How to add text to a photo

Add text to a photo in seven steps

1. 1

   Open the photo

   Go to lilcactus.app and choose File› then Open…, or drag the photo onto the window. To follow along exactly, open the sample photo from this page.

2. 2

   Choose the Text tool, a font and a size

   Click the T button in the toolbar, or press T once. On the options bar, click Font and choose Georgia, then type 100 for Size and press Enter or ↩. Sizes are in pixels of the photo, so 100 px on this 1536 px photo is a large headline. Georgia comes with most computers; if it isn’t in the list, choose another serif font, such as Times New Roman.

   

3. 3

   Pick the text color

   New text uses the foreground color, black at first. Click the Color swatch on the options bar, after the alignment and text-direction buttons, enter 2E1A12 (a dark espresso brown) in the # field and click OK. The window is titled Text Color; it changes only the text color, not the foreground color. Text needs strong contrast with what is behind it: on this mid-bright terracotta, dark brown has about twice the contrast of white.

   

   

4. 4

   Click and type the headline

   Click on the empty terracotta on the left, level with a point a little above the top of the cup: the click marks the bottom of the letters, so leave room above it. Type Slow mornings and press Ctrl+Enter or ⌘↩, or click Commit text (the tick) on the options bar. Enter or ↩ on its own starts a new line instead.

   

5. 5

   Add a smaller second line

   In the Layers panel, click the Background row first. While a text layer is selected, the font, size and style you choose change that layer, so this keeps the headline as it is. Then type 36 for Size, press Enter or ↩ and click Italic (the slanted I). Italic stays on for text you add later; click it again to turn it off. Click just below the headline, a little to the right of where it starts, type Single-origin coffee, roasted on Fridays and press Ctrl+Enter or ⌘↩.

   

6. 6

   Line the two up

   The new layers are called Text (the headline) and Text 2. Click the Text row, Shift or ⇧-click the Text 2 row to select both, and choose Layer› then Align› then Left Edges. The second line moves so both start at the same place. To move the pair, choose the Move tool and drag them.

   

   

7. 7

   Change the words later, then save

   Select a text layer, and its words, font and size show in the Properties panel: edit them there, or choose the Text tool and click into the text on the photo. To keep the text editable, choose File› then Save As› then Lil Cactus Project… (Ctrl+Shift+S or ⇧⌘S); after that, File› then Save updates the project. Before that, File› then Save writes the picture back into the JPEG you opened, with the text flattened into it; the first time, it opens the Save Image settings. File› then Export› then JPEG… (or PNG) makes a flat copy for sharing and leaves the file you opened as it was.

   

Make text easier to read

• Choose a color with strong contrast against the part of the photo behind the words; Bold helps small text.
• Over a busy area, a soft shadow separates the letters from the picture. See how to add a drop shadow.

Use the fonts on your computer

The Font list shows the common fonts it finds on your computer, such as Arial, Georgia and Impact, plus Liberation Sans, which comes with Lil Cactus. To use the others installed on your computer, open the list and click Add installed fonts; the browser asks for permission. They stay in the list until you close or reload the page. Some browsers can’t share installed fonts, and Lil Cactus then says so. A font you added from your computer shows in Liberation Sans on a computer that doesn’t have it, and even the common fonts can look different on another device, so send a flat copy made with File› then Export.

Fix common problems

The letters run down instead of across

The Vertical Type tool is on: pressing T again switches between the two. Click Horizontal text on the options bar, or right-click the T button in the toolbar and choose Text.

My headline changed when I set up the next line

It was still selected. Choose Edit› then Undo from the menu, not its shortcut (while the Size field has focus, the shortcut changes the field instead), until the headline is back to its size (each digit you typed is one step), or select it, type 100 again and click Italic to turn it off. Then click the Background row and set the size for the new line.

Coming from another editor

Photoshop

The Horizontal Type tool (T), with Layer › Align for lining up layers.

Mac Preview

Tools › Annotate › Text.

Adding text to photos: questions and answers