Welcome to Part 7 of QwikLearn Photoshop Elements, where we're going to dive deeper into the subject of type. Type is something we use often when compositing and creating projects in Photoshop Elements. So I want to start by telling you about two common type traps that you're sure to encounter. The first trap is what I call disappearing type. I'll demonstrate with this layered image called at-the-beach.psd, which you'll find in your Part 7, lesson one practice folder.

As you can see, in the Layers panel, it's composed of several layers. Let's say I want to add the name of the beach to this pretty card. To do that, I'll get the Horizontal Type tool and open Tool Options. I've already selected my font, the color of the font and the size, 12 points, and I've chosen Center Alignment. I want to put the name of the beach in the lower right corner of the photo. So I'll click once to create a type layer.

I can see the new type layer in the Layers panel. And I can also see the blinking eye beam of the type. So I'll begin to type Newport Beach. But nothing happens. I don't see any type. What's going on? I can even click on the checkmark to commit the type. Even though I can see in the Layers panel that I typed the correct thing, it isn't showing on my document.

When this happens, it can be very puzzling. You may even think there's something really wrong with Photoshop Elements. If this has never happened to you, don't worry, it will. It still happens to me occasionally. So here's what's happening. The type is there, it's just hidden under another layer. If I click and drag it up in the stack of layers, there it is. The moral of the story is to look before you type. A type layer is always created above the currently selected layer in the Layers panel. So before you type look at the Layers panel and click on the layer right below the place you want your type. So if I want the type above the photo, I would click on the photo layer to make it the active layer. And then the new type layer will appear directly above it and won't be hidden by another layer.

The second type trap is placing type, a flat item, over a 3-D item. Here I put a title at the top of my document, but it's over a banner with a drop shadow, which means the banner is a three-dimensional item. Because type is two-dimensional, it isn't realistic to put it above a three-dimensional item. So let's move the type to a different location. Click on it to activate it and then move away from the type to get a Move tool icon and click and drag it to a new spot. How about here. Does this work okay? Actually, no, it doesn't look quite as bad as it did over the banner, but the photo and mat are still three-dimensional. They have a drop shadow so the type shouldn't be hanging over the edge of the photo and mat.

Truth be told, this is the most common mistake beginners make and continue to make even after they get pretty good with Photoshop Elements. Don't be that person. Pay attention to where you placed type. Don't place it over the edge of 3-D items.

On this document, there are several places you can put the type where it'll work just fine. You can put it over the photo as though it's printed on the photo just like the name of the beach, or you can put it over the background paper. It doesn't matter if the background paper is patterned as long as you can see the type okay. But I think it would look best in the upper left corner over the same paper but in an area that's less distracting. I might move that over just a tiny bit about like that.

So that's how to avoid the two type traps. Choose the layer in the Layers panel where you want your type to land so your type isn't hidden and never place two-dimensional type over three-dimensional objects.