Not sure what to call it...

Am I glad I found this forum. I'm trying to teach myself photoshop, and this is just what I needed. I tried doing a search, but wasn't even sure what to look for.

I'm trying to find out if there is a technique for "embossing" an image. What I'm trying to do is have a background of a beach, the waters edge so to speak. I'd like the image to look like the image and text are "in" the sand. With text, I know I can inner shadow and play around with the brightness and contrast. The image isn't working that way. Is there a way to outline the image, and paste it onto the sand, and then play around with the shadow?

I'm have PS7 on a Mac.

I guess you could try a blending mode for the image. Then just mask away anything you don't need. I'm taking a stab in the dark, as I'm not sure if this will produce anything near to what you want.

[QUOTE='Allanon[Druid]']I guess you could try a blending mode for the image. Then just mask away anything you don't need. I'm taking a stab in the dark, as I'm not sure if this will produce anything near to what you want.[/QUOTE] Thanks. I was able to use Overlay, and then an inner shadow to create somewhat of what I wanted. In the end however, went in another direction.

Pray tell, can you point me to a tutorial for masks, by the way. I keep reading about them, but haven't figured out how it works. Thanks.

Here is one that looks pretty explanatory. I didn't read the whole thing, as I already understand masks, but it looks pretty good.

[QUOTE='Allanon[Druid]']Here is one that looks pretty explanatory. I didn't read the whole thing, as I already understand masks, but it looks pretty good.[/QUOTE] Awesome!! It's like getting a new toy on Christmas! Self explanatory, and opens up a whole new realm.