Step 16: Resize And Reposition The Image Inside The Letter

We have our first image inside our first letter. All we need to do now is resize and reposition it so it looks the way we want it. To do that, with "Layer 1" still selected, press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up Photoshop's Free Transform box and handles around the image. The Free Transform box and handles will appear around the entire image, even though the only part of the image you can see is whatever's showing inside the letter.

If you can't see some of the Free Transform handles because they extend outside the viewable area in the document window, press Ctrl+0 (Win) / Command+0 (Mac) to fit everything on the screen. Then simply drag any of the corner handles to resize the image. Hold down your Shift key as you drag to constrain the proportions of the image, and hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) to resize the image from its center if that makes it easier. Move the image around inside the letter by clicking and dragging anywhere inside the Free Transform box:

When you're done, press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept the changes and exit out of the Free Transform command. Here's my image with the work on my first letter now complete:

Step 17: Repeat The Same Steps With The Other Letters

To place images inside the remaining letters, simply repeat the same steps we used with our initial letter. First, select the letter in the Layers palette. Then open the image you want to place inside the letter, pressing F on your keyboard a few times if needed until the image appears in its own document window. Click anywhere inside the image and drag it into the main document. The image will appear on its own layer above the letter you had selected. Create a clipping mask to place the image directly inside the letter, then finish things off by using Free Transform to resize and reposition the image inside the letter as needed. It's all just a matter of repeating the same steps, using different images for each letter, until you're done!

I'll go ahead and place images inside my remaining letters using the steps I just outlined. We can see in my Layers palette now that each letter has a separate image on a layer directly above it, and that each image is being "clipped" to the shape of the letter:

After viewing my final effect, it seemed like the white stroke around the letters looked a little boring by itself, especially for an outer space design. So to help give my letters more of a sci-fi look to them, I've added an Outer Glow layer style around them, using a light blue/purple color similar to the galaxy swirling around in the background. I won't bother outlining the steps for adding the Outer Glow layer style, since it's not the subject of this tutorial and you may not need or want to use it with your design.

I've also cropped the image around the word to give the effect more focus. Here's my final result:

And there we have it!

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