Place An Image in Multiple Text Layers in Photoshop
Place An Image in Multiple Text Layers in Photoshop
Place An Image in Multiple Text Layers in Photoshop
In this tutorial, I'll show you how to place an image in text with Photoshop. But rather than just filling a single word or a single
line of text, we'll take things further and learn a simple trick that lets you instantly place an image into two or more Type layers
at once!
And here we see all three words in front of the image. You'll want to use black as your type color for now, for
reasons we'll see in a moment:
The text added and positioned in front of the image.
Step 3: Add a Solid Color fill layer above the Background layer
Let's add a background color for the effect. We'll use a Solid Color fill layer. This will make it easy to change the
background to any color we like, as we'll see later. Click on the Background layer in the Layers panel to select it:
Then click the New Fill or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel:
Back in the document, our text now sits in front of a white background (which is why we chose black as the type
color). We'll learn how to change the background color at the end of the tutorial:
And in the Layers panel, we see the Solid Color fill layer ("Color Fill 1") sitting between the Type layers and the
Background layer, which is why the fill layer is currently blocking the image from view:
Step 4: Make a copy of the Background layer
We need to make a copy of the image and move it above the text. Click again on the Background layer to select
it:
Make a copy of the Background layer by dragging it down onto the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers
panel:
When you release your mouse button, Photoshop makes a copy of the layer, names it "Background copy", and
places it directly above the original:
And here we see the problem. Photoshop clips the image to the Type layer directly below it, which does place the
image inside the text. But because the image is clipped to only one of the three Type layers, the image appears in
only one of the three words, which isn't what we want:
Then, to select the other Type layers as well, press and hold your Shift key and click on the bottom Type layer:
Hold Shift and click the bottom Type layer to select them all.
In the New Group from Layers dialog box, name the group "Text", and then click OK:
Back in the Layers panel, the Type layers now appear inside a layer group named "Text". Click on the arrow to the
left of the folder icon to twirl the group open and view the layers inside it:
This time, Photoshop clips the "Background copy" layer not to a single Type layer but to the layer group itself:
And because we've clipped the image to the group, the image instantly appears inside all three words:
The effect after clipping the image to the layer group.
Then click the Layer Styles icon (the "fx" icon) at the bottom of the Layers panel:
Clicking the Layer Styles icon.
In my case, I'll set the Angle to 75° to match the angle of the light beams in the water. Then I'll set both the
Distance and the Size to 30px, and the Opacity to 40%. Click OK when you're done to close the dialog box:
And here's my effect with the drop shadow applied. Notice that because we've applied the drop shadow to the layer
group, all of the Type layers inside the group are affected:
The result after adding a drop shadow to the layer group.
Then choose a different color in the Color Picker. I'll choose black:
Changing the background color from white to black.
And here's what the effect looks like with a black background:
The darker background helps bring out the image in the words.
And here's what that color looks like as the new background:
I'll use the color I sampled, but I'll choose a much darker shade of it:
Taking the sampled color and choosing a
darker version of it.
Click OK to close out of the Color Picker, and here's my effect with a dark blue background:
This allows just a hint of the image to show through the blue background, creating my final effect:
The final "image in text" effect. And there we have it! That's how to place an image in text, and how to fill multiple Type layers
with the same image, in Photoshop!