Distressed Type in Photoshop

Want to make editable vector type with distressed edges? You can by harnessing a photo texture and layer masks.
1. Typeset your words over your background layer(s).

2. Add a photo to your document with a lot of texture (in this case a photo of a wooden fence).

3. Desaturate the image by pressing Shift+Cmd+U (Shift+Ctrl+U).

4. Increase contrast in your photo through a combination of Levels Adjustments and Artistic filters such as Film Grain.

5. Switch to the Channels Palette and Cmd+click (Ctrl+Click) on the RGB composite channel to load a selection.

6. Switch back to your Layers Palette and turn off the texture layer’s visibility icon.

7. Select your text channel and add a Layer mask by click on the Add layer mask button and the bottom of the layers palette.

8. You may want to add a drop shadow or slight emboss to your text using layer styles. Experiment with blending modes as well.

9. If you want to distress the type further, keep going. Load the text layer by Cmd+Clicking (Ctrl+Clicking) on the text layer thumbnail.

10. Create a new empty layer and fill it with Black.

11. Choose Filter>Artistic>Cutout… to process the image further.

12. Switch to the Channels Palette and Cmd+click (Ctrl+Click) on the RGB composite channel to load a selection.

13. Switch back to the Layers Palette and disable to Cutout layer.

14. Select your layer mask on your text layer and choose to fill with Black. Your edges should erode more (if not, you can inverse the selection).

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