Expert: Scott Valentine - 3/23/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello Mr. Scott Valentine .
         Hope you are fine, I am again asking you question about photoshop.
       In attached photo you can see name (ADEEL), it is transparent you can see background. How to write this kind of text on photo. One more qusetion, in some pictures I have seen the text and an image on just background of name, also tell me how to do this.
        Waiting for your answer.
         TAKE CARE


ANSWER: Thanks for your question!

The first part is relatively easy... select the Text Tool (T) and click on your canvas to create a new Text Layer and starting point. Just start typing and you'll have your text. The color does not matter.

Once you have finished adding the text, double-click on the text layer in the Layer Panel (click on the the empty part next to the name, otherwise you'll edit the layer name itself). This brings up the Layer Style dialog.

In the Style dialog, place a check next to the 'Drop Shadow' option, and then in the center of the window, slide the 'Fill' slider all the way to the left. This will leave you with the shadow only. If you want to adjust the drop shadow, you can click on its name in the dialog and change the settings here.

I am not sure what you are asking about in the second question. Could you follow up and provide an example picture? I think you might be asking about 'Clipping Masks', which are also pretty quick. Try this and see if it's what you want:

Place the image you want to fill the text with *above* the text layer. Hold down the Option(Mac) or Alt(PC) key and move your cursor to the boundary between the Text and image layers. It should change to look like a small left-pointing triangle and two circles on the right. When the cursor looks like this, click one time.

This 'clips' the image layer to the boundaries of the text. Note that if you use the first effect above, you will have to set 'Fill' back to something other than zero so you can see the image in the text.

If this isn't what you're looking for, please let me know. I hope this helps!

Cheers,

-Scott

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Mr. Scott Valentine .
         Thanks for your answer. Second question was exactly as you answered me. In 1st question I tried as you said but couldn't make my name (SAQIB) transparent so that I can see back image though this. You see 1st attached photo and second attached photo you'll understand me.TAKE CARE

Answer
When you open up the layer style dialog, did you find the Fill slider right away? Depending on your version of Photoshop, you may not actually have that option. If you can, please post a screen shot of the layers style window you are using, and the version of Photoshop you have installed.

In the mean time, try this...

Before using the drop shadow, hold down Command(Mac) or Control(PC) and click on the text layer thumbnail. This will select the type outline. Next, click the image layer so it is highlighted (you should still see the outline of the text.

With the image layer highlighted, press Command(Mac) or Control(PC) J. This will copy the selection to a new layer. Turn off layer visibility for the text layer, and then apply the drop shadow to the copied layer. This will give you the same effect, but you will have to repeat these steps if you move or change the text. The first method above, if you can get it to work, lets you edit and move the text around.

-Scott