adding text

[Randall]

What am I doing wrong? I am trying to add text to a photo. I click the Horizontal type tool, another layer is created. I click on the part of the image and type and get no lettering on the image. Newbie here...and I've searched. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Buffalo Tony]

check the color of your text. It might be the same color as your background and you would not see it.

[douglas m scott]

Randall,

Or another possobility is that your font size is too small. If you have a large pixel image you will need a large font size.

doug

[Diana]

And I'll add to Doug's tips, if you need a font size larger than 72, you can type in any size you need in the options bar, up to 1296 pt.

Another thing to check is to make sure your Type layer is on top of the stack, another layer may be hiding the text.

Diana

[Randall]

Interesting. Seems to be related to image size. When I reduce the image to something fit for web (i.e."save for web"), I have no problem with applying a text. Seems to be a problem with cameras like mine (Digital Rebel XTi that can produce large image sizes. Anyone care to explain why this is? Thanks.

[TonyW]

The default text size units are point (1/72 of an inch) and how big a point looks on the screen depends on the image resolution you have set. It's often easier to think pixels - if you're image is 2000 pixels high and you want the text to be 10% of the height of the image then type 200 px into the text size box and Elements will do the conversion to points for the particular image resolution you're using (which is a rather arbitrary number). The other way is if you know how high your image is in inches (Look in the Image Resize box). If it says it's 20 inches high and you want text 10% of the height of the image then just type 2 in into the text size box. Elements does the conversion.

My guess is that your image resolution is 72 ppi and 10 pts will only be 10 pixels and you won't see it unless you zoom right in.

Tony

[carmenbyler]

thanks so much for your help. I wasn't thinking of using my "text" tool....I was thinking I would use some kind of drawing tool (brush, pencil, etc.) But I think the text tool will give me what i need. Thanks again!

[Randall]

Tony, thanks for your reply. I'm still trying to understand this, however. When I tried to apply text to these large images, I didn't see the blinking cursor even move; in fact, I didn't even have a cursor....I had the "move" tool icon instead. So, it seemed like I wasn't even typing anything. What do you think?

[TonyW]

That's normal - looks the same way with my D80 pics which are about the same size as yours. To get a reasonably sized text with one of those pics which come in from the camera at 72 ppi I need to have something around 200 pt font (so you need to type 200 into the font size box). Then just click on the image and start typing. Give it a try and you should then see it.

Tony

[Randall]

Tony, thanks. Yes indeed....I get it now. I appreciate this resource!

[Byron Gale]

...with my D80 pics which are about the same size as yours. To get a reasonably sized text with one of those pics which come in from the camera at 72 ppi ...Tony,

A side comment to this thread -- the images from my D80 come into PSE at 300 PPI (large fine JPG) and 240 PPI (NEF).

Could it be that proximity to the North Pole lowers the PPI!!! :D

Byron

[WayneS]

Could it be that proximity to the North Pole lowers the PPI!!! :D


And to take this one step further, most people don't realize Southern tip of Ontario is actually south of the California/Oregon border by a few miles!!! So that shoots that theory Byron :D

Wayne

[TonyW]

Tony,

A side comment to this thread -- the images from my D80 come into PSE at 300 PPI (large fine JPG) and 240 PPI (NEF).

Could it be that proximity to the North Pole lowers the PPI!!! :D

Byron

That's strange. I just checked some recent images and they are indeed 300 PPI for JPEG and 240 PPI for NEF. I don't usually ever look as it doesn't make any difference except for that text size thing. The one I did look at before I posted was 72 PPI so I don't know how that happened.

And Wayne's right. It's nothing to do with the North Pole. I'm actually closer to the Equator than the North Pole - over a third of the US and most of Europe is up North from here :D.

Tony

[Byron Gale]

...my geography teacher would be so proud of me... :o