Expert: LizaL - 11/16/2005

Question
hi, i had a question for you.  i am trying to take an image of an ocean horizon, and add it to a graffiti artwork of my name.  the artwork is drawn so the letters look 3 dimensional, and i want to add the horizon picture so it looks like the front face of the 3d letters is the horizon pics, while the side edges are white with an overall black background.  i just got photoshop cs2 version 9.0, and dont have much experience using photoshop.  any help with this project would be greatly appreciated.  thanks!

Answer
Hi Adam,

I have to admit, I'm not 100% sure of the look you're trying to achieve, although it sounds to me like you want to put a picture inside text -- or a picture inside a picture.

I think what you want to do can be achieved by creating a clipping group -- in other words, you'll be creating a mask that sort of combines the two layers. This is the quickest and easiest way I know to put a picture inside another picture, or text.

You need to have each image on its own layer. In your case, you'd have the artwork of your name on the lower layer, and the picture on the layer above it. Then, in your Layers palette, move your cursor so that it's hovering over the two layers, right on the line that separates them. Hold down the Alt key (or Option, on a Mac), and you'll see the cursor turn into two little circles that give the appearance of merging. Now click, and your clipping group is created, and you should see the picture merged into your type.

Like this:
http://little-works.com/all_experts/clipping_path.mov

Granted, I'm not sure if this is what you're trying to do. Also, you'll notice that I used type in my example, but you can use an image, too.

Anyway, hope this helps -- if not, post back and we'll work on it.

Lisa