Create a collage with text and shapes in Photoshop

Welcome To Photoshop

Customize your workspace
NOTE: PC users I will be frequently mentioning Mac keyboard shortcuts. Please substitue the control key for anywhere you see ⌘command.

There are three main parts to the Photoshop interface.
1. Panels
2. Tools
3. Options Bar
Panels

Panels give us quick access to features, functions and info relating to our documents, as well as important elements like our layers and history.

They work on a nested tab system. Check out the video lesson Welcome to Class and Your Workspace! to see tab management in action.

To see a list of all the available Panels and add them to your workspace, go to the menu item: Window and select any of the Panels from the list. Visible Panels have a check mark next to them.

Tools

The Tools help you perform various tasks in Photoshop like selecting, cropping, painting, shape building, etc. To activate a tool, simply click on the tool icon.

By default the Tools are located on the left, but you can move them over to the right or free float them wherever you like.

Options Bar

The Options Bar runs across the top of interface. As you select different tools, you’ll notice that the contents of the options bar changes. As the name implies, the Options Bar provides you with additional options for the tool in use. You can configure the options based on how you want to use a tool.

Reset Workspace Layout

If in the process of moving stuff around (e.g. closing and opening panels) you realize that you just want to get back to that default workspace view, you can reset your workspace by going to the menu item Window > Workspace > Reset Essentials.

More Preferences

You can access and customize more interface options by going to the menu item Photoshop > Preferences or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + K.
Try out the tools
You don't need to know how to use every tool Photoshop provides to be able to create awesome images. Below is a list of the tools that are most helpful in creating collages for blogging.

Move Tool (V)
- The Move Tool allows you to grab your collage elements (images, shapes and text) and move them around and rearrange them.
Marquee Tool (M)
- The Marquee Tool allows you to select parts of your canvas or images.
Lasso Tool (L)
- The Lasso Tool allows you to draw custom selections around various objects.
Crop Tool (C)
- The Crop Tool allows you to crop images to specific dimensions.
Eyedropper Tool (I)
- The Eyedropper Tool selects and retains any color from your image.
Brush Tool (B)
- The Brush Tool works like a paint brush and allows you to freely make marks or paint on any layer of your document.
Eraser Tool (E)
- The Eraser Tool allows you to erase.
Paint Bucket Tool (G)
- The Paint Bucket Tool allows you to fill large and small areas of your layers with a single color with one click.
Text Tool (T)
- The Text Tool allows you to type and edit text anywhere on your document.
Shape Tool (U)
- The Shape Tool allow you to create vector shapes within your document. Vector shapes can be resized multiple times without distorting or losing quality.
Hand Tool (H)
- The Hand Tool allows you to grab your document canvas and move it around. It's particularly helpful when you are zoomed in and want to get to another part of the canvas without using the window's scroll bars.
Zoom Tool (Z)
- The Zoom Tool allow you to zoom in and out of your document.
Keyboard Shortcuts (hot keys)

You'll notice that there is a letter in parentheses next to each of the tool names above. That letter is the keyboard shortcut for the tool. As you are working, you can switch from tool to tool using a single keystroke. As your Photoshop skills and workflow improve, you'll really appreciate keyboard shortcuts more and more.

Tool Tips

If you hover over a tool icon a Tool Tip will appear. It will tell you the name of the tool and the keyboard shortcut. It's a great feature when you are just starting out.

Nested Tools

Some of the tool icons have a small triangle in the bottom right corner. This indicates that there are related tools nested within. To view the nested tools click and hold and a fly out menu will appear where you can select a related tool.

Try out the tools!

The best way to get comfortable using and switching tools is to try them out! Attached is a Photoshop document I've created to get you started. Follow the instructions below to open it in Photoshop. You can also follow along with the video lesson The Tools as I demonstrate how to use the tools above one by one.
1. Download the attached file: ducks-kitten.psd
2. Open the Photoshop Application
3. Go to the menu item: File > Open or press ⌘command + O.
4. Find and select ducks-kitten.psd in your downloads folder.
5. Finally, select Open at the bottom of the window.
Explore how layers work
Every document is built with layers. Your layers will be listed in the Layers Panel. By default, the Layers Panel should be visible when you open Photoshop, but if for some reason it's not, you can always make it visible by going to the menu item Window > Layers.

