Photoshop Tutorial: How to Make a Water Reflection

Photoshop Tutorial: How to Make a Water Reflection 


There are so many different things you can do in Photoshop, no matter what version you have. There are tons of ways to edit photos. Some examples include blurring backgrounds, swapping heads of people, changing hair color, changing backgrounds, and much, much more. No matter what version you have, you can pretty much edit your photos however you want just so as long as you know how to use the right tools.
In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to create a water reflection using Photoshop (any version). Water reflections can be a cool element to add to photos to make them more interesting. They can also be a nice touch if you're adding a normal reflection. Before we start this tutorial, just think about what a water reflection has. One thing that comes to mind for me is ripples. Because of this, we're going to add a nice rippling effect to our water reflect to make it cool-looking and unique.

Before you start this tutorial, make sure you find a good picture to work with. You can basically use any picture, but I am going to use a picture of a scene. I love sunsets, so I'll use that. You can use a picture of a person or really anything. Just make sure the photo is large enough when you work with it in Photoshop. Some great places to find photos include sxc.hu and morguefile.com. Check out those websites if you don't have a picture of your own to use.

So let's begin.

Step 1) Open your image in the version of Photoshop you have. The best way to do this is by going to File > Open and then finding your image.

Step 2) Duplicate the layer. Hot key CTRL + J. Make sure you now have two layers. If you copy and paste the picture on to a canvas, be sure to flatten it first by clicking CTRL + E.

Step 3) Next we're going to increase the canvas area size. Go to Image > Canvas Size.

Step 4) Now make the settings as such: Width: 0 percent. Height: 100. Relative: checked. Make sure the Anchor portion of the Canvas Size box has a blank box with arrows pointing out in all directions. This step will double the size of your canvas height wise so that you can get the reflection portion of the image.

Step 5) Use the selection tool and select the image, not including the bottom white part. After you select it, hit CTRL + J, this will copy and paste it on a new layer.

Step 5) Click CTRL + T, and rotate the copy and pasted image 180 degrees and move it into the white space on the bottom of the picture.

Step 6) Create another new layer again by going to Layer > Duplicate Layer.

Step 7) Fill the layer in with white using the paint bucket tool.

Step 8) Go to Filters > Sketch > Halftone Pattern. This will create the lined ripples for the ripple pattern the water has.

Step 9) Make the settings as follows: Halftone Pattern. Size: 3. Contrast: 40. Pattern Type: Line.

Step 10) Now we're going to make ripples look more water-y and normal. To do this go Filter > Blur. Do this three times until the image is blurred all over, but the lines are still visible.

Step 11) We're going to put this image on a different document so we can use it in a little bit. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer and on the options window, choose New and name it whatever you like. Click OK when you're done.

Step 12) Now delete the ripple pattern layer.

Step 13) Merge all the layers together by pressing CTRL+E.

Step 14) Go to Filter > Distort > Displace. Horizontal Scale should be 4 with the Vertical Scale at 0.

Step 15) A new window will now open. Open up the halftone pattern from earlier and the click OK.

Step 16) We're almost to the end! Now that the effect is applied, it's on both images and we only want it on the bottom picture. Select the layer with the upside down image and click CTRL.

Step 17) Add a mask layer by clicking the icon on the bottom of the layer box that is fifth from the left.

And you're done! You have an awesome ripple effect on your photo now!

Photoshop tip: One other way to make a water reflection is to simply add a water texture just to the bottom picture and put the layer on overlay.