Using Photoshop to Shape Text

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Photoshop CS2 has many strengths, all of which are enhanced by the remarkable versatility of the program. Not only can Photoshop CS2 fulfill all of your image editing and effects needs, it can also be used to add effects to text.

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.

Start off by opening an image that you would like to add text to. Select the horizontal tool from your toolbar and click in the area of the image close to where you would like to add your text to. Now type in the text you would like to add. Adding standard text enhancements such as italics, bold or underline can also be applied while in text mode.

Once you’ve finished adding text, select and right-click it to open the contextual menu. Select Warp Text…to open the Warp Text dialogue box. Within this box, you can select from a number of pre-defined text warps using the Style pull-down menu. Select the warp that comes closest to the effect you’re trying to achieve. If you’re not sure about the kind of warp you want, you can try some out to see what effect they have on your image text.

There will be several sliders under the Style pull-down that will allow you to make fine-tuning adjustments to the warp effects. You can change the horizontal and vertical distortion and the text bend here. An option to using the sliders is to enter a percentage value for these properties. Once you have reached the effect desired, simple click OK and the Warp Text effect will be applied to your image.