In this article, we’ll show you a really simple yet professional-looking technique for Adobe Photoshop. You may have seen websites or blogs with titles or headers which contain an image “filling” the text. It’s a really effective way of making a statement and being a little different.
I’m going to be using Adobe Photoshop CC (2020), however, the tutorial should work for any version, just the buttons may look a little different.
You can use the below tutorial for a range of things, from titles or headers for your blog or website to printing off the graphic and using it on a greetings card or scrapbook. You really can use this however you want to!
The first step is to find an image that you want to place within the text. I’m going to grab a photo from Pixabay and save it as a JPEG. Pixabay is a really great site for finding photos of pretty much anything, and you’re free to use them as you wish.
Now you have your chosen image saved, open this up in Photoshop. You’ll see the image appear and a layer created named background.
We now need to create a copy of this, so to do this, right-click on your background layer and select duplicate layer. This will create a copy above, exactly the same as your original, only with “copy” at the end.
If you’ve used clipping masks in Procreate, the next few steps may be familiar to you. No worries if you have never used clipping masks, or Procreate, just keep following the below guide to see how they work.
Go to the new fill or adjustment layer icon at the bottom of your layers panel, this is the little circle icon that looks to be split in two.
On the menu which pops up, select solid colour, this should be the top option.
Then, go to your colour picker menu, and choose white. You’ll now see that the solid colour fill layer has appeared and looks like a white box. It should be showing just above your background layer, and your copied background layer.
You’ll also see that your canvas is fully white. Don’t worry, we haven’t lost any of our work, it’s just showing as white because our fill layer is at the top.
Tip: whichever layer is showing at the top of the list of the layers menu, will show in Photoshop. If you want to hide a layer, simply click on the eye icon to the left of the layer preview.
We now need to move the colour fill layer. Click on the white solid colour fill layer and drag this down so that it lands in between our original background layer and the copied one.
Now, select your top layer which should be the background copy.
We’re now ready to add our text! As we’re going to be showing the image through the text, it’s probably best to choose a bold, simplistic font, for example, Arial Black. Cursive or fancy fonts don’t really work for this effect, as the type is too narrow to show much of our image through.
Go to the type tool in the left-hand menu and ensure your chosen font is selected. You’ll also need to set your font colour to white. You can change the colour by clicking the colour swatch icon on the menu bar along the top of Photoshop (the one where you choose your font and font size etc.) or you can use the colour picker on the right side.
Once you’re set, type out your chosen text. Don’t worry about the font size for now as we’re going to be resizing it.
You’ll see that your text has appeared on top of your image in white, when you’re happy with what you’ve written, click the tick on the top menu bar to come out of text mode.
We now need to move our layers around again, so grab your layer which contains the text, and drag this below the background copy layer, like below. It should now be sitting between our background copy and the solid colour fill layer.
Next, go back to the background copy layer, which should be at the top of our list. Click on this so that it’s selected.
Click on the menu icon which is located in the top right-hand corner of the layers menu box (the little button which looks like four lines). Once your pop up menu appears, select create clipping mask.
Tip: a clipping mask is a tool that attaches two layers together, and ensures that details from the lower layer only show where text or drawings are placed on the layer above it. Think of it as a template of sorts.
You’ll now see your image showing through your text! You’ll also notice that in the layers panel, your background copy layer has slightly moved to the right and that there is an arrow pointing to the layer below. This shows us that we’re using a clipping mask on the layer below this one.
We’re now ready to resize our text, so to do this, click on the layer which contains your text. It should be the second one from the top.
Whilst you have the text layer selected, go to the edit menu along the top of the page, and select free transform. You’ll see a box appear around your text.
Drag out the side bars of the free transform box which has appeared, and resize your text to whichever size or shape you want.
Tip: to resize an image or text in Photoshop whilst keeping the aspect ratio (and not distorting any of your image), hold down the shift key whilst you drag the transform tools to resize.
Ensure that enough of your image is showing through your text, maybe have a play around with sizes and moving your text around the canvas. Once you’re happy, press enter to complete the free transform.
You’re now finished! The only step left to do is one which you may not even need to, but if you have white space or uneven gaps around your text, go to the crop tool on the left-hand side bar and crop your canvas so that it’s all even. This might have happened if you moved your writing to show a select part of the image through it.
We’re all done! This is a really simple but effective look which you can use on many things. You could keep your work digital, or you could create greetings or even personalised sentiments to print out for birthday or celebration cards.
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