Order of Layers

Understanding how layer order works is essential to moving forward with your projects. Layers are listed vertically. The layer at the very top will be in the very front of your document and the layer at the bottom will be furthest from the front, usually that's your background.

You can see in the image below, the pink shape is in front because it is the first layer listed and the gray shape is in the back because it is the last layer in the list just above the white Background.

Attached is the above PSD file, you can download it and use it to get more aquainted with layers and practice the actions below.

Taking a closer look at the Layers Panel

The Layers Panel has a lot of options and icons. It can seem pretty complicated at first sight, but once you know where everything is and what it does, you'll be able to navigate and perform tasks using the Layers Panel quickly and easily.

Within your Layers Panel, you can:
- Select a layer or multiple layers
- Add new layers
- Delete layers
- Duplicate layers
- Rearrange the order of your layers
- Name and rename layers
- Create layer groups
- Link layers together
- Apply layer styles
- Lock layers
- Hide layers
Watch the Layers and Documents video lesson to see all these options demonstrated. For reference, detailed instructed for each are listed below, but the best way to learn these is to go into Photoshop and try them out!

Select a layer or multiple layers
- To select a layer simply click on it. When selected it will appear "highlighted."
- To select multiple layers in a block, shift + click on layers.
- To select mulltiple layers at random (not next to each other in the layers panel) ⌘command + click.
Add a new layer
- Click on the page icon with the folded corner (above).
- Or use the keyboad shortcut ⌘command + shift + N.
- Or go up to the menu item Layer > New.
Delete a layer
- Select the layer or layers you want to delete and click on the trash can icon (above) or click + drag the layer over the trash can and let go.
- Or, with a layer selected, press the delete key on your keyboard.
- Or go up to the menu item Layer > Delete > Layer.
Duplicate a layer
- Click + drag the layer you want to duplicate over the page icon with the folded corner (above) and let go.
- Or, within your document, select a layer, hold ⌘command + option then click + drag out and the layer will duplicate.
- Or go up to the menu item Layer > Duplicate.
- Or you can use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + J.
Rearrange the order of layers
- In the layers panel, click, hold and drag the layers up or down to change their order.
- Or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + ] to bring the layer forward or ⌘command + [ to send the layer behind.
- Or go up to the menu item Layer > Arrange and then select where you'd like your layer to go.
Name and rename layers
- Within the layers panel, double click on the title of the layer to edit it.
- Or go the menu item Layer > Rename Layer.
Create a layer group
- Hold shift and click on layers to select a block of multiple layers next to each other then click on the folder icon.
- Hold ⌘command (or control) and click on layers to select a multiple layers (regardless of whether they are next to each other) then click on the folder icon.
- Or, with layers selected, use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + G.
- Or go up to the menu item Layer > Group Layers. Or ungroup them by selecting Ungroup layers when the group is selected.
Link and unlink layers
- With multiple layers selected, click on the chain link icon (above).
- Or, with multiple layers selected, go to the menu item Layer > Link Layers (or Unlink Layers).
Apply layer styles
- With your layer selected, click on the fx icon (above) select the style or effect you want apply and configure the options in the Layer Style window.
- Or, double click on the layer inside the Layers Panel to open the Layer Style window.
- Or, with your layer selected, go up to the menu item Layers > Layer Style then select the style you want apply.
Lock layers
- To lock a layer from being moved or edited, select the layer and click on the lock icon (above).
- To lock a layers position, but still be able to edit other aspects, like a shapes color, click ont he cross icon (above).
Hide layers
- To hide a layer, simply click on the layer's eye icon (above).
- To make it visible again, click on the icon again.
Practice undoing & redoing
Something you'll be doing frequently as you work in Photoshop is Undoing and Redoing actions. It's one of the coolest functions because it gives you the freedom to experiment, knowing you'll always be able to undo something if you're not happy with the way it looks.

You can see Undo and Redo in action by watching the video lesson Layers and Documents.

You can access both the Undo and Redo function by going up to the menu option Edit > Undo. In newer versions of Photoshop, there are also options to Step Forward or Step Backward which are essentially the same thing, allowing you to undo or redo in steps.

Keyboard Shortcuts

While working, I find it most convenient to use the keyboard shortcuts to Undo and Redo.

