Using Photoshop to Shape Text
Posted on 29. Jul, 2008 by david peters in Photography
Flexibility is abundant in the Photoshop CS2 Program. With the wide range of features this program has to offer, it can rise to meet any demand you could give it. Not only can Photoshop CS2 offer great effects for your images, you can also transform text from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
Personalized banners and striking headlines can be made by using Photoshop's Warp Text feature. This feature enables you to wrap or bend text around and object in your image. Warping text can be done in either a horizontal or vertical direction to add distinction to your text. Photoshop has many ways in which this effect can be achieved, but we will use the following as a learning platform particularly for those who might not have used Photoshop's text tools before.
Open an image to which you want to add text. Select the horizontal text tool from the toolbar and click the image close to where you want to place your text. Type the text you wish to add. While in Text mode, you can also apply standard style enhancements like italics, bold or underline to your text.
After you have completed your text, select and right-click the text to open the contextual menu. Open the Warp Text dialogue box by selecting Warp Text. This box will contain a list of pre-defined text warps to choose from using the Style pull-down menu. Simply select the warp that best fits the look you want to reach. Try out some of the different warp effects to see what they look like if you are not quite sure which one might work best for you.
Beneath the Style pull-down, you'll find several sliders that will enable you to fine-tune the warp effects. You can adjust the text bend, and the horizontal and vertical distortion. If you don't want to use the sliders, you can also enter a percentage value for these three properties. When you have achieved the proper effect, click OK. The Warp Text effect will be applied to your image
