Add text to an image

Making text readable on a photo

The main pitfall is a lack of contrast: white text on a bright sky or black text on a dark area disappears. On a busy photo, with leaves, a crowd or a city scene, add a dark outline around light letters, or the other way round; a drop shadow is often enough on a calmer background. A colored background behind the text is the safest option, for a poster, an announcement or a quote for example. Choose a sans-serif font for a short message read from a distance or on a small screen, and leave a margin from the edges of the image so nothing gets cut off when it's shared.

Making a meme with your own image

The classic meme follows a simple rule: one line at the top to set up the situation, the punchline at the bottom, in white capitals, in an Impact-style font with a black outline. The outline keeps the text readable whatever the color of the image. The "Meme template" places these two text boxes for you: just replace them, then move them or adjust the size if the sentence is long. Keep it short, a few words per line, so the text is big enough on a phone. Also think about rights: using a photo of a recognizable person or another creator's image can be a problem, especially for public or commercial use.

PNG or JPG: which format should you export?

The image is exported at its original resolution: a 4000 × 3000 pixel photo stays 4000 × 3000, with text as sharp as the rest. PNG keeps every pixel losslessly, so letter edges stay perfectly crisp, but the file is heavier for a photo. JPG is much lighter and fine for sharing a photo on social media or in a message, at the cost of possible slight artifacts around thin letters. If the file is still too big, run it through "Compress Image" or "Resize Image". To sign a whole series of photos with the same text, "Add a Watermark" is quicker.