Invisible text in Photo Elements

[Reinardina]

I am trying to enter text on a picture (in photo Elements 8). The text appears on the layer, but is not visible on the picture; the cursor is though.
Where am I going wrong?
Opacity in 100%, the text colour is black, photo background white, and I'm working in the right layer.
I've had the same problem before, but can't remember how I solved it. (Still very new to Elements.)

[SieSmith]

Have you checked the obvious things :-

Text size is large enough to see properly
Text is actually black by highlighting it and setting colour
Text tool was used rather than text selection tool
Tried typing at the cursor to see if anything new appears
Try entering a large size text value before you start typing

Sorry to ask, but it is quite easy to overlook something when using the text tool in elements, things are not always exactly as they seem with it.

Cheers, Sie

[Cathus]

Not sure if Elements is the same as Photoshop but.

the layer is actually turned on - has a small eye icon next to it
the layer is on normal blending mode & not one of the others

[Reinardina]

Originally Posted by SieSmith

Have you checked the obvious things :-

Text size is large enough to see properly
Text is actually black by highlighting it and setting colour
Text tool was used rather than text selection tool
Tried typing at the cursor to see if anything new appears
Try entering a large size text value before you start typing

Sorry to ask, but it is quite easy to overlook something when using the text tool in elements, things are not always exactly as they seem with it.

Cheers, Sie

Originally Posted by Cathus

Not sure if Elements is the same as Photoshop but.

the layer is actually turned on - has a small eye icon next to it
the layer is on normal blending mode & not one of the others

Thank you both for your advice.

Elements isn't quite like Photoshop, there are some differences, but on the whole the system works the same way.

I did have the normal blending mode on in the specific layer, but I think I somehow sent the text backwards, or whatever it's called. I haven't quite mastered that particular feature, and find it quite puzzling.

Late last night I managed to retrieve my text, though I'm not quite sure how. I had to stop experimenting as it was getting too late. I hope I'll be able to continue this morning.

[MattUK]

A good trick I use when I can't see the contents of a layer, is:

Using the rectangular marquee too
Select the layer, then right click the canvas and choose Free Transform

You should see the bounding box on the canvas, letting you know exactly where the contents of the layer is.

* If a pop-up says "No pixels selected" or similar, then the layer is indeed completely empty
* If you can't see the bounding box, then zoom out the image quite a bit (Ctrl -). You might then see the bounding box way off-canvas, and can drag it back on canvas.

[Reinardina]

Originally Posted by MattUK

A good trick I use when I can't see the contents of a layer, is:

Using the rectangular marquee too
Select the layer, then right click the canvas and choose Free Transform

You should see the bounding box on the canvas, letting you know exactly where the contents of the layer is.

* If a pop-up says "No pixels selected" or similar, then the layer is indeed completely empty
* If you can't see the bounding box, then zoom out the image quite a bit (Ctrl -). You might then see the bounding box way off-canvas, and can drag it back on canvas.

Thanks Matt. I'll try to remember that for next time. I managed to 'find my way' again and at the moment it's working fine, but I'm bound to do something wrong again in the future!

[mabbutt]

Originally Posted by Reinardina

Thanks Matt. I'll try to remember that for next time. I managed to 'find my way' again and at the moment it's working fine, but I'm bound to do something wrong again in the future!

It's a mine field of commands and nuances and I struggle with loads of weird things like this!

Google is your friend though and almost certainly someone else has had the same issue.

Interesting this thread comes top of the search for such a problem so you will have helped loads of people including me.

[MattUK]

We iz famuz!

[Justin McDonald]

I have PSE 7 I ran into this but mine did not come back on its own. it took 2 days of searching on Google. You have to reset the tool

[cosmicma]

i think the layer you want as the front layer has to be the first layer in the list

if your text layer was second layer down and the image was the first layer the text would appear behind the image you would have to move the text layer( click on layer and drag ) to the top of the list for it to appear if elements handles layers the same as photoshop