Adding Text to Your Images

Adding Text to Your Images

Adding Text to Your Images

Posted: April 17, 2014 in Educational Stuffz
Tags: #text #metadata #photography #blend #blending #watermark #marketing #postcard #digitalmarketing #onlinemarketing

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Not all photos are just for looking at. Sometimes, you want them to serve a purpose too. Maybe to sell a product, maybe to become a card or a gift, maybe to illustrate a point, the reasons are pretty infinite. In scenarios like these, it can be handy to have the ability to add text. Yes, you can do that in ACDSee. Yes, it is easy.

Here’s how:

In Manage mode, select the image you would like to add text to. Open Edit mode. In the Add group, select Text.

The text panel has a whole schwack of settings you can customize.

text configure

Type the text in the field that says “Text”. You will see it previewed on the image. Move the text box on the image around to the spot where you would like your words to go. Resize the box by dragging the marquee’s handles and use the Size slider for the font accordingly.

In the Font area, choose your font via the Font drop-down menu, formatting, such as bold, justification, and the color and opacity of the text.

From the Blend mode drop-down menu, choose an option to specify how you want the text to blend into the image. You’re on your own here as this setting will be different for every image and effect you’re going for.

sell stuff

Here is where things get interesting. Below Blend Mode, you’ll see some checkboxes. These are effects you can use to customize the look of the text. When you select a checkbox, the options related to that effect will appear below the checkboxes.

The Bubble Text effect is used to make your text a thought or speech bubble. Note that you cannot apply other text effects to bubble text. The details of the bubble text settings are outlined in the table below.

bubble text

Bubble Text Settings / Talk / Encloses your text in a comic-book text bubble with a pointed stem.
Thought / Encloses your text in a comic-book text bubble with a dotted stem.
Stem Angle / Specifies the direction of the text bubble stem. Drag the arrow to adjust the angle.
Thickness / Specifies the thickness of the text bubble border.
Length / Specifies the length of the text bubble stem.
Fill / Specifies the background color of the text bubble. Click the arrow to select a color.
Border / Specifies the color of the text bubble border. Click the arrow to select a color.

For other looks, select one or more of the Effects, Drop Shadow, and Bevel checkboxes. Click the Settings button to adjust the settings for each of these options, as explained in the tables below.

drop shadow

Here’s my drop-shadow example. Good for making friends jealous, postcard-style.

Effect Settings / Effect / Specifies the effect you want to apply to your text. Each effect has different options that control its appearance. Drag the sliders to adjust the appearance of the text.
Drop Shadow Settings / Distance / Specifies the distance between the drop shadow and the text. The higher the value, the farther the shadow and the higher the text appears.
If a drop shadow is cut off, or has a noticeably sharp edge, you may need to increase the size of the text rectangle.
Blur / Specifies the amount of blur applied to the drop shadow. Sharp shadows tend to seem less realistic than those with a slight blur.
Opacity / Specifies the darkness of the drop shadow where it falls on the image.
Angle / Specifies the direction of the imaginary light source that creates the drop shadow. Drag the arrow to adjust the angle — note that this also adjusts the shading of the text bevel.

bevel metadata

This image demonstrates not only the bevel effect, which is good for making your text a bit more subtle, but also the metadata feature. Between the Font and Color drop-down menu, you will see the Insert button. Click this and select either Insert Symbol or Insert Metadata…

insert menu

In the Choose Properties dialog, select the checkboxes of the metadata you would like to insert. This information will display on your photo. In the above example, I chose Date/Time under EXIF.

These options allow you to keep valuable information about the photo visible for whatever need you might have.

And the following table details how to use the Bevel settings.

Bevel Settings / Bevel / Specifies how much of each letter’s edge is bevelled. Higher values give the text a more rounded, smoother look.
Strength / Specifies the difference between the highest and lowest points on the text. Higher values heighten the difference between the flat portions of the text and the bevelled edges.
Elevation / Specifies the height of the imaginary light source that creates the bevel’s shadowed effect. Lower values produce longer shadows on the text, while a higher value produces a more direct lighting effect and shorter shadows.
Angle / Specifies the direction of the imaginary light source that creates the bevel effect. Drag the arrow to adjust the angle — note that this also adjusts the angle of the drop shadow.

To add additional text, press Apply and continue working.

Well, I think that pretty much covers everything. It’s really not difficult. There’s a lot of options, but once you play with them, it’s pretty easy to get a feel for what you want out of them. If you’re like me, it doesn’t really get much harder than settling on a font. Happy text-adding!