Placing Multiple Images in Text With Photoshop

Step 1: Open the Image You Want To Use As Your Background.

Step 2: Select the Type ToolSelect the Type Tool from the Tools palette, or simply press the letter T on your keyboard to select it: Click once on your document. Do not draw a box.

Step 3: Select Your Font With the Type Tool selected, go up to the Options Bar at the top of the screen and choose your font. You'll want to use a font that will give you

thick letters for this effect, otherwise it will be hard to see the images inside them.

Step 4: Set Your Text Color to Something You'll Be Able To See In Front Of Your ImageThe image is mostly black, and by default, the text color is also set to black, which will make seeing it difficult, so change it to a different color you can see better.

Click OK to accept the new color and exit out of the Color Picker. The color swatch in the Options Bar now changes to show the color you selected. In this case, it's showing red:

Step 5: Type the First Letter Of Your WordIn order to add a different image inside each letter of a word, you'll need to work with each letter individually, so create your word one letter a time. This way, each letter will appear on its own layer in the Layers palette. Click approximately where you want your first letter to appear inside your document and type the letter.

When you're done, click on the checkmark in the Options Bar to commit the text.

Step 6: Resize and Reposition the Letter if Needed With Free Transform

If you need to resize the letter and move it into a better position, press Ctrl+T to bring up the Free Transform box and handles around the letter. Hold down your Shift key and drag any of the corner handles to resize it. Holding down Shift prevents you from distorting the look of the letter as you drag it. Or you can change the size in the box at the top.

To move the letter, click anywhere inside the Free Transform box and drag the letter where you need it. Just don't click on the small target symbol in the very center, otherwise you'll move the target symbol, not the letter. As you're resizing the letter, keep in mind how many other letters you'll need to add so you don't end up making the letter too big:

Press Enter when you are done to accept the transformation and exit out of the Free Transform command.Step 7: Add a Stroke Around the Letter It may be difficult to make out the shapes of the letters so to help keep things readable, add a white stroke around the letters. You can save time by adding a stoke now to this first letter. That way, the stroke will be copied along with each letter.

To add a stroke, click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Then select Stroke from the bottom of the list of Layer Styles that appears:

Choose white for the color and use a fairly small stroke.

Click OK when you're done to apply the stroke to the letter and exit out of the dialog box

Step 8: Copy the Type LayerBefore you place an image inside the letter, finish adding the rest of the letters to create the complete word. To create the second letter, press Ctrl+J to duplicate the Type layer. Nothing seems to have happened in the document window, but if you look at the Layers palette, I can see that I now have the original Type layer containing the "S", as well as a copy of it, also currently containing the letter "S", above it:

Step 9: Move the Second Letter Into PositionBoth letters are sitting directly on top of each other, and they're also set to the exact same letter. Move the second letter into position with the Move Tool. Now, you could select the Move Tool from the Tools palette, but that's

the "getting paid by the hour" way. Here's a handy trick. To temporarily switch to the Move Tool from any other tool (except the Hand Tool), just hold down your Ctrl key. This gives you quick access to the Move Tool without having to select it. Then, while still holding down "Alt/Option", hold down your Shift key to constrain your movements in a horizontal line and drag the second letter to the right until it's in position:

Step 10: Change The LetterNow, to change the letter itself, double-click directly on the Type layer's thumbnail in the Layers palette:

This will highlight the letter in the document window:

Change the letter to the second letter of your word.

When you're done, click once again on the checkmark in the Options Bar to accept the change and exit out of text editing mode:

Step 11: Add The Remaining LettersRepeat steps 8-10 to add the rest of your letters and complete the word. Use the Move Tool to make any adjustments to the spacing between the letters until you have everything looking the way you want it. Here's my completed word:

Notice that the white stroke added to the initial letter has been automatically added to every letter in the word, since each letter is essentially a copy of the first one. And if I look in the Layers palette now, I can see that each letter in the word is on its own separate layer, which is going to make it very easy to place an image inside each one individually:

Step 12: Select the First Letter In The Layers PaletteNow that we have our word with each letter on its own separate layer, we can begin placing images inside the letters. We'll start with the first letter, which in my case is "S". Click on the letter's layer in the Layers palette to select it. You'll know it's selected because it will be highlighted in blue:

Step 13: Open the Image You Want To Place Inside The LetterWith the layer selected, open the image you want to place inside the first letter. If, when you open the image, it appears in one of Photoshop's full screen modes, press the letter F on your keyboard until the image appears in a document window. Here's the image I'll be using:

Step 14: Drag the Image Into The Main Document

With the image open in its own document window, simply click anywhere inside the image and drag it into the main document:

If you look in the Layers palette now, you can see that Photoshop has placed the image on its own layer directly above the first letter of the word:

And if you look in the main document, we can see the image blocking the first letter, as well as much of the background, from view:

Step 15: Create A Clipping MaskTo place the image directly inside the letter, or at least make it appear as if that's what we've done, we're going to use a clipping mask. The letter is going to become a mask for the image above it, which means that the only part of the image that will remain visible is the area directly on top of the letter. The rest of the image will be hidden, creating the illusion that the image is actually inside the letter!

To create the clipping mask, make sure that you have the image's layer ("Layer 1") selected in the Layers palette, then go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen

You can also use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+G. Either way it "clips" the image to the shape of the letter. If you look again in the Layers palette, we can see that "Layer 1" now appears indented to the right with a small arrow pointing down at the Type layer below it, showing that you've successfully created the clipping mask:

And if we look in our main document, we can see that sure enough, the image now appears as if it's inside the letter:

Step 16: Resize and Reposition The Image Inside The LetterWith "Layer 1" still selected, press Ctrl+T to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the image. If you can't see some of the Free Transform handles because they extend outside the viewable area in the document window, press Ctrl+0 to fit everything on the screen. Then simply drag any of the corner handles to resize the image. Hold down your Shift key as you drag to constrain the proportions of the image, and hold down Alt to resize the image from its center if that makes it easier. Move the image around inside the letter by clicking and dragging anywhere inside the Free Transform box:

When you're done, press Enter to accept the changes and exit out of the Free Transform command. Here's the image with the work on the first letter now complete:

Step 17: Repeat the Same Steps With The Other LettersTo place images inside the remaining letters, simply repeat the same steps for the initial letter. First, select the letter in the Layers palette. Then open the image you want to place inside the letter, pressing F on your keyboard a few times if needed until the image appears in its own document window. Click anywhere inside the image and drag it into the main document. The image will appear on its own layer above the letter you had selected. Create a clipping mask to place the image directly inside the letter, then finish by using Free Transform to resize and reposition the image inside the letter as needed. It's all just a matter of repeating the same steps, using different images for each letter, until you're done!

To help give the letters more of a sci-fi look to them, you might add an effect like an Outer Glow layer style around them. Use whatever your photo calls for.

Final result: