Step 12: Rotate The Canvas 90° Clockwise

To create the flames for our fire text effect, we'll be using a few of Photoshop's filters, and the first one we'll be using - the Wind filter - only works from left to right (or right to left), which means that in order to use it, we'll need to rotate our image. Go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen, choose Rotate Canvas, and then choose 90° CW (clockwise):

This rotates the image so that the text is now appearing along the left of the document:

Step 13: Apply The Wind Filter

We're ready to apply the Wind filter. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Stylize, and then choose Wind:

This brings up the Wind filter dialog box, which consists of a preview area in the top left and a few options below it. The options are divided into two sections, Method and Direction. Make sure that Wind is selected for the Method, then down at the bottom, set the Direction to From the Left:

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box and apply the Wind filter. They're a little hard to make out in the screenshot, but you'll see small streaks appearing from the letters extending out towards the right:

Step 14: Re-Apply The Wind Filter A Couple More Times

The streaks are too small and subtle after applying the Wind filter once, so let's re-apply it a couple of times. To quickly re-apply the last filter you used, simply press Ctrl+F (Win) / Command+F (Mac). Each time you press the keyboard shortcut, you'll apply the filter again. I'm going to press the keyboard shortcut twice to apply the Wind filter two more times to the text. This makes the streaks much longer and more pronounced:

Step 15: Rotate The Canvas 90° Counterclockwise

We're done with the Wind filter, so let's rotate our image back to the way it was originally. Go back up to the Image menu, choose Rotate Canvas once again, and this time, choose 90° CCW (counterclockwise):

This rotates the image back to its original position:

Step 16: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter

We need to soften the streaks up a little bit by applying a small amount of blurring to them. For that, we'll use Photoshop's Gaussian Blur filter. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, and then choose Gaussian Blur:

This brings up the Gaussian Blur dialog box. All we want to add is a small amount of blurring, so I'm going to enter a Radius value of about 1.2 pixels down at the bottom of the dialog box:

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box and Photoshop applies the blurring effect. Your streaks should now have a softer look to them:

Step 17: Duplicate The Background Layer

Click on the Background layer in the Layers palette to select it. Then use the same keyboard shortcut we used earlier, Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac), to duplicate the Background layer. You'll see a copy of the Background layer, named "Background copy", appear above the original in the Layers palette:

Step 18: Merge The Text Layer With The Background Copy Layer

If you look at the text layer in the Layers palette, you'll see a preview thumbnail to the left of the layer's name which shows us a small preview of the contents of the layer. Notice how most of the thumbnail is filled with a checkerboard pattern? That checkerboard pattern is how Photoshop represents transparency, which means that our text is currently surrounded by nothing but transparency. We need to fill all that transparent area with black. To do that, we'll merge the text layer with the copy of the Background layer we just created.

To merge the two layers together, first click on the text layer in the Layers palette to select it. Then go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and choose Merge Down near the bottom of the list of options:

This merges the text layer with the Background copy layer directly below it:

Step 19: Rename The Merged Layer "Flames"

Unfortunately our merged layer, which contains our text, has kept the name "Background copy". It's not a huge problem but it could make things confusing for us, so let's rename the layer. Double-click directly on the layer's name and rename it "Flames":

Up next, we'll be creating the actual flames for our fire text effect using Photoshop's powerful Liquify filter!