Here's a new way to turn that beach sunset into wonderful text. First, make a copy of the image. Second, create a new image that's 300 x 100 with a black background. Now add white text large enough to fit within the black area. Don't worry if it won't fit--you can crop off the leftovers. Once you have your white text on the black background, make sure there's little or no space around the text. If necessary, click on the Crop tool on the Tool palette and crop off the leftover space around the text.

Now click on your beach image to activate it. Click on the Masks selection from the Top menu, and then choose New, From Image. A dialog box for the mask settings will open. Choose the text image from the Source menu and then click on Source Luminance in the Create Mask From menu. Now click OK; you end up with just the text and the beach showing through. If you want to do anything further with this text, such as paste it onto another image, you must delete the mask. To do this, go to the Masks menu and choose Delete Mask. A box will pop up informing you that this will merge the mask into the current layer. Click Yes, and now you're free to manipulate the text as if it were a layer.

To add an interesting look, try copying and pasting your text onto the copy of the beach image and adding a drop shadow.