Undo and Redo One Step
- ⌘command + Z
- You'll toggle back and forth undoing and redoing one step.
Undo Multiple Steps
- ⌘command + option + Z
Redo Multiple Steps
- ⌘command + shift + Z
The History Panel

The History Panel records every action you take within your document starting with the moment you open the document until you quit the Photoshop application. Within your History Panel, you will see a list of all those actions in chronological order. By interacting with that list, you can go several steps backwards and then also forward to view the different states your document has gone through.

If you click on one of the states on the list, you'll see your document change to reflect the state it was in when you took that action. In the image below, you can see "Retangular Marquee" has been selected. You can also see that all of the states listed below that have been "grayed" out.

If I were to take a new action, with a prior state selected, all of those states that originally came after the selected state would disappear and I would not be able to access those anymore. So just be aware of that.

One last thing I want to note is that every time you open up your document, your history panel is reset. That means that Photoshop will record your actions during the time that the document is open, but if you close and reopen the document again, you won't be able to access states or steps from your previous session.
Create a new document
Any work you do in Photoshop will be contained within a document with all of your images, text, and shapes. As you're working, you'll save your document as a PSD file. When your collage is ready, you'll be able to save your document as a JPEG file that you can publish on the web.

How to create a new document
1. Go to the menu item File > New Document or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + N.
2. Name your document. (You can also name or rename it later.)
3. Enter your document dimensions in Pixels.
4. Set your Resolution to 72 (for web).
5. Make sure your Color Mode is set to RGB Color 8 bit.
6. Click OK.
To close your document window you can click on the X in the upper left-hand corner of the document tab or you can use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + W.
Save your document as a psd file
Now that you've created your document you'll want to save it as a PSD file, so that if you need to quit Photoshop and come back later, your document and all your layers will be saved.

To save your new document press ⌘command + S on your keyboard. Or go up to the menu item File > Save.

Give your document a name (if you didn't do so at creation), then select where you want it to be saved on your computer and, finally, make sure that the format is set to Photoshop. Click Save.

To save your document as you continue to work, periodically press ⌘command + S and your progress will be saved.

Building Your Collage

Gather, organize and open images
At this point, we know how to create a new document and save it as a PSD file. Now, we are ready to gather our images together and bring them into Photoshop and our documents to edit them and begin our layouts.

If you've already been blogging for a while, you know that whether your pulling images from the web or working with your own, organizing and storing your images is important to the efficiency of your workflow.

Here are few tips to keep your images organized:
- Develop a organized folder system that works for you and the ongoing content you create. For example: if you are a fashion blogger and post images of your outfits several times a week you might want to store your images in a monthly file and then a sub folder for the week.
- Or if you are a foodie blogger, you might want to organize you images based on the meal type. Desserts, Breakfasts, Dinners, etc.
Putting a little time and thought into creating a system that works for you will go a long way to make things easier in the future. A lot of bloggers do some sort of "Flashback" post and reuse content they've already created or photographed. If you're images are organized well, that will be a hassle free post to create.

Viewing and Sorting Your Images

Using Photoshop to review, sort and/or select the images you want to use in your collages is not a great option, especially for photographers who have hundreds of images to go through. There are some amazing applications that can assist you with the reviewing/editing process like Adobe Bridge, Adobe Lightroom, or Aperture from Apple. If you are wanting to do some technical photo editing and export a large body of images, I recommend learning about these applications. They're awesome.

However, a lot of bloggers aren't doing technical photo editing and don't need to, so for the purpose of this class, we'll be using the Preview application (comes preinstalled on Mac computers - see below), which let's you open and view multiple images or a folder of images. A list of recommended PC image viewing applications are listed at the very bottom.

Grabbing Images from the Web

If you are creating product collages or blogging about other people or places on the web, you'll be using/borrowing a lot of images already published online.

To grab an image and save it to your computer:
- Click-hold + drag the image onto your desktop or a folder on your desktop
- Or, right-click or control +click on the image and a fly-out menu will appear. Select the option to save the image to your computer and follow the rest of the prompts to name it and save it to a particular folder.
Bringing Your Images into Photoshop

Below are some various ways to bring images into Photoshop.
- Go the menu item File > Open and then select the files you want open using the Open dialogue box.
- Click-hold + drag an image file from your desktop over the Photoshop application icon and let go.
- Click-hold + drag an image file from your desktop directly into your document canvas and let go.
- Click-hold + drag an image thumbnail from Preview directly into your document canvas or over the Photoshop application icon and let go.
- Click-hold + drag an image from your internet browser directly into your document canvas and let go.
- While in Photoshop, go up to menu item File > Place... and select your image using the dialogue box. Your image will be placed directly in your canvas.
You can see the various methods of bringing images into Photoshop in action in the video lesson Getting your images into Photoshop + Transforming.

