how to make a background of an excisting picture in Photoshop

I would like to make a sign in Photoshop using an excisting picture as a background.
How should i make the picture fade so the text typed on it will be better readable?

I tried to make the background pic a bit transparent but then the sign becomes a bit transparent as well.

Is there another way to make the background picture fade?

My experience is with GIMP, not photoshop, but the way I'd do it is to reduce contrast, and then either do a color adjust (adding in white to make it fade) or whacking at it with color levels or gamma adjustment. If you're going for an antiquated look you should also have a sepia tone filter somewhere in your toolkit.

If put the background and text on seperate layers, you can then fade one without it effecting the other

Open your image. Go to your toolbar at the top and click on Image. Choose Adjustements from the drop down menu, then choose Levels. Play around with the sliders and see if you come up with something you like. After that, do your text on a new layer and it should show up just great.

You could also try the Hue/Saturation choice and make it lighter, but I like Levels better. Good luck!

Hi there,

I'm by no means an expert but here goes


I use photoshop 7 because, well, my poor wallet wont stretch to the latest version


1. Open up your picture.

2. Go to the opacity slider for that layer and adjust to your liking.

3. Click the 'text tool' type in whatever you want to say


You can adjust the appearance of the text layer by going to layer style and messing around there with different effects.

If you need any help with it, im me in-world and I'll do my best to help.

There are a trillion ways to do this in Photoshop. Here's another non-destructive approach (works in any version of PS except maybe 1.0 ) that involves just the text layer within a single menu/dialogue:

1. Type in your text, size, position, and format it roughly over your background.

2. Go to <Layer/Layer Style> while keeping your text layer selected and choose one of the effects (like outer glow) that extends out from the edges of the text.

3. Play around with different effects and settings until the text becomes readable on the background.

4. Refine the image in any way that looks pleasing after this. Remember that all these steps are non-destructive.

** Alternatively, you can use this same approach on the background image to lighten or darken it with any of the layer effects that alter the inside of a region (like inner glow, color overlay, etc.).

easiest method:
1. make a white background layer.
2. put photo in new layer on top, set its opacity to 70% (play with this number)
3. create text layer.
4. save for web.