Step 1

Create your image, I used 500×500px. Then, select whatever background image you want. I used the “stones” wallpaper included in Mac OS X.

Step 2

Create your text, with whatever want you want. I used the “Ravie” font in the tutorial, and a different one for the header image. Then, rasterize the text and apply the following layer settings:

Step 3

Grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool, and make a selection like the one shown below. Next, create a new layer, and fill the selection with white. Call this layer “shine”.

Step 4

Next, go back to your text layer, and do a Select -> Load Selection, then a Select -> Inverse. Next, go back to the “shine” layer, and hit delete.

Step 5

Now, set the opacity on the “shine” layer to about 20-30% . Don’t worry if you can’t see the shine layer now, it’ll be more visible after the next step.

Step 6

Finally, select (Select -> Load Selection), then go to the background layer. Apply a 3.0px Gaussian Blur to the background layer.

We’re done! Try playing around with the color, font, and shading to get many different effects!