April's Title Technique

[Barb Eugene]

I really liked how April treated the title for her Canada trip, an example in the newsletter. How is that accomplished in Elements?

[April Showers]

I looked on Adobe help, since I've really never used PSE and it looks like you can do it.

 

First create a new,blank layer above your text layer.

Control+Click on the thumbnail (for me it is the text "T") and your text should be selected.

I'm pasting Adobe's instructions in here, so I hope they work. I contracted my selection - the number of pixels you need depends a bit on your font. I often try a few different times until I get the selection where I want my stroke.

Expand or contract a selection by a specific number of pixels

• Use a selection tool to make a selection.

• Choose Select > Modify > Expand or Contract.
• For Expand By or Contract By, enter a pixel value between 1 and 100, and click OK.

  The selection border is moved outward or inward by the specified number of pixels. Any portion of the selection border that runs along the canvas edge is unaffected.

   

  Once you have the selection where you'd like the stroke, create the stroke on the blank layer above your text. Here are the Adobe help instructions for PSE

  Stroke (outline) objects on a layer

  You can use the Stroke command to automatically trace a colored outline around a selection or the content of a layer.

  • Select the area in the image or a layer in the Layers panel. (Your selection was made in the previous step )
  • Choose Edit > Stroke (Outline) Selection.
  • In the Stroke dialog box, set any of the following options, and then click OK to add the outline:

     

    Width

    Specifies the width of the hard-edged outline. Values can range from 1 to 250 pixels.

     

    Color

    Sets the color of the outline. Click the color swatch to select a color in the Color Picker. (You can add color later with a style, but mine was red)

     

    Location

    Specifies whether to place the outline inside, outside, or centered over the selection or layer boundaries. (Mine was an inside stroke)

     

    Mode

    Specifies how the paint that you apply blends with the existing pixels in the image. (Mine was normal)

     

    Opacity

    Sets the opacity of the paint you apply. Enter an opacity value or click on the arrow and drag the slider. (I didn't change this)

     

    Preserve Transparency

    Strokes only areas containing opaque pixels on a layer. If your image has no transparency, this option isn’t available.

     

    Hopefully this will work for you!

     

    I kind of left out the part where you clip the map paper to the text. I figured you were wondering about the stroke since that is the more complex part. If you can't select the text layer, try rasterizing it first.

[Barb Eugene]

Thanks! I had to add an additional step. After contracting the selection, I added the selection to its own layer. Otherwise I could not apply the stroke.

[April Showers]

I'm glad it worked for you! I did put the stroke on its own layer, sorry I didn't clarify that.