Arranging Your Tabs

When you open several images in Photoshop, by default they'll open up in a single document window with tabs. You can click on the tabs to view the separate documents or you can click on the double arrows in the upper far-right corner of the document window to select from a drop-down list (below).

Sometimes, however, when working with multiple tabs, it's helpful to utilize the Arrange options so you can see more of the images you're working with.

To access the Arrange options go to the menu item Window > Arrange then select from the sub-menu.

Below is the 6-up Arrangement. Try out some of the other options!

To get back the original tabbed workspace go to Window > Arrange > Consolidate All To Tabs.

Cite Your Source!

It is proper etiquette to cite the source of your image(s). Be sure to keep a log or record of the urls that your images came from. I like to keep a Google doc open while I'm browsing and selecting images online so I can quickly copy and paste the url there.

When you are grabbing patterns and textures for your collages, make sure that the author/creator is allowing free use or downloads of that file.

PC Image Viewing Applications

IrfanView http://www.irfanview.com/

XnView http://www.xnview.com/

Windows Photo Gallery windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/photo-gallery
Draft your layout
At this point, you have your images in Photoshop, whether you've opened them as separate documents (tabs) or they are already within your canvas.

Now it's time to begin drafting your layout. I use the word "drafting" because it's likely that your layout and composition will change several times before you save your final draft as a JPEG to publish on the web. Also, you'll be learning several more creative techniques in the next two units that you may want to incorporate into your collage. If you are feeling especially creative, I totally encourage you to create more than one collage to share!

Get started

There's no particular order of operations that you have follow to start your layout. You'll probably start by placing and arranging your images then add your shapes and text, but some instances you might want to get your text on the canvas first and then add your images around that. It's up to you.

Thoughts on Complexity

A collage could be as simple as placing two or three images together side by side in one document. And sometimes that will be the best way to present your material. Collages can get very complicated, especially if you're working with multiple products, but they can also be straightforward and simple.
Practice Transforming
Now that you know how to get images into your document, take a few minutes to get comfortable with Transforming.

Transforming is one of the most used functions in Photoshop. Transforming allows you to resize, scale, rotate and even reshape your image. Let's take a look at what those look like below:

Any object or image within your document can be transformed (unless it's layer is locked). You can even select a part of an object or image and transform that.

You can access the transform function by going up the menu item Edit > Free Transform or by using the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + T.

When Free Transform mode is activated, a bounding box will appear around your object. Along the outside of that box and in the corners are small squares, called handles. If you click-hold + drag any of those handles you can resize you image from that point.

To rotate your object, hover just outside of one of the corner handles and a curved double-headed arrow will appear (above). When you see that curved arrow click-hold + drag and rotate.

Once you are satisfied with the Transformation, you can hit the return (enter) key or double-click within the bounding box to commit that transformation and exit transform mode.

You can also click on the check mark in the far right area of the options bar to commit your transformation or click on the circle with a strike-through to reject it (below). I'll also note that you can enter very specific values for your transformations in the Options Bar if needed.

See Transforming in action in the video lesson Getting your Images into Photoshop + Transforming and Resizing.

You can also select a more specific type of transforming in the sub-menu located under Edit > Transform > Sub-Menu (below).

Smart Objects

The more times you transform your object or layer, the more visual quality your object will lose. You may not notice it if you resize your image only a couple times, but after three or four transformations, you'll see that your image is more fuzzy or pixelated.

Photoshop has a very cool feature called Smart Objects. If you are going to be doing experimenting with your layout and plan on resizing your objects and images several times, you'll want to turn them into Smart Objects. In the image below, you can see that a non-smart object has lost significant quality after being resized multiple times, whereas the Smart Object has not.

To turn your object into a Smart Object, right-click or hold-control + click on the object's layer and select Convert to Smart Object from the fly-out menu.

Or you can go up the menu item Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object.

Now when you enter Transform mode, your Smart Object will have the same bounding box with the addition of an X across the middle. You can also see Smart Objects indicated by a small page icon in the bottom right corner of the layer thumbnail in the Layers Panel.

Removing Smart Object Status

If you want to use the Marquee Tool to select and delete a portion of your Smart Object, you'll have to remove the Smart Object status by Rasterizing the layer.

