Drop Shadow is a fun layer effect that will
create a shadow behind your text in the shape of your text.
Having the blend mode set to multiply will have the shadow
make everything darker. Having it set to screen will make
the shadow lighten everything behind it (in inverse shadow).
Having it set to "normal" will have the shadow be
the color that is selected without any darkening or lightening;
just pure color. Being able to select the color of your shadow
is very useful! The angle will determine which side the shadow
faces based on a light source. Opacity will control how transparent
the shadow is (100% being completely solid and 0% being completely
transparent).
To make the text partially transparent applying
a layer mask is the best way. To get a layer mask go under
your layer menu at the top of Photoshop and select Layer -
Add Layer Mask - Reveal All. Having the layer mask selected
means that if you paint with black it will erase into the
layer and painting with white will bring the color back. The
nice thing about layer masks is that they are not perminate
so if you don't like your effect you can discard it!
Since white reveals and black hides I'm going
to select a gradient that goes from white to black. This will
cause a gradual fade making the text or object look like it's
fading off.
Making sure that I'm on the layer mask and not
the actual picture I drag the gradient straight up, black
to white. As a result where the black of the gradient was
the text disappeared. These type of effects are good for if
you want ghostly text or text that hides behind something
else.
You are now ready to go into the world and cover
it with interesting text! There are so many effects that you
can apply to text... but you might want to consider the fact
that text is supposed to be read. I've shown you A LOT of
different things you can do with text. You may only want to
use one or two of the effects on your type at a time. Make
sure that your text is legible!
All content © J "NeonDragon"
Peffer.
