Visuals influence how your audience members remember your message. Durability is one of the four key elements of a successful presentation according to our method here at Ethos3. Creativity can go a long way to help ensure the durability of your messaging. Today we’ll share a tool that can help you create visual interest with the words on your screen. We’ll teach you how to integrate type into your photos so you can have unique, artful slides in your presentation. Let’s get started!
Step 1- Select a Canvas
Before you can integrate type into your photos, you’ll have to select a background! Good candidates for an impactful background will have a depth of field into which you can nestle your words. Examine the example below. These rolling hills allow the eye to see that the hills are not all at the forefront, they go back into the distance a considerable distance. This is a great foundation to build the story of your slide.
After you’ve selected your photo, simply insert your image into photoshop, and stretch to fit your canvas.
Step 2- Adding your Type
Here, we’re using two words that will live in different places on the slide. Because of this, we will need to type the words separately. So in order to integrate type into your photos seamlessly, type the first word or words, then the second separately. Once you’ve typed your words, you can change the color of your text as you wish. We’ve chosen to change our type to white.
Once you’ve manipulated the basic appearance of the type, you can begin to establish depth in your photo.
Next, select the layer that contains your first word or words (here, it’s “GREEN”.) Hold down Control, and navigate to Rasterize Type. Selecting this option will flatten the layer so you can edit it. Repeat the steps for the next layer (in our case, it’s the word “HILLS”.)
Now you can place your type in the scene where you want it to live. To do this, select the first layer, and press Command and “T” to bring up the Transform Controls.
Position the text in the far background. Because your aim is to make the distance between the two lines of type clear, shrink the background text a bit. Also, consider the element onto which you’re placing your text. If it’s a hill like we have, rotate the text to mirror the element, as you see below. This is an important element to remember each time you integrate type in your photos.
Now you’re ready to incorporate the second layers which is in this case the word “HILLS”. Follow the same instructions from the first layer, to come up with something like you see below. Of course, feel free to use your creativity to find different places to nestle the words as you see fit.
Finally, adding a blur to the background makes the depth of field even more convincing. In order to do this, you simply select the first element (or, again, here it’s “GREEN”), go to Filter—>Blur—>Gaussian Blur. A radius of 2 worked well for this image for us. This allows your word in the background to look further back and slightly out of focus while maintaining the ability to read the word.
If you feel you’ve already hit your creativity limit, this is a great place to leave it! You’ve created some depth and made the slide much more interesting than simply placing two words on a bland background. However, there are some advanced techniques to integrate type into your photos if you want to follow along for more!
Step 3- Tuck Your Text
If you want to take this technique a bit further, you have the option of making these words look like they are tucked behind the hills, instead of sitting on top of the crest.
- Select both layers
- Hold down shift, and select the “HILLS” layer
- With both layers selected, control click on them
- Select Convert to Smart Object
- Control click, choose Rasterize Layer
Now you should see one layer. Next, erase the bottom part of the text. Make sure your Hardness is set to 0, and your eraser size is around 35 pixels. A quick tip for erasing to integrate type in your photos is to drop the opacity of the text down to 75% so you can see the hill behind it. This allows you to align the bottom of each letter to the curve of the hill.
Using this soft eraser allows some of the blades of grass to come through, creating a realistic effect.
After you’ve finished creating your image, don’t forget to save it for PowerPoint! Save your image as a JPEG. Press Save and keep the quality on 12 or Maximum. The slider should be all the way to the right on a large file. Then, in PowerPoint, pull up a blank slide, and click “Insert Picture from File, then navigate to the image you just saved. Click on your slide, select “insert”, and how your new slide is ready for your presentation!
When you integrate type into your photos, it can elevate dull, flat slides into dynamic and versatile visuals. So, wondering when should you use this technique? It’s great for adding context to a statistic or emphasizing an important phrase in your presentation script. Because this technique can be time-consuming, it’s definitely not necessary for all of your slides. Keep this treatment special for slides that you really need to tell a compelling story. Another option, of course, is to hire us to do this for you! Have a deck that needs some design help? Reach out today for a free quote! Happy presenting!