To Rasterize your layer you can right-click or hold control + click on the object's layer and select Rasterize Layer from the fly-out menu.

Or you can go up the menu item Layer > Rasterize > Smart Object.

Constraining Proportions

In many cases, when resizing your objects and images, you'll want to retain the original proportions. To do so simply hold the shift key down when you are dragging around the handles in transform mode.

Again, see all this in action in the video lesson Getting your Images into Photoshop + Transforming and Resizing.

[image source: www.amusingtime.com/cute-hamster-eating-bisquit]
Add shapes
Photoshop provides some great shapes that can easily add to your collages.

To add a shapes select the Shape Tool in the Tools Panel (or tap the U key). By default, the rectangle tool is selected, but you can click and hold on the Shape Tool icon to reveal the additional Shape Tools and select a different shape.

With your Shape Tool active, click and drag out with in your canvas to create your shape. When you let go, your shape will be created in a new layer.

In Photoshop CS6, there is a new feature allowing you to simply click on the canvas, with the shape tool selected, and a dialogue box (below) will appear in which you can enter in specific dimensions of your shape before it's automatically created. But you can also just click and drag.

Change the Color of Your Shape

To change the color of your shape you can simple double-click on the layer thumbnail and the Color Picker dialogue box will appear. Select your color and click OK.

You can also change the color by using the Options Bar. With your shape layer selected and shape tool active you'll see several options in the Options Bar. When you click on the color box next to Fill: you can select from various options to affect the fill color of your shape or even add a multi-color gradient or a pattern.

Change the Size of Your Shape

You can change the size of your shape simply by using Free Transform. With your shape layer selected, use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + T.

Or you can go to them menu item Edit > Transform and select one of the transform options in the sub menu.

You can also change the size of your shape by using the Options Bar. Simply type in the dimensions in the fields labeled W: and H: (below) and you shape will resize correspondingly.

Add a Stroke to Your Shape

A stroke is an outline on the outside of your shape.

With the Shape Tool selected, you can add a stroke using the Options Bar. To set your stroke color, click on the box next to Stroke:. Similarly to selecting your shape fill color, you can select your stroke color using the options provided.

To set the width of you stroke you can type in a value in the Options Bar in the field to the right of the stroke color. Or use the drop down slider to set the width.

Just to the right of the width field, there is an additional drop down menu that contains even more stroke options. You can set your stroke to be a dashed or dotted line, set the alignment of your stroke to be on the outside of the shape or the inside, and also edit the look of the caps and corners.

At the bottom of that stroke options box, there is a button that says More Options... and clicking on that will open up an additional dialogue box that allows you to set very specific widths for both your dashes and the spaces between dashes (see below). You can really acheive some interesting effects by adjusting these values. I encourage you to spend a couple minutes just playing around with applying and styling strokes. Get creative!

Using Layer Styles to Add Strokes

You can also add a stroke to your shapes using Layer Styles. Simply double click on the layer containing your shape in the Layers Panel and a Layer Styles dialogue box will appear. On the left select Stroke. Then set your color and stroke weight.

Cut Out Part of Your Shape

When you create shapes with the Shape Tool, you are creating vector shapes. That essentially means that you can scale them up or down without damaging the visual quality. Which is a good thing as you are working on your layout. However, there may be some instances where you want to cut out or trim a part of a shape, but you won't be able to do that to a vector shape until your Rasterize it.

To Rasterize your shape you can simply right-click or hold-control and click on the shape's layer and select Rasterize Layer.

Or you can go up to the menu item Layer > Rasterize > Shape.

With your shape Rasterized, you are free to use the Marquee or Eraser Tools to modify it.

Custom Shapes

Photoshop comes with several unique shapes that you can access by selecting the Custom Shape Tool (below).

With the Custom Shape Tool selected, you can use the Options Bar to select which shape you would like to use.

If you click on the small gear icon in the top right-hand corner of that shapes menu you'll get a fly-out menu with additional options.
- To add more of Photoshops custom shapes, just select any of the shape groups listed at the bottom of the menu.
- You can also customize the look of the menu (change the size of the thumbnails) by selecting from the display options at the top.
- You can also upload more shapes and shape sets by selecting Load Shapes.... There are several places online that offer free and/or affordable shape sets. Just Google "Photoshop Shape Sets" and take advantage of some great resources out there.
Quickly Create Your Own Custom Shapes

You can use the Marquee Tool, Lasso Tool and Paint Brush to create some unique shapes very quickly.

