If you have read through all of the chapters preceding this one, you have learned basic techniques for manipulating, optimizing, and saving your digital images, as well as techniques for creating an effective presentation. In this chapter we’re going to go beyond the basics and show you some interesting and eye catching tricks that you can apply in your presentations to make them stand out from the rest.

Some of the effects are accomplished using Photoshop Elements, and the rest are produced with PowerPoint 2002.

Tricks with Photoshop Elements

Image-filled text
You may wish to fill a headline or bold statement with a great digital image. In this example, the image of a spine is perfect for a vertically stacked headline of the word “SPINE.” This is a fairly simple effect to achieve in Photoshop Elements.

Open the file “SpineImage.jpg” from the Cool tips and techniques folder located on the CD.

Select the “Vertical Type Tool” from the Text fly out menu on the Photoshop Elements Toolbox (click and hold the T icon.)

The foreground color does not matter for this exercise. Select the Top align text icon from the Options bar. Place the cursor just below the top of the SpineImage box. Type the word “SPINE” in all capital letters. If necessary, use the Move tool (V) to center the text within the image. Save your file, giving it a new name such as “SpineText.psd.”

In the Layers palette, click and drag the Background layer to the small folder icon in the lower right (create a new layer) or select Layer>New>Layer via Copy. Still in the Layers palette, click and drag this new Background copy layer and move it above the SPINE layer. Next, make the Background layer invisible by clicking the “eye” icon to the left of the layer name. With the Background copy layer selected, type “Ctrl+G,” or select Layer>Group with Previous. The word SPINE should now be filled with the image.

You could leave the word as is, and save your file for your presentation or poster design. For this example, we will add a few more enhancements.

Double-click on the Background layer in the Layers palette, and give it a new name such as “lighter spine image.” Edit the Hue/Saturation for this layer by typing “Ctrl+U,” or by selecting Enhance>Adjust Color>Hue/Saturation. Slide the Lightness slider to approximately +60.

The finishing touch for our SPINE headline is a text layer drop shadow. Select the SPINE layer from the Layers palette and then the Layer Styles palette (Window/Layer Styles.) Choose “Drop Shadow” from the pop-up menu, and click any of the drop shadow styles to apply it to your text.

For the example, we have chosen “low.” If you chose any of the other drop shadow styles and change your mind, you can clear the effect by clicking on the “Clear Style” icon in the upper right corner of the Layer Styles window.

Layer styles
Photoshop Elements has many preprogrammed Layer Styles that you can quickly apply to enhance typography and graphic elements. Open the file “finepoint.tif” from the chapter folder on the CD.

Type “T” to select the Text tool, click the cursor near the top of the image and type the word “precision.” Choose whichever font you wish for this exercise. We have used Compacta Blk BT, a heavier weight sans serif font.

With the Text layer selected in the Layers palette, open the Layer Styles window and choose “Bevels” from the pop-up menu.

Click on each of the Bevel styles to sample the effect on the word “precision.” Select the “simple pillow” bevel and save your work with a new name such as “precision.psd.”

You can edit the Layer Effects that you apply to your images to customize their final appearance. Double-click on the italicized “f” in the Text layer to bring up the Style Settings dialogue box (or select Layer>Layer Style>Style Settings.) For this particular bevel effect, you can change the lighting angle, the bevel direction and the bevel size.

In the Layer Effects window, select Outer Glows from the pop-up menu. Click on the “Noisy” effect to apply it to the word “precision.” Double-click on the italicized “f” in the Text Layer, and slide the “Outer Glow Size” to 40 px.

The last step in this exercise is to change the “Blending mode” for the Text layer. You change the layer blending mode to affect how the pixel colors blend with the layers beneath. In the Layers palette, with the Text layer selected, click the small black arrow next to the word “normal.”

Choose “multiply” and notice how the white text becomes transparent to the background image. Type “V” or select the Move Tool and move the word “precision” to the center of the image. Save your work.

In the book we go on to describe several other "cool tips" with Photoshop Elements and then move on to cover similar tricks in PowerPoint. By the end of the chapter, you will be able to produce stunning slides like this. Click on the image to see the slide.