How to Ghost Type in Photoshop Elements 11
Need some ghostly, semitransparent type? Using Photoshop Elements 11, you can twist, transmogrify, and transform your text. Create your type from scratch in an empty document or add the type to an existing picture or background. Just for the heck of it, these steps show you how to add ghostly writing to an existing image:
In the Photo Editor, in Expert mode, open the image you want to use as a background for the ghost type.
Any image, ectoplasmic or not, will do.
Click the Foreground color swatch in the Tools panel and select the color you want to use for your text from the Color Picker.
Black, orange, or witchy green are good Halloween colors, but you can use any contrasting colors.
You can also sample a color directly from your image by using the Eyedropper tool. Simply click a color and it then becomes your new foreground color.
Select the Horizontal Type tool from the Tools panel and then click the area where you want to add the text.
You can also press the T key to cycle through the various Type tools.
The vertical cursor that appears is the size the text will be.
Select a font, style, and size from the drop-down lists in the Tool Options.
Check the Anti-aliasing option in the Tool Options to help smooth the edges of your type.
Type your text.
The text appears on top of the background.
Click the Commit button (the green check mark icon) next to your text to insert what you’ve typed into a layer of its own.
To change the opacity of the type, adjust the Opacity setting of the type layer in the Layers panel.
To make additional changes to the text, you can apply a filter. For example, if you want to make the text wavy, select the Wave filter in the Filter→Distort menu.
Just remember that when you use a filter, a warning pops up informing you that the type layer must be simplified (converted from editable text to pixels) first. Click OK and then apply the filter.
When you’re satisfied with the look, save your image for additional editing later.
You also can choose Layer→Flatten Image to combine the text and background.