Image Text Overlay

Yes, various fonts including multilingual options are provided via web fonts.

Yes, you can set shadow color, size, and direction for the text.

The most reliable approach is a semi-transparent solid panel behind the text. Relying on a drop shadow alone fails wherever the background brightens. If you want the photograph to stay dominant, place the words over a plain area such as sky or a wall and darken just that region slightly. And for white text, a heavier weight survives a busy background far better than a thin one.

Google does recognize some text inside images, but it does not weigh that content the way it weighs the page's own copy. Putting a headline or a key phrase only into an image therefore costs you in search. Whenever you burn text into a picture, repeat the same wording in the alt attribute and in the body copy — that way both search engines and screen-reader users receive it.