Inserting a line of type in a picture is as simple as this: Switch to the Horizontal Type tool, click in the image where you want the first line to be, and start typing (see Figure 8.2). The type runs from left to right; if you’re using the Vertical Type tool, it runs from top to bottom instead. You can copy and paste text into Photoshop Elements, and, of course, you can use any special characters that you would use in other programs.

Figure 8.2. The vertical text cursor indicates where the next character I type will appear.

This technique creates what’s called point type, meaning that it’s a single line based where you clicked with the Type tool. You can insert line breaks by pressing Enter, but that’s the only way the type will move to a new line. If you want to create a multiline paragraph, you need to make paragraph type. You do that by clicking and dragging with the Type tool to make a text box that gives the text boundaries (see Figure 8.3). When the type gets to the edge of the box, Photoshop Elements inserts a line break just the way Microsoft Word would. For both point type and paragraph type, you need to signal that you’re done typing by clicking the check mark on the Options bar or by pressing Enter on the numeric keypad.

Figure 8.3. Paragraph type has a bounding box that you can resize at will.

The most wonderful thing about type in Photoshop Elements is that, even though it’s technically part of a picture, it remains real text, so you can go back and edit it at any time. All you have to do is switch to the appropriate Type tool, open the Layers palette, and click on the type layer you want to edit. Then you can click anywhere in the type and add to it, delete some of it, or change it to say something else (see Figure 8.4).

Figure 8.4. I know this text is supposed to be gibberish, but I’d really feel better if the men were sitting on a couch instead of a nose.

Now you know how to get the letters on the screen. But it’s the settings on the Options bar that give you complete control over how the type looks (see Figure 8.5). You can change these settings before you start typing or at any time after you create the type layer. If you’re modifying existing type, you need to switch to the Type tool and activate the appropriate type layer, as if you were going to edit the text. What you do next depends on whether you want to change all or just some of the type on this layer. If you want to change everything, you can just start making settings; Photoshop Elements applies those new settings to all the type on the layer. If you want to change only some of the type, you need to click on it with the Type tool and select the characters you want to modify.

Figure 8.5. Type formatting controls appear in the Type tool’s Options bar.

Let’s take a look at all the type attributes over which you have control, working from left to right on the Options bar. Naturally, the first thing you think of when you think “type” is which font to use, so the Font menu is the first thing on the Options bar. Click the name of the current font and type the name of the font you want to switch to, or use the pop-up menu to make a choice.

The next menu on the Options bar gives you access to the style variations contained in each font, most commonly Regular, Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic. Some fonts contain different variations, such as Extra Bold or Condensed, so be sure to explore the options available for whichever font you’re using. Following the Style pop-up menu is the Size menu, which measures type in points. You can specify a size ranging from .01 points to 1,296 points, either by choosing an option from the menu or by clicking the number and replacing it with your preferred value.

Next on the Options bar is the Anti-Aliased button. When pressed, this button blurs the edges of each letter ever so slightly, which makes the type look smoother onscreen (see Figure 8.6). You’ll want to use anti-aliasing for any type that you intend to be viewed onscreen; this includes images destined for DVDs, websites, or slide shows. On the other hand, if you’re planning to print the image, you should turn off anti-aliasing because it will make the printed type look blurred.

Figure 8.6. The letter on the left isn’t anti-aliased; the one on the right is.

In addition to the built-in styles for each font, Photoshop Elements offers four more that you can use with any font: Faux Bold, Faux Italic, Underline, and Strikethrough. These four buttons are just to the right of the Anti-Aliasing button on the Options bar. I have mixed feelings about these styles, however. Faux Bold is useful when I need type to be extra wide so that a type style will work correctly on it or so that I can use it to contain a photo. However, both this style and Faux Italic deform the letter shapes, so if you’re a typographical purist, you’ll stay away from them. Meanwhile, most of the time when people use underlining, it would actually be more correct to use italics. However, I’m probably pickier about typography than most people, so feel free to make use of these styles if it suits you to do so.

