photo text: a tutorial

a few days ago i posted about celebrating 100 posts on this blog.

since then a few of you lovely readers have been asking about the photo text pieces i created.

i would love to share with you how i made them, and give you my first ever tutorial post!

so, first of all you will need a picnik account + be a premium member to use the features in this tutorial.

it's about $26.00 a year, and i can tell you that it is completely worth it.

i edit all of my photos through picnik, i don't have lightroom or photoshop, and i get some awesome results. 

i also make all of my headers or blog buttons there.

best $26.00 i have ever spent, for real.

alright so after you have set up your account, you will upload some photos, which is pretty easy and self explanatory...but after that click on the "collage" tab:

the best color for this project is black, which you will see in a few steps, so after selecting your size and color click on "done" in the upper right hand corner.

after clicking on "done" you will be taken to another screen with 5 tabs, the default is "create" and that is where you want to be.

under the five main tabs, select "text".

in the text box, type in whatever it is you'd like to show, and select a fun text. 

since you're a premium user you will have some pretty rad choices to choose from.

i find that thicker fonts work best, but almost all of them look awesome.

it also must be white. maybe a really pale pastel would work, but just know that it will give your photos a tint.

the best part about making things like this is experimenting, so have fun with it.

this is where it starts to get a bit confusing, so i'll try my best to explain it thoroughly.

 in the bottom left hand corner there will be a small tab labeled "photo basket".

click here to bring up the row of photos seen on the bottom of my screen.

[this option is only available to premium users, hence why you actually need a premium account to make this.]

now that your photo basket is up, select a photo you would like to use as your 'text'...which really is the background. drag your photo onto your banner like so ^.

the next step is to re-size and drag your photo[s] to your desired position. 

basically, place them over the text like so:

i chose to do multiple photos, all very colorful. 

you can do this, or choose one photo and expand it to cover the entire banner.

my banner is still there, just covered by the photos...make sense?

after all of your photos are in place, select them individually.

the little "photo properties" box will pop up.

under the "advanced blend modes" option, click on the arrow and select "darken"

this will alter your photo to make it look like it is behind the text/the text itself.

this is why black is best, the lighter the background color, the more photo you will see.

but i will show you that at the end...anyway,back to the tutorial.

do this technique for every photo on your banner/palette.

you will now have something that looks like this:

this is where you can position the photos however you would like, even change up the font if you don't like what you already have. if you wanted to edit or alter your photos in anyway, you will have to do that before you start, and in the step when you pull up the "photo basket" select the "history" option. the default is "get from computer"...but if your photos are already edited, from somewhere other than picnik, well then, you're good to go.

really hope this is still making sense....

once everything is in place and you are in love with your cool new project, click on the "edit" tab.

once there, select "resize".

i prefer 800x272, but you can pick whatever you'd like for your blog, card, poster, whatever.

picnik also has "crop" options that let you resize projects into different social networking sizes, and even to fit your desktop.

next up,  click on the tab labeled "save & share".

then, just give it a title and save it to your desired location.

you are now all finished, yay!

my finished project:

and that is it.

i really hope this explains it correctly, but if you have any questions about anything just leave a comment or shoot me an email.

also, if you don't want a premium account, i would be willing to help you out.

if you are interested, send me and email with 1-10 photos you'd like to use and a description of what you are looking for. right now i will be doing blog buttons, or banners.

since i just got started doing this myself, i wont be charging anything for this and i can promise to get you your finished projects back within 5 days of receiving your photos.

all i ask in return is that you do a post linking back to me about your new banner or button. 

or a permanent 

"banner made by see.hay.fly" 

visible on your blog, linking back.

get this while it's hot!

a.k.a before i start charging people for designs :)

here is a look at different fonts and colors:

as you can see, black is best, but navy, forest green, and plum work pretty well too.

the top grey shades weren't even that light, but you can still see the picture very clearly.

this is really just a small portion of font choices, head over to picnik and check it out.

you can also get a free account there, which comes with some neat features, but i think you'll want to become premium very soon after :)

*please note that this is my individual tutorial and ideas and is in no way sponsored picnik.com, even if i would like it to be*