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It’s easy to get caught up in Photoshop’s selection tools, thus forgetting that there are other interesting, though less mentioned, methods lying in wait. Take the Type Mask, for example. When is the last time you heard it mentioned? Exactly.

Instead of setting actual text, the Type Mask tool creates a selection of text (marching ants) enabling you to create all manner of interesting graphic design effects. Today we’ll look at a couple of possibilities using a Type Mask in conjunction with an adjustment layer.

Creating the mask

Step 1

Open the photo and grab the Horizontal Type Mask tool. NOTE: Don’t even bother duplicating the background layer because this technique is non-destructive.

Step 2:

Click within a photo and set some text. You’ll notice that the text appears clear (meaning you can see through to the photo), though the background takes on the red overlay of of Quick Mask Mode. (This is because it really *is* Quick Mask Mode!)

Step 3:

Use the Options bar to change font, point size, etc. or pop open the Character palette by clicking its tiny icon (circled below in red). Highlight the word(s) you want to change, just like you normally would, then make character changes as you see fit. Here I’ve chosen a pretty thick, fat font so that the words will be legible (scripts won’t work as well for this technique). I’ve also decreased the leading between the words to make them appear closer together, tweaked vertical scale, tracking, etc.

TIP: If you want to move the type around while you’re creating it, just mouse away from the type and the cursor will turn into the Move tool automatically.

Step 4:

When the text is just right, click the little checkmark button in the Options bar at the top of your screen to accept the edits (mask), or just press the Enter key (not Return, Enter). This will create a selection of the text, like so:

This is the exact opposite of what we want. Read on.

Step 5:

For this particular effect, I want to fade the background of the photo. That means I need to flip-flop the selection by choosing Select > Inverse, which will cause the marching ants to appear all the way around the document, letting me know that the background is selected instead of the text.

Fading the background

Step 6:

Over in the Layers palette, click the half black/half white circle to create an adjustment layer and choose Hue/Saturation.

Step 7:

In the resulting dialog, lower the Saturation to -65 (to drain most of the color) and increase the Lightness to +60 (to screen back the photo, making the text more legible).

The final result is clear text and a faded photo background. Neat, ‘eh?

Tags: Photoshop Designing with Type Masks

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