onto the photo. Be aware that the stroke outline is so thin that you may think it's an empty file, but it's there in your practice files so don't miss it. When I click and drag and let go of the mouse, the outline layer will land above the background layer in the Layers panel. Next, I'll move the dog. He also landed above the background, but I want him above the stroke. So in the Layers panel, I'll click and drag the dog layer above the stroke layer. To resize the dog, press Ctrl T on Windows or Command T on a Mac and click and drag from a corner handle. Click and drag inside to move them into place. And click the green checkmark to commit the change.
A sticker is thin but it does have a drop shadow. So in the menu bar, choose Layer, Layer Style, Style Settings. Click on Drop Shadow and use the settings: zero for the size, 1 for the distance, and 25% for the opacity and click OK. That makes a very small drop shadow.
Now let's get the alpha letters. I want them above the dog layer. So I'll let go of my mouse over the dog:
D
O
G
...and that puts them in the right order in the Layers panel to spell the word DOG.
In the Layers panel, select all three layers by pressing the shift key and clicking on the top alpha letter. Press Ctrl T on Windows or Command T on a Mac to get the Transform tool and click and drag from a corner handle to resize the letters. Bring them down next to the dog and double click inside the outline to commit the change.
And let's just move these up a little bit too. There we go. And then now click on one of the layers in the Layers panel to de-select all of those three layers. And now we can use the Move tool to click and drag these into place. So we'll start with the D. We'll move that over. And then we'll click on the O... move that over. And we'll want to use our arrow keys to just get things a little bit separated there. About like that.
And now we want to add layer styles. Since a cardboard alpha letter is a 3-D item, it needs a drop shadow. So in the Menu Bar, choose Layer, Layer Style, Style Settings. Select Drop Shadow, and set the size to eight, the distance to six, and the Opacity to 60 and click OK.
Here's another way to copy a style from one layer to another. Press the Alt key in Windows or the Option key on a Mac and click and drag the Effects icon to another layer to copy it. Don't just click and drag it to the new layer without pressing the Alt or Option key though. So if I do that here, that doesn't work, it just moves it. You have to press the Alt key in Windows or the Option key on a Mac because that tells Photoshop Elements to copy it when you click and drag it from one layer to another. So now my cardboard alpha letters all have the same drop shadow.
And finally let's add the flower and move it up by the type. But now I see a problem, do you? The flower is a 3d object and the type is a flat object, so it doesn't make sense to have the type above the flower. In the Layers panel, I'll click and drag the flower layer above the type layer. And that looks much better. Let's use the Transform tool to resize the flower. I'll click and drag a little bit more. And just move it up a bit with the arrow keys and then click on the checkmark to commit the change.
And now let's add a drop shadow. I'll press Alt and Windows or Option on a Mac and click and drag a copy of the drop shadow from one of the alpha layers to the flower layer. And that's not bad, but if I want to adjust it, I can double click on the effects icon and adjust it. I'm going to change the size to seven and the distance to four and click OK. Let's also make this type layer a little bigger. I'll click on it to select it. Press Ctrl T on Windows or Command T on a Mac, click and drag from a corner handle and then click on the checkmark to commit the change. And that finishes up my project.
Why don't you open the practice files and try it yourself? I think you'll have a lot of fun and you'll get some good practice working with type, moving and resizing files, and adding drop shadows.
STROKE OUTLINE—Please Read!
At the end of the video I show the final image and mention that I added two more items: the stroke outline and the dog sticker but I don’t demonstrate how I added them, so this has caused some confusion.
Both the dog sticker and the stroke outline are in the practice folder for 06 Type Tool Titles. The dog is easy to see but the stroke is so thin that you can easily miss it. It’s the last element in the folder and is called “stroke-7x5-orange.png.”
Here’s how to use the stroke file in your project folder:
• With your project document active, in the Layers panel click on the “me-and-my-dog" image layer to make it the active layer.
• In the Menu bar choose File > Open.
• Navigate to the 06 Type Tool Titles project folder, and double click on the file called “stroke-7x5-orange.png.”
If you’re using the Photo Bin:
• Click and drag the stroke image from the Photo Bin onto your document, which will center it on the document.
If you’re using the Move tool:
• In Tool Options uncheck Auto Select Layer. (This is because the stroke is so thin it’s hard to land on it to click and drag.)
• Click and drag the stroke onto your project file. Press Shift as you let go of the mouse to center it on the image.