How to Lay out Type in Photoshop

If you can see it with your eyes, you can manipulate it with photoshop. Despite its name, photoshop isn't just for photos' and images. It also has a robust text editor and placement system. If your image is mission just that little extra something, a title or caption could be just what the doctor ordered.

Things You'll Need

• A computer
• A copy of photoshop
• An image
• Decent spelling

Instructions

Text boxes

1. 

   Select the text box tool from the main tool bar.

2. 

   Click and drag out a text box. This is the space in which your text will appear. Don't worry about the size right now - once you finalize text you can resize the box.

3. Type in whatever you want to say. Again, don't worry about font type, color or anything except spelling and grammar at this stage. You can change everything on the fly in photoshop, and it's easier to do once you have your text on the page anyways.

Characters palette

1. Find and open the "character" palette. It may be open already, but if it isn't you can find it under the "window" pull-down menu.

2. Select the type you want to modify.

3. Use the top box on the character palette to select the font type you want to use. You can scroll through font types by simply placing the cursor in the window and pressing up and down on the keyboard.

4. Use the next box down on the left (with the big-t little-t symbol) to select the font size. The keyboard shortcut for increasing font size is shift-apple-period, and for decreasing font size is shift-apple-comma.

5. Use the box to the immediate right of the font size box to set the leading of your type. Leading is the space between the lines in a paragraph or larger body of text. Decreasing the leading will push lines closer together, and increasing it will pull them apart.

6. Use the box directly under the leading selector to set the tracking of your text. Tracking is the average space between individual letters and words in a body of text. Decreasing the tracking will push letters and words closer together, and increasing the tracking will pull them apart.

7. Use the box to the right of the tracking selector to set kerning. Kerning is the individual space between letters and words. This is very similar to tracking, but whereas tracking will increase or decrease the space between ALL letters and words in a body of text, kerning will increase or decrease the space between INDIVIDUAL letters and words. Increasing the kerning will push letters and words father apart, and decreasing it will pull them together.

8. Use the color box to change the color of the text you have selected.

Paragraph palette

1. Use the top left set of boxes to select a justification for your body of text. you can justify from right, left or center. If you'd like, use the set of boxes immediately to the right to select left even, center even, or right even justification.

2. Use the top set of boxes immediately under the justification boxes to set the left and right margins of your text box. With no margin value, text will run to the exact cutoff line of your text box.

3. Use the set of two boxes after the break to set the the top and bottom margins of your text box.

Tips & Warnings

• Creating a text box will automatically create a new layer, with the new text box on that layer. Don't forget to name that layer - it isn't necessary, but an organized work space will make everything easier to manage.

• When selecting size, leading, kerning and tracking, a good rule of thumb is that the tighter the text the better it looks. Remember to keep it readable, however.

• Always set tracking before moving on to individual kerning. Not only will this make the kerning process much shorter, changing the tracking can potentially undo any improvements made by kerning if used after the kerning is completed.