step by step get texting with portraits

Combine words and photos for incredible results using layer skills in photoshop CC

01 Make a letter

Open Photoshop CC and go to File>new, choose a size (we used A4), set Background Contents: White and hit OK. Grab the Horizontal Type tool from the Tools panel. Choose a font size and style (the colour isn’t important) then type a letter and click the tick.

02 add a shadow

Click the ‘fx’ icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Drop Shadow. Set Blend Mode: Multiply, Opacity 30 and set colour to black. Use the Distance, Spread and Size sliders to customize the drop shadow, or drag it in the image. Click OK.

03 Copy the letters

Hold Cmd/ctrl+alt and drag the letter to make a copy, then drag over the letter to highlight it and change the letter. Make more copies then, once you have about 30, Shift-click between the first and last in the Layers panel and hit Cmd/ctrl+g to group them together.

04 Clip the Portrait

Highlight the ‘Background’ layer and hit Cmd/ctrl+i to invert it. Go to File>place Embedded. Open the portrait image, then drag it to the top of the stack, so it sits above and outside of the group. Right-click the layer and choose Create Clipping Mask.

05 Make a group

Open the group and shift-click between the top and bottom layer to select all the letters, then go to the Fill slider at the top of the Layers panel and drag it to 0. This’ll leave only the drop shadow visible. Hit Cmd/ Ctrl+g to make a group within the group.

06 Build it up

Hit Cmd/ctrl+j to copy the group, then Cmd/ctrl+t for Free Transform. Use the box to resize and reposition the group elsewhere to build up the effect. Continue to make more duplicate groups, positioning them around the face until it fills out.