This will perfect your skills for embossing letters without filters.

1. Fill the background with your choice of color or pattern.
2. Create a new channel.
3. Type the text.
4. Cut and Paste to center the text
5. Select > Save Selection.
6. Create a new layer.
7. Select > Load Selection.
8. Fill it with the background color.
9. Make 2 copies of this layer and rename as follows from top to botton:
   "Fill"
   "Shadow"
   "Highlight"
10. Lets' assume the light source is from the upper left.

1. Go to "Shadow Layer"
2. With "Preserve Transparency" is checked, fill it with "black" to mark shadow area.
3. With "Preserve Transparency" is UNchecked, move the layer a little bit to the lower right.
4. Go to "Highlight Layer"
5. With "Preserve Transparency" is checked, fill it with "white" to mark the highlighted area.
6. With "Preserve Transparency" is UNchecked, move the layer a little bit to the upper left.
7. Here you go!