Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:39 am Post subject: Having text fill darker or lighter depending upon background
I'm finding it difficult to describe what I'm trying to do, and of course when I want an example of it I can't find one no matter what I put into Google image search. So I hope I can describe it adequately...
I have a background image, a photograph, over which I want to place text. There is considerable contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of the photo - the lightest is around 222/224/229 R/G/B and the darkest 3/3/3.
I want the text overlaid on top to take it's "brightness" (for want of a better way of describing it) from the underlying photograph; so the darker the pixel of the photograph, the lighter the corresponding pixel of text, so that the text over the 222/234/229 sections, for instance, would be 100% black and that over the 3/3/3 sections 100% white.
Note that I want the variance to occur within the individual letters. That is, I don't simply want a measured progression from darkness to lightness, or even darkness to lightness and back to darkness again, or I'd simply paint each letter a different shade of black. What I want is for the pixels that form the letters to take on a darker or lighter shade dependent upon the shade of the pixel in the layer beneath.
I have spent several hours trying to use the "blend if" function to achieve this. But if, for instance, I start with black I can get the parts of that text that I want to go white to fade to varying degrees, but the parts of the (rasterised) text I want to go 100% white instead become transparent.
If I then place another layer of white text beneath it, in the hope it would show through, the "blend if" function on the black text layer then sees the white beneath, not the photo.
The image attached is a very, very crude representation of what I need. Bur rather than a nice even gradient the photo is, of course, uneven in terms pixel darkness.
I hope I've explained myself with sufficient detail. Please ask questions if I haven't.
example.jpg
Description:
A very crude example of what I'm aiming for, with a photograph as the background rather than a gradient.
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22.82 KB
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477 Time(s)
_________________ Adobe Master Collection CS6
Windows 7 64 bit SP1
12 Gb RAM
Intel Core i5 2.50GHz CPU
1024Mb AMD Radeon HD 7400M graphics
Thanks SCTRWD. That's almost it. However the problem now is that there's some areas of 50% grey in the image, and the text over them is also around 50%.
Example of one of the worst cases attached. Note the "e" in particular.
Any idea of a work-around? Ideally I'd like to stay with black-to-white text, but I suppose I could consider other light hues, if there's no other way :-/
example.jpg
Description:
Filesize:
9.07 KB
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443 Time(s)
_________________ Adobe Master Collection CS6
Windows 7 64 bit SP1
12 Gb RAM
Intel Core i5 2.50GHz CPU
1024Mb AMD Radeon HD 7400M graphics
That's a possibility, but one the end user doesn't want and I'm trying to avoid because of its inelegance.
I think the answer is in somehow altering the range of gradient used by the difference blend, so that, for instance, the parts of the text that are now ~50% grey over ~50% grey background in fact are darker. Similar to the "levels" adjustment, but only as it applies to the blend.
Or I could be looking in entirely the wrong direction, which is why I've come to ask the experts... :-) _________________ Adobe Master Collection CS6
Windows 7 64 bit SP1
12 Gb RAM
Intel Core i5 2.50GHz CPU
1024Mb AMD Radeon HD 7400M graphics
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