Using the Horizontal Text Tool and Control Panel

The Control panel is very useful whenever you work with a tool. The options for each tool are unique, and the Control panel gives you easy access to these options. As an example, we’ll select the Horizontal Text tool, set the options for it, and add some text to our image.

1. Select the Horizontal Type tool from the Tools panel on the left side of the screen.

Horizontal Type tool

Type tool fly-out menu

2. Look at the available options up in the Control panel. You will find it right beneath the Menu bar. Depending on how many fonts you have loaded, it may take a moment or two to appear while Photoshop loads your fonts.

Control Panel

3. You can change the font family using the third item from the left on the Control panel. Find a font you like – small samples are on the right side of each font name.

Set the font family

4. Use the dropdown box next to the double-T icon to change the font size to 48px.

Change the font size to 48px

4. Click on the Center Text icon, which is the middle one of the three alignment options.

Center text

5. The next rectangle to the right is the color swatch (in my image above, it’s the black rectangle – yours may be a different color). We need a very light color to be visible over all the dark colors in our image. Click on the swatch to open the Color Picker.
6. In the center of the Color Picker is a vertical rainbow bar. Click inside of the rainbow bar to select a hue.

Color Picker

7. The color range in the large square to the left will change according to the hue you selected. Click up near the top-left corner of this square to get a very light shade of your hue. Click OK.

Click on a lighter shade of your hue

8. Click near the bottom of the jellyfish image, right in the center. You should see a flashing cursor appear, ready for you to type.
9. Type the word Medusa, which is another word for the adult form of the jellyfish (the immature form is called a polyp). If you’re using a different image, type something simple and appropriate for it.

Type the word Medusa

10. To commit your text edit, click on the check mark icon on the far right side of the Control panel.

Commit text edit

11. Finally, take a snapshot of your image in the History panel: click on the Create New Snapshot icon at the bottom of the History panel.

Create new snapshot

12. Try clicking on each of the snapshots to see how your image progressed.
13. Click on your latest snapshot again to restore all of your changes.

Snapshot 3

14. Save your file. We’re done with today’s lesson!

Final Jellyfish image

Lesson Review

• Menus allow you complete many of Photoshop’s image-editing functions.
• Some menu commands are followed by “…”, which means you will be given options in a dialog box before the command is run.
• Some menu commands have keyboard shortcuts listed beside them in the menus. These keyboard shortcuts let you run a command without using a menu.
• Many of Photoshop’s image-transforming filters can be accessed and customized via the Filter Gallery.
• The Actions panel allows you to run a series of tasks all at once.
• The History panel allows you to undo one or more of the tasks you completed, up to 20. It also allows you to take snapshots.
• The Layers panel allows you to rearrange layers, hide or reveal them, change their opacity, and blend them together.
• The Control panel allows you to adjust the settings for a tool before you use it.

Still have questions? Want to give me feedback to improve this lesson? I’ve love to hear from you in the Comments section below.