Filling Text with an Image

Open an image that you want to place into text. I am using the colorful picture below:

Make your background edible by double clicking the Layer name and either accept the default name of Layer1 or assign it a unique name. You can also do this by Alt-double clicking.

Your Layers palette should look like the figure below.

Next you will add your text. Click the text tool , then click on the canvas. You will need to use fairly large text. I am using stencil and the with the size 96.

Type some text. I am using "I Love Photoshop Elements." The text can be any color because the fill will actually be the photo. It should look like the picture below:

Drag the Text layer to the bottom. Your Layers palette should look like the figure below. You will notice in your document window that the text has disappeared from the screen. The reason you don't see the text is because it is under the photo.

Now we're going to group the 2 layers. Make sure that the upper layer is selected first. The fill layer should appear blue if selected as shown below.

Then select Layers->Group with Previous. After you perform this step, the layers will be grouped as shown below.

Your image should resemble the one shown below:

Now for the fun part. With the Text Layer selected, apply a Layer Style of your choice. First I applied a simple sharp inner bevel . I also applied a outline dropshadow .

Before flattening your image you can select the image which is the top layer, choose the Move tool and with the arrow keys on the keyboard, move the image until the most interesting part of the image fills the text.

Add another layer by clicking the new layer icon on the layers palette. Drag this layer to the bottom of the layers panel. select a foreground color to compliment the text. Then select the paint bucket tool and pour the color into the layer. Your layers panel should look like this:

Now to add something a little special you can add a filter on the background color to make it look richer. Click Filter >Texture > Texturize.

Now you will see all the options available shown below. Experiment with each one of these options and see if one of them suits your needs. I choose the stained glass with the default settings.

My text now looks like this:

Now you can flatten you image. Click on Layer > Flatten Image:

Now your image is on one and is compressed. Warning, if you want to go back at a future time to edit this file, you must save it in photoshop elements format. Before flattening your image you can select File > Save as and assign it a name. Then compress or flatten the image and save it to whatever file format meets your needs. Photos are usually saved as JPG files and text like we just created are generally saved as GIF files.