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• • March 9, 2017 at 3:39 am #92758
    Design Dept

    Participant

    I want to place a text box on top of an image that has dark areas and light areas.
    The text needs to be white or black.

    Obviously if I set the text to black, it will disappear in the dark areas of the image and vice-versa with white.
    Is there an effect or layer mode that will make the text react differently over the light/dark areas?
    So I’m thinking the text will have an auto gradient when it’s over the dark/light areas.

    Thanks.

  • March 10, 2017 at 10:34 am #92786
    Charlotte Mrzygod

    Participant

    This may or may not work with your particular style and layout, but I have used a combination of a contrasting stroke, outer glow, and/or drop shadow. I make user manuals for heavy equipment, and I need to make annotations on top of photos to show steps for maintenance and repair procedures. What I do most often is apply an outer glow with the settings tweaked to make it appear more like a stroke with a hard, precise outline rather than a soft fade, and then I add a drop shadow that’s pulled in fairly tight so it doesn’t get lost in the photo and gives better contrast.

    Here are some articles on some of the things you can do with the outer glow effect:

    https://creativepro.com/creating-double-outlines-around-text.php

    https://creativepro.com/tip-week-making-callout-arrows-easier-see.php

  • March 17, 2017 at 10:49 am #92918
    Colleen Shannon

    Member

    The classic graphic design solution to this problem is: don’t put text over that photo.

    Otherwise, try Charlotte’s idea, or try variations on Effects->Drop Shadow or Outer Glow. I often use that with 0 xy and play with the settings until it’s subtle enough to get by an art director.

    In the olden days, we used to decrease the contrast/adjust levels in that area of the photo to help set off the text.

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