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Adding Text - Images: Japanese
Does anyone else think Knorr cup soups are way too good?
Anyway, hey everyone!
Next, let's look at typing text in Photoshop.
Open Photoshop and create a new file. You can also open an existing image, but the text will be easier to see if the background is white or transparent.
With the file open, look at the tool panel on the left. Near the middle-lower area, you should see this icon:
This is the 'Horizontal Type Tool'. As the name suggests, it lets you type text horizontally. This is the tool you'll use to add text in Photoshop.
Here's how to use it. With the Horizontal Type Tool selected, click anywhere on the canvas to start typing. A text entry cursor will appear — go ahead and type something:
When you're done, look at the upper right area of the Options Bar. You'll see the familiar checkmark and X:
Click the checkmark to confirm the text, or the X to cancel and revert.
One thing to note: pressing 'Enter' (or 'Return') does not confirm the text — it inserts a line break. To commit the text, either click the checkmark or use the shortcut 'Ctrl' + 'Enter' (Windows) or 'command' + 'Return' (macOS).
To edit existing text, select the Horizontal Type Tool, then click on the text to re-enter edit mode.
Now let's look at adjusting the text settings. With the Horizontal Type Tool selected, look at the Options Bar at the top:
Here you can set the font family, size, color, and spacing.
First, let's look at the font family dropdown:
This list shows all the fonts installed on your computer. To add more fonts, just install them on your PC — Photoshop will automatically recognize them.
Next are the font size and style settings:
One thing to be careful about with font style: in the image above, 'B' (bold) is shown in the style dropdown — but if the selected font doesn't have a bold variant, you won't be able to change the weight through the font data itself.
For example, the 'Hiragino Maru Gothic Pro W4' font only comes in one weight, so no bold option is available in Photoshop for that font:
Next, look at this section of the Options Bar:
This controls 'anti-aliasing' for the text. Adjusting this (along with various axis settings) can make text look significantly sharper and smoother. For now, setting it to 'Sharp' is a safe choice.
'Anti-aliasing' refers to the process of smoothing the edges of text or images.
When displaying text on screen, a computer can only work with pixels (dots) at the resolution of that display, so edges can come out jagged. Anti-aliasing softens those jagged edges by blending colors at the boundary, making text appear smooth and readable.
Here's a comparison — the top text has anti-aliasing applied, and the bottom does not. The difference is quite noticeable:
macOS is known for its excellent anti-aliasing. If you have both a Mac and a Windows (or Linux) machine, compare how text looks on each — the difference in smoothness comes from anti-aliasing.
The next section of the Options Bar looks like this:
These icons control text alignment — left, center, or right.
And this field controls the text color:
Click the colored swatch (shown in red in the image above) to open the Color Picker and choose a new color. The alignment and color settings are straightforward — just set them to whatever works for your design.
That covers the basics of typing text in Photoshop.
One important note: to change the formatting of existing text, you need to have the text selected before making changes.
For example, to change this text to red, first select the Horizontal Type Tool, click on the text to enter edit mode (the cursor will blink):
Then drag to select the text (or use the shortcut 'Ctrl' + 'A' / 'command' + 'A' to select all):
With the text selected, change the color in the Options Bar — the change will apply only to the selected text.
A common issue when learning Photoshop: forgetting to select the text before changing settings, which leads to
"I changed the setting but nothing happened!"
Don't let that catch you off guard.
To enter edit mode and select all text in one step, double-click the text thumbnail in the Layers panel:
Photoshop also has a tool for typing text vertically. Long-press the Horizontal Type Tool icon in the toolbar to reveal the tool group:
Select 'Vertical Type Tool' to type text top-to-bottom. It works essentially the same as the Horizontal Type Tool.
To move or transform text, use the Move Tool.
For the Move Tool, see this article.
The Bounding Box also works on text layers, so you can distort or resize text using it.
Note that using the Bounding Box to resize text will also change the reported font size in the Options Bar — keep that in mind.
Text settings can also be adjusted in the 'Character' panel, which offers more detailed controls than the Options Bar.
To open the Character panel, go to 'Window' in the menu bar and select 'Character':
An icon like this should appear on the right side of the screen:
Click the top icon to open the Character panel:
Here you can fine-tune line spacing, tracking, and even simulate bold for fonts that don't have a built-in bold variant — among many other options. Use the Character panel when you need more precise control than the Options Bar provides.
The Character panel has a lot of settings, so a detailed walkthrough will be covered in a future article.
That's the basics of typing text in Photoshop. Text opens the door to all kinds of creative effects and asset creation — we'll explore more of that in later articles.
In the next article, we'll look at the Crop Tool and Trim. Keep it up — see you there!
This article was written by Sakurama.
Author's beloved small mammal |
桜舞 春人 Sakurama HarutoA Tokyo-based programmer who has been creating various content since the ISDN era, with a bit of concern about his hair. A true long sleeper who generally feels unwell without at least 10 hours of sleep. His dream is to live a life where he can sleep as much as he wants. Loves games, sports, and music. Please share some hair with him. |
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