Jo - do you mind sharing

[Shari]

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/gallery/view_img.php?id=14888
I really like this. I want to do my Dad a small photo album with photos from 2006. This effect would make a great cover. Thanks.
Shari

[kayser]

Shari- There is something in the subscriber area about doing photo filled type- http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/subscriber/t_photo_filled.php

[Shari]

Thanks Kay - I just looked. Looks too complicated for me at this moment. I have so many Christmas projects to finish. Maybe I will have it mastered by next year. Thanks again.
Shari

[kayser]

It's really not that complicated once you get started- I've used that effect several times. It looks daunting because of the number of steps, but it goes quickly. Maybe Jo did it differently?

[Wendy]

Hi Shari ...

It really isn't complicated ... just try it and you will find it easy to do :)

Wendy

[jo]

Shari, don't let the size of that tut scare you, it's a good step-by-step that is actually easy to follow.

I did my calendar cover a little differently because I used 4 photos behind the text.

Type in your text. Use a bold font and make it big enough to cover the page you want filled.

ctl click on the text layer thumbnail to get the outline. Make a new layer and stroke the text's outline on that new layer. You can throw away the actual text layer then. And you can put a layer style on the text outline layer.

I typed each number on its own layer so I could arrange them the way I wanted.

Add a photo to a new layer. Try using the magic selection brush on a number/letter in the text outline. Select inverse and make the photo active. Then delete the rest of the photo (outside the number). At this point you might want to link the text shaped photo with the text outline layer. I suggest link instead of merge because you might want to add or change layer styles on the outline, not the filled letter/number.

Repeat for each photo.

[Bayla]

Shari,

It's really easy to do photo filled type.

1. Open up a blank document.

2. Type a letter/word

3.Open up your photo & move it onto your document.

4. With the top (photo) layer selected, go to Layer>Group with Previous ( or do CTRL-G as a shortcut)

Result: Photo filled type & you can move the photo around to get it positioned where you want it.

Bayla

[jo]

Thanks, Bayla. I knew there was an easier way, but the memory gets a little shorter every day.

[AlphaShooter]

Thanks Bayla -- your method is super easy and flexible. I need to read up on the group with previous capability to see what other effects can be created with this powerful technique, because I don't use it in my normal PSE workflow. Does it work by only showing the elements of the top layer that also overlap with the layer below? I tried different colors and it doesn't seem to matter so it must just matter if a pixel is there... pretty cool.