Use the Marque Tool to Create a Shape
- Create a New Layer
- Make a selection on your canvas using the Marquee Tool (M)
- Use the Paint Bucket Tool to fill that selection or use the keyboard shortcuts ⌘command + delete or option + delete to access your current background or foreground colors
- Deselect your shape (⌘command + D) and use the Move Tool to grab and place it
Use the Lasso Tool to Create a Shape
- Create a New Layer
- Make a selection on your canvas using the Lasso Tool (L)
- Use the Paint Bucket Tool to fill that selection or use the keyboard shortcuts ⌘command + delete or option + delete to access your current background or foreground colors
- Deselect your shape (⌘command + D) and use the Move Tool to grab and place it
Use the Brush Tool to Create a Shape
- Create a New Layer
- Select the Brush Tool (B) and use it to create a shape
- Use the Move Tool to grab and place it
Tip! There are a lot of places online that you can find free and/or cheap brush shapes that you can download and use. Just Google "Free Photoshop Brushes." Once downloaded, open photoshop and select the Brush Tool. In the Options Bar open your brush selector and click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the panel. A fly out menu will appear in which you can select Load Brushes... and upload your new brushes.

"Cutting Out" a Shape

You may want to create a shape from a specific part of an image and then delete the unused portion.
- Make your selection using the Marquee Tool or the Lasso Tool.
- Right-click or control-click within your selection and choose Select Inverse from the fly out menu.
- Hit delete.
You can see all these techniques demonstrated in the video lesson Shapes and Text.
Add Text
Adding text to your collages can really lend a great editorial feel to your work, as well as provide another dimension of visual interest.

To add text to your document, select the Text Tool in the Tools Panel and simply click anywhere on your canvas and start typing. Photoshop will automatically create a new layer.

When you are done typing, you need to Commit your text. Here are a few ways you can do that:
- Click on the check mark icon in the Options Bar.
- Use the keyboard shortcut command + enter.
- Double-Click on the text layer that you just created.
Once your new text layer is committed you can use the Move Tool to move it around your canvas.

Create a Text Box

For larger bodies of text, you'll want to create a Text Box. With the Text Tool selected, click and drag anywhere on your canvas. A bounding box will appear with a blinking cursor. Type or paste in some text and Photoshop will automatically space the text out on multiple lines (with hyphens) to fit within your box.

You can resize your text box by dragging in or out any of the handles on the bounding box.

After you commit the text box, use the Move Tool to adjust its placement.

Editing Your Text

After you've committed your text, you can edit it at any time by selecting the Text Tool and directly clicking on the text you want to edit. While in edit mode, you'll see the blinking cursor and the text your are editing will be underlined. If editing a text box, the bounding box will be visible. When you are done editing your text, commit those changes again to exit editing mode.

The Character Panel

The best way to format and style your text is to use the Character and Paragraph Panels. You can open these panels by going up the menu item Window > Character.

Or, with the Text Tool selected, click on panel icon in the on the right side of the Options Bar.

Let's take a look at all the parts of the Character Panel.

Font

This drop down menu contains a list of all the fonts stored in your computer. To change the font just select from the list.

Style

Some fonts come with multiple styles like italic, bold, demi-bold, etc. If the font you want use has more than one style option, you'll be able to view and select those here.

Size

This area controls the size of you font in points. There are some default values in the drop-down menu or you can type in a specific value directly in the field and hit enter.

You can also resize your font by using the Free Transform function: command + T.

Leading

Leading controls the space between multiple lines of text. To adjust the leading on an entire body of text, just select the layer that contains the text, then adjust the value using the drop down menu or type one in. To adjust the Leading on a single line of text, select the Text Tool, highlight the portion you want to edit and then adjust the Leading value.

Kerning

Kerning controls the space between two characters. To use this feature, place the cursor between the two letters you want closer or farther apart and then use the drop down menu to select a value or type one in the field.

Tracking

Tracking will adjust the distance between all the letters in a body of text.

Vertical Scale

This area adjusts the vertical scale (just the height) of your text.

Horizontal Scale

This area adjusts the horizontal scale (just the width) of your text.

Baseline and Color

The next row contains options for Baseline and Color. You can enter in a positive or negative value in the Baseline area to lower or raise your text from the Baseline.

To change the Color of your text click on the color box and use the Color Picker to find your color.

Faux Styles

Because not all fonts come with multiple styles, this areas allows you to apply faux styles to your text.

OpenType Options

Depending on your version of Photoshop, you may or may not see this set of options.

OpenType is a modern font format that allows for even more typographic customizations. It's a little beyond the scope of this class, but if you are a type and font enthusiast, it's great info to know and use! Here's a link to a more detailed info on OpenType: www.fontshop.com/opentype.

Language and Anti-Aliasing

The last two areas you can configure within your Character panel is the Language option and Anti-Aliasing. The Language option dictates how Photoshop will handle hyphenating your text and spell checking. You can access spell checking by going up to the menu item Edit > Check Spelling...

Anti-Aliasing options help the appearance of different fonts if they appear pixelated or blurry at certain sizes.

Using the Character Panel

With your Character Panel open you can format and style all or parts of your text.

To make changes to all of the text in a layer, simply select the layer and configure the Character Panel to get the look you want. If you want edit a portion of the text within a single layer, select the Text Tool, click on the text to enter edit mode and then use your mouse to highlight the part of the text you want to style.

Scrubby Sliders

Another cool feature Photoshop offers is Scrubby Sliders (icon above). When you hover over format option's label the Scrubby Slider icon will appear and you can click-hold and drag left or right to adjust the value in the field.

The Paragraph Panel

The Paragraph Panel will help you format larger bodies of text and your text boxes.

Alignment Options

Using the text Alignment Options you can format your text to Align Left, Align Center, or Align Right.

Justification Options

If you are working with a Text Box you can use the Justification Options. When you justify your text it will modify the spaces in between words so that your text body fits the width of your text box. The options for Justify Left, Justify Center and Justify Right will affect the alignment of the last line of text.

The last Justification Option, Justify All, will stretch the last line of text to match width of your text box just like all the other lines.

Left and Right Indent

Just below the Alignment options are Left and Right Indent. You can enter point values in the fields to control the inside left and right margins of your text box.

First Line Indent
To indent the first line of your text body, you can enter a point value in the First Line Indent field.

Paragraph Spacing and Hyphenation

For multiple paragraphs, you can alter the distance between the paragraphs by setting values for the spaces above and below each individual paragraph.

You can also opt to use hyphenation or not.

You can see all this text formatting in action in the video lesson Shapes and Text.
Share a shape/text combo you created!
Now that you know how to work with shapes and text, share some of your creativity by posting a shape/text combo to the Student Gallery!

Aligning & Framing

Get familiar with Rulers, Guides and the Align feature
Rulers, Guides and the Align feature can be an extremely useful when developing your layouts.

You can see all these features in action in the video lesson Rulers, Guides and Aligning/Distributing.

Rulers

To turn rulers on or off simply use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + R. Or go up to the menu item View > Rulers.

To change the measurement system of the rulers right-click or hold control + click on the ruler and select from the fly-out menu (below).

Guides

Guides are straight lines that you can draw out over your canvas to help you lay out your objects (below). You can create as many guides as you need. Your guides are only for Photoshop editing purposes and will not be visible when you print or digitally publish your work.

To create a guide click directly on the ruler hold and drag out onto your canvas and let go. Your guide will appear. To reposition you guide, select the Move Tool (V) and hover over the guide until you see the Guide icon (below).

Additional Guide Options

You can access additional Guide options in the bottom area of the menu item View (below).

When you select Snap To > Guides, your objects or layers will automatically snap to any guides you have created on your canvas.

You can also select options to Lock and Clear your guides.

For additional help placing your guides, you may want to turn on the Grid feature.

To activate the Grid use the keyboard shortcut ⌘command + ' . Or you can go to the menu item View > Show > Grid.

You can further customize the Grid view by going to your Photoshop Preferences (⌘command + K) then select Guides, Grids & Slices on the left and you can configure your Gridlines, Subdivisions, Colors and Styles.

Smart Guides

Smart Guides is another feature you can turn on by going to the menu item View > Show > Smart Guides.

With Smart Guides activated you'll see additional guide lines appear and disappear as you move objects around your canvas in relation to each other. The best way to get a feel for this feature is to turn it on and move some of your objects around.

Below you can see how Smart Guides appear to indicate where the text is in relationship to the square: aligned left, center and right.

Stefanie Wirick-Fierro

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