After the style buttons, you’ll find two very important settings: Alignment and Leading. The former determines whether the text is centered, aligned on the left side, or aligned on the right side. Paragraph type is aligned with respect to its box—centered within it or lined up along one side—but point text is aligned with respect to the point where you clicked to begin typing (which is why it’s called point type). Meanwhile, leading is another typographical concept that might be more familiar if we refer to it as line spacing. This is the distance between the base of the letters on one line and the base of the letters on the next line. Auto Leading, the first choice in the Leading menu, is automatically set to 120% of the type’s point size; for example, 10-point type with auto leading would have 12 points from the base of one line to the base of the next.

Next is a color swatch, which enables you to set a type color that’s different from the Foreground color. Click the swatch to open the color picker, or use the menu next to it to choose from the same colors that you see in the Color Swatches palette. The color swatch is accompanied by a Layer Style menu; we look at this later in the hour. We also cover creating warped text later in the hour in “Warping Text”; that’s the next button you’ll encounter on the Options bar.

The last type control on the Options bar before the Cancel and Commit buttons (the red “no” symbol and the green check mark) is the Change Text Orientation button. With a type layer active, click this button to switch horizontal type to a vertical orientation or vice versa.

As I mentioned earlier in this hour, the Type Mask tools create type-shaped selection marquees instead of actual type. This doesn’t create a new layer, so you must choose or create a layer to work on before you do anything with the selection. Then switch to one of the Type Mask tools, click, and begin typing.

As you type, the text appears as a transparent cutout in a red mask, as with the mask used by the Selection Brush tool. (Skip back to Hour 7, “Making Selections and Using Layers,” if you want to review how the Selection Brush’s mask works.) At this point, you can still select and modify the text and its attributes, and you’ll find it’s much easier to see how the characters look in mask mode than it would be in selection mode. The type turns from a mask into a selection as soon as you press Enter on the numeric keypad or click the green check mark (see Figure 8.7).

Figure 8.7. To move a type mask on a layer, switch to the Marquee tool and then drag the type mask to where you want it.

Once the type mask is turned into a selection, you can’t change the mask’s text attributes, so be sure you’ve got things the way you want them before you press Enter or click the Commit button. Otherwise, you’ll have to undo and start over.

What you do with a type mask selection is up to you; here are a few options:

Figure 8.8 shows how I implemented these techniques; it’s in the color section, too.

Figure 8.8. This is one way to use a type mask; after creating the type selection, I stroked it in two different colors and then inverted it and filled the area surrounding the type with copper.

If you want your type to wave bravely in the breeze or bulge ominously, you need to warp it. Photoshop Elements offers 15 basic warp styles, with infinite variations based on the settings you enter in the Warp Text dialog (see Figure 8.12). The basic style options are as follows:

Figure 8.12. By changing the Bend, Horizontal Distortion, and Vertical Distortion settings, you can achieve an infinite variety of warp effects.

Their names are fairly descriptive, but to really get the feel for what each style does, you need to try it out. For each style, you can apply different combinations of settings to control how much the text is warped and in which direction. All the styles except Fisheye, Inflate, and Twist can be applied horizontally or vertically, so there are Horizontal and Vertical radio buttons just below the style menu. Be sure to play with these; Horizontal is the default setting, and it’s easy to forget that the Vertical setting even exists.

Each of the other three Warp variables is controlled by a slider. Bend, Horizontal Distortion, and Vertical Distortion can all range from –100 to 100 percent, and you can enter values in the text field or drag the slider to change the amount. Bend determines how much warp is applied to the type layer, and the two Distortion sliders enable you to add perspective to the effect so the type appears to be tilted to one side or to the top or bottom (see Figure 8.13).

Figure 8.13. Now that’s molten gold. And by using the Horizontal Distortion slider, I can make the type appear to tilt away from the viewer on the right side.

Create a new blank file and type your name in it. Experiment with fonts, type effects, and layer styles until you find a combination that you feel expresses your personality. Then print the image and stick it on the door of your office or bedroom.