Backlit Text Fx John Woods Adobe Certified Expert Photoshop 7.

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Figure 1 Select File>New from the Photoshop banner bar.

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New File control panel open, File size 4x6 inches at 200dpi Contents: White
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New File, size 4x6 inches at 200dpi Contents: White

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Select Type Tool in the Photoshop toolbar, using a Bold Face font and Black for the Font color, add text to the image.

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Layers palette open showing the addition of a new text layer, Shadow Riders.

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Click on the small arrow at the upper right of the Layers palette, Select Duplicate Layer from the popout menu.

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Duplicate Layer control panel open. Figure 8

Layers palette showing addition of Shadow Riders copy layer.

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Select Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical on the Photoshop banner bar.

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Shadow Riders copy layer flipped vertically. Click on the Move tool or press the V key on the keyboard to select the Move tool. Move the Shadow Riders copy text down.

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Move the Shadow Riders copy text down until the bottom of the texts are still touching.

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Select Edit>Transform>Perspective, notice that the Perspective Transform function is grayed out and not available. This is because the Layer selected Shadow Riders copy is still in vector space.

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Shadow Riders copy layer still in vector space. Figure 13

Select Layer>Rasterize>Type from the Photoshop banner bar. This changes the vector text into a raster layer.

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Shadow Riders copy layer is now in raster space.

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Select Edit>Transform>Perspective, notice that the Perspective Transform function is now available.

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Click and Drag handles to set the Perspective.

Perspective Transform function active around Shadow Riders copy layer, to give the text perspective, click on the lower outside handle and drag it to the side. If the perspective is not right click the ESC key on the keyboard and start over. When the perspective is right click the Enter key on the keyboard, this sets the perspective transform.

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Layers Palette open, Shadow Riders layer is active layer. Click on the Add a Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers Palette.

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Layers Palette open, Shadow Riders layer is active layer. Layer Mask has been added to the active layer. Layer Mask is selected, notice the mask symbol before the Layer.

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Select the Gradient Tool in the Photoshop toolbar, the gradient will be applied to the Shadow Riders copy Layer Mask instead of the Layer itself.

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Gradient Tool options in the Photoshop tool options banner bar. Select Black to White Linear Gradient Figure 21

End Drag

Start Drag

Drag the Gradient tool from the bottom center of the Shadow Riders inverted text to the top of the inverted text. This fades the text the farther it is away from the original text.

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Layers Palette open Shadow Riders copy Layer Mask showing Gradient added to it.

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Select Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur on the Photoshop banner bar. The Layer Mask for the Shadow Riders copy layer is still selected so the filter will blur the Mask. Figure 24

Results of Gaussian Blur on the Layer Mask for the Shadow Riders copy layer.
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Click on the Background Layer to select it.

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Select Filter>Render>Lighting Effects on the Photoshop banner bar.

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Lighting Effects control panel open, set the controls as shown. Color swatch is a Dark Orange

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Results of Filter>Render>Lighting Effects on the Background layer of the image.

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Select Filter>Render>Lens Flare on the Photoshop banner bar.

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Lens Flare control panel open set the Lens Flare as shown. Brightness: 49%, Lens type: 105mm prime. To move the flare click on it and drag the flare to a high center position.

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Results of Filter>Render>Lens Flare on the Background layer of the image.

Flatten the Image and save as jpeg, tiff etc.

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