How to make a reflection in the water in Photoshop. Tools, Effects in Photoshop

Reflections always inspired mystics and psychics who believe that in the mirror we do not see ourselves, but our counterpart from the parallel world.

You can look at this image for a long time, as if on a fire, unable to tear your eyes away from unsteady, elusive flashes and flickers, from which, as a pattern in a kaleidoscope, our funny, now sad, sometimes mysterious, .

Even the usual repetition of the image of the object on the water surface does not leave the observer indifferent, what can we say about the enchanting image that arose on the fixed surface of the landscapes? Reflections are very popular among artists and designers of all stripes as an artistic device for enhancing perception and creating a volumetric effect.

How to make a reflection in the water in Photoshop?

The creator of the "Photoshop" editor, a favorite of designers, photographers and ordinary users, could not but assume that the demand for reflections will be so great, therefore, in the arsenal of his tools there are many functions that facilitate the creation of this effect.

The simplest "mirroring", for example, of an object on a smooth surface, will be its duplicate (right click on the object layer: "Create duplicate layer"). It should be moved on the canvas down under the original and use the command "Flip Vertically" in the "Edit> Transformation" menu, if you have "Photoshop" in Russian, if in English, then: Edit> Transform> Flip Vertical.

Then the bottom of the result is "blurred", creating a mask on the copy layer, which is filled with a linear gradient "from black to transparent". To do this, use the Shift key to draw a vertical line (one or several) if the tick in the checkbox "Inversion" on the toolbar at the top.

Further, the opacity of this layer is reduced to the required level (depending on the nature of the surface and the features of the object itself).

The described method reproduces only the principle of constructing an effect, since to mirror, for example, a sphere, is one thing, and a cube, a cylinder, a pyramid, a complex figure or a group of objects is somewhat different.

Note :

The result (duplicate layer) can be filled with the same gradient "from black to transparent" in the fast mask mode. Then, having disabled it by clicking again on the icon in the toolbar, you should end the reflection with a few clicks of the Delete key. This option does not require reducing the opacity of the finished layer.

Many Photoshop tutorials mirror the majestic castles and palaces in the water. We, too, will not be an exception: let's look at one of these lessons and create a realistic reflection of the castle in the water.

Step 1. Create a "reflection" in "Photoshop"

Having loaded the picture into the editor, we need to go to "Image> Canvas Size". After that, you should build the canvas down to the height of the image, adding a place for the future water surface, which will "reflect" the castle.

Having completed the already familiar procedure, i.e., creating a copy of the image, reflecting it vertically and moving it on the canvas and in the layers palette down, we get it quite plausible "mirroring" in the water. But this is only the beginning.

Create a new layer in our image under the copy layer and fill the bottom half with the color of "water". Then, linking the "chain" layers of water and reflection, add our result to the layer mask and fill it down from the horizon line with a linear gradient "from black to transparent", so that the resultant "immerse in water".

Then, right-clicking on the reflection thumbnail and selecting "Select pixels", go to "Filter> Blur> Blur in Motion". We set the angle to 90 degrees, and the offset is 10 px (these are the parameters specifically for this image, you can have your own).

Now that the reflection in the water is created, to make it realistic, we simulate ripples on it using the "Displace map".

Step 2. Cover the reflection with "ripples"

To create the "Bias Map" we need a new document ("File> New") with a 1: 2 aspect ratio, the width of which should be about 2 times smaller than the width of the main image.

Now just follow the commands. Go to "Filter> Noise> Add noise" and set the effect to the maximum (400%). Next, go to "Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur" and set the radius to 2 px.

Switch to the "Channels" tab in the layers palette, select only the red channel, go to "Filter> Stylize> Stamping" and set the angle to 180 degrees, height 1 and the effect to the maximum (500%). The same will be done on the green channel, only the angle will be set at 90 degrees.

Now, to create the right perspective for the image, we need to push the bottom of the image forward, for this we go to "Editing> Transform> Perspective" and maximally stretch the lower corners to the sides.

If it turned out, as in the picture above, go to "Image> Image Size". Remove the checkmark from the checkbox. Trying to keep the proportions, reduce the height to the width, so that the image becomes square. Without leaving the editor, we keep our "Map of bias" in the PSD format (Ctrl + S).

Step 3. Transfer the "wave ripples" to the image

Return to the main document, stand on the reflection layer on its thumbnail and select (the "Rectangular selection" tool) the bottom mirror in the water part of the picture, where we intend to "excite ripples".

Go to "Filter> Distort> Offset" and set the scale horizontally 30, vertically 60, and select "Stretch" and "Repeat boundary pixels".

Having confirmed the specified parameters, clicking on OK, select your map in PSD format in the "Select displacement map" window that opens and carefully evaluate the effect. If something went wrong, for example, "ripples" went into "excitement", you can go back to the "Offset" filter ("Edit> Step Back") and adjust the scale.

To arrive at this result, as in the picture above, it is necessary to have more than the initial skills of working in Photoshop. Although the author of the lesson that we used, he called it "Photoshop for beginners ...". So, if you take the first steps and everything has turned out all right, you can be proud of yourself.

Step 4. Finishing touches: making a reflection in the water realistic

Next, the image should add realism. The task can be partially solved if you slightly darken the area of the water's edge. To do this, on the new layer above the others create a narrow selection along the horizon line. Fill it with black color, remove the selection and blur the "Gaussian Blur" filter with a radius of about 20 px. Then on this layer change the blending mode to "Soft Color" and reduce the opacity to about 80%. If necessary, you can slightly reduce the saturation of the image, setting a value of about 30 on the adjustment layer "Hue / Saturation".

Other Reflection Techniques

In the above example, noise, transformed with the help of other filters into a kind of "wave ripples", was used to simulate realistic "reflection". But to make a reflection in the water "Photoshop" can be not only indirect methods, but also with the help of special filters from the extensive gallery editor.

"Ripples from ocean waves"

In the gallery there is a filter "Ocean waves" from the group "Distortion". If you successfully configure the "Wave size" and "Wave strength" parameters, you can get a completely believable reflective effect, slightly flipped with a light disorderly ripple. This does not happen from the wind, but on the mirror surface, disturbed by something.

The effect may be far from perfect, but if you try this filter in combination with other functions, it can turn out to be more realistic.

Reflection in water with a halftone pattern

Nevertheless, to simulate the "ripples" lessons Photoshop is most often offered to use a displacement map, an example of which is described above. The filter "Halftone pattern / Halftone Pattern" from the group "Sketch" / Sketch is applied. As a basis for the map create a new document on a separate layer and fill it with white.

In the filter settings, you must select "Pattern Type" / Line, and "Size" and "Contrast" - depending on the nature of the image. Their average values will fluctuate somewhere between 10-15 ("Size") and 3-7 ("Contrast").

By assigning a name, the map is saved (Ctrl + Shift + S) in PSD format and at the right time is applied similarly to the example described above (section "Step 3. Transfer the" wave ripples "to the image").

Little tricks

It's no secret that most of the lessons for "Photoshop" are translations from English, less often from other languages. At the same time, a lot of interesting lessons only in English. What do those who have "Photoshop" in Russian (that is, with Russifier)?

To switch to English (temporarily), just rename (you can change just one symbol) the file with the extension .dat, which you will find in the Support Files folder (C: \ Program Files \ Adobe \ Adobe Photoshop CS ... \ Locales \ en_US \ ).

You can return to Russian by restoring the original file name with the extension .dat.