Setting Type

Although you might not need text features to color-correct your digital photos, you will most likely need them for doing any kind of web design. In fact, you never really know when you might need a little bit of text. Although you're better off using Illustrator or InDesign for most text needs, there will be plenty of times when it will make sense to add text in Photoshop.

To add text to your image, choose the Type tool and click in your document. You'll get a blinking insertion mark and you can begin typing. Notice that Photoshop automatically creates a new kind of layer for youa type layer (see Figure 5.84).

Figure 5.84. A type layer in the Layers palette.

Did you Know?

You can double-click on the thumbnail of a type layer to select the text quickly and easily.

Use the Move tool to position the type layer in your document. You can also double-click the layer in the Layers palette to apply a layer style, just as you can with any normal layer (remember to click anywhere in the layer except on the name of the layer itself).

Styling Text

With the Type tool selected, you'll notice that the Tool Options bar updates to offer text-specific settings such as font, size, justification (left, centered, right), and color. You can also choose from several antialiasing options (see Figure 5.85).

Figure 5.85. Choosing an antialiasing method from the Tool Options bar.

Did you Know?

Antialiasing is a method used to make graphics appear smoother onscreen. With small text especially, antialiasing can make some words blurry or unreadable. Various algorithms are available for antialiasing, and Photoshop lets you choose from among them to get the best result. As you change algorithms, you'll see a live preview of your text.

Choose Window, Character and Window, Paragraph to access even more text controls (see Figure 5.86). The Character palette lets you specify kerning and tracking values (the spaces between letters), as well as leading (pronounced "ledding"), which is the amount of space between each line of text in a paragraph.

Figure 5.86. The Character and Paragraph palettes.

Warping Text

To add cool effects, you can apply warps to text (see Figure 5.87). To do so, select some text and click on the Create Warped Text button in the Tool Options bar (see Figure 5.88) to get the Warp Text dialog box. Here you can choose from 15 warp effects, as well as tweak the individual settings of each type of warp (see Figure 5.89).

Figure 5.87. Text with a warp effect applied to it.

Figure 5.88. The Create Warped Text icon in the Tool Options bar.

Figure 5.89. Applying a warp from the Warp Text dialog box.

By the Way

Illustrator has identical warp effects but can apply the effects to any kind of art; Photoshop is limited to warping only text objects.