Was looking at your sig and was curious as to how you did the image through the text like that...did you make a mask with the text, then overlay it on the background image?

(Don't worry; been looking around at tutorials on the web, and am understanding more all the time!)

This is one of those questions that I'm probably not going to be able to anser to your satisfaction, because I don't use the same software that you're probably using.

I use this ancient, obsolete, and unsupported Microsoft program called PhotoDraw for all of my graphics stuff. In PhotoDraw, filling text with an image is a simple matter of inserting text, choosing the font, then you click fill, and choose picture. (or texture, or solid color, or gradient, or whatever...) Fill with picture, in other words. Then you surf to the location of the pic you want, open it, and it puts the picture inside whatever object you're filling. Then you click 'adjust picture position' and you can move the picture around to get the look you want.

I'm sure one of the Photoshop gurus around here will be able to tell you how it's done in their program-of-choice, but I don't have any idea, unfortunately.

This might help

http://www.good-tutorials.com/track/8034

For Photoshop:
Create image. Type in text. Select text. Inverse selection. Delete image. Unselect. Blending options--> Bevel.

Done.

In Paint Shop Pro, you can also create text as a selection, which makes it even easier

Instead of creating letters create a mask using the lettering tool, or Creat the Letters, mask around them, insert Image and Adjust Image as you like. Copy, past, add effects (Level, besel, lighting or shadows).