STE P BY STE P / Add a few words

1 Blur the picture

Open a portrait image and go to Filter>Gaussian blur. Add around 20px of blur and click OK. Go to File>Save As and save it as a PSD. We’ll use this image later to map the text distortion (so the text wraps around the face). Ctrl/Cmd+Z to undo until you have your original, clear image back.

2 Type your text

With the Type tool selected, left-click and drag a box out to encompass the whole of your photograph. Copy and paste or type in your favourite text. Delete all line breaks. Highlight all the text (Ctrl/Cmd+A) and navigate to the Paragraph tab. Select Justify All, and untick Hyphenate.

3 Displace and Rasterize

Copy and paste the formatted text until it fills the whole photo. With the text layer selection, go to Filter>Displace. In the box that appears, hit Rasterize. Choose the default settings and click OK. When another box appears, doubleclick on the blurred image that you saved earlier.

4 Copy the layer

Hold Ctrl/Cmd and left-click on the rasterized text layer, to select the text. You’ll see ‘marching ants’ dancing around the screen in the shape of the text. Make sure you untick the layer’s visibility. Next go to Edit>Copy Merged. This copies the selection into the computer’s clipboard.

5 Make a new document

Make a new document and paste in your copied material. The document will be sized to the selection you’ve copied. Then make your background black, double-click on the background layer and click OK to unlock the layer. Now hit Ctrl/Cmd+I to invert the colour from white to black.

6 Save as a JPEG

As if by magic, your portrait will appear underneath the morphed text. Add a Levels Adjustment layer to increase the contrast in the final image, reduce the highlights and bring up the blacks if needed. Then just save it. Go to File>Save As… and choose JPEG.