Reflections have always inspired mystics and psychics who believe that in the mirror we see not ourselves, but our double from the parallel world.
You can look at this image like a fire for a long time, remaining unable to take your eyes off the unsteady, elusive overflows and flickers, from which, like a pattern in a kaleidoscope, it is our funny, sad, mysterious, or even terrible copy .
Even the usual repetition of the image of an object on the water surface does not leave the observer indifferent, what can we say about the enchanting image that arose on the still surface of landscapes? Reflections are very popular among artists and designers of all stripes as an artistic technique to enhance perception and create a voluminous 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 help but imagine that the demand for reflections would be so great, so his toolbox has many features that make it easy to create this effect.
The simplest “mirroring” of, for example, an object on a smooth surface will be its duplicate (right-click on the object’s layer: “Duplicate the layer”). You should move it down on the canvas below the original and use the “Flip Vertical” command in the "Edit> Transformation" menu, if you have Photoshop in Russian, if in English, then: Edit> Transform> Flip Vertical.
Then the lower part of the result is “washed out”, creating a mask on the copy layer, which is filled with a linear gradient from black to transparent. To do this, using the Shift key, draw a vertical line (one or more) if there is a checkmark in the "Inversion" checkbox on the toolbar at the top.
Further, the opacity of this layer is reduced to the desired level (depending on the nature of the surface and the features of the subject itself).
The described method reproduces only the principle of constructing the effect, since mirroring, for example, a ball is one thing, and a cube, cylinder, pyramid, complex figure or group of objects is somewhat different.
Note :
The result (duplicate layer) can be filled with the same gradient from black to transparent in the quick mask mode. Then, having disabled it by double-clicking on the icon on the toolbar, you should complete the reflection with a few clicks of the Delete key. This option does not require reducing the opacity of the finished layer.
Many Photoshop lessons mirror in the water of magnificent castles and palaces. We, too, will not be an exception: we will glance 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 increase the canvas down to the height of the image, adding a place for the future water surface, in which the castle will be "reflected".
Having completed the familiar procedure, that is, creating a copy of the picture, flipping it vertically and moving it down on the canvas and in the palette of layers, we get its quite plausible “mirroring” in water. But this is only the beginning.
Create a new layer in our image under the copy layer and fill its bottom half with the color “water”. Then, having connected the layers of water and reflection by a “chain”, we add to our result a layer mask and fill it down from the horizon with a linear gradient from black to transparent, so that the resulting “immerse in water”.
Next, by right-clicking on the reflection thumbnail and selecting "Select pixels", go to "Filter> Blur> Motion Blur". 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 give it realism, we simulate ripples on it using the “Displacement map” / Displace map.
Step 2. We cover the reflection with "ripples"
To create an “Offset Map” we need a new document (“File> Create”) with an aspect ratio of 1: 2, the width of which should be about 2 times less than the width of the main image.
Now just follow the commands. Go to "Filter> Noise> Add Noise" and set the effect to 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> Emboss" and set the angle to 180 degrees, height 1 and the effect to maximum (500%). We’ll do the same on the green channel, only set the angle to 90 degrees.
Now, to create the correct perspective of the image, we need to push the lower part forward, for which we go to "Edit> Transform> Perspective" and extremely stretch the lower corners to the sides.
If it turned out, as in the figure above, go to "Image> Image Size". Uncheck the checkbox. Trying to maintain proportions, reduce the height to a width so that the image becomes square. Without leaving the editor, we keep our “Displacement Map” in PSD format (Ctrl + S).
Step 3. Transfer the "ripple" to the image
We return to the main document, stand on the reflection layer on its thumbnail and select (the "Rectangular Selection" tool) the lower part of the image that is mirrored in the water, where we intend to "ripple the result".
Go to "Filter> Distortion> Offset" and set the horizontal scale to 30, vertical to 60, and also select "Stretch" and "Repeat boundary pixels."
Confirming the specified parameters, clicking on OK, select your map in the PSD format in the opened window "Select a displacement map" and carefully evaluate the effect. If something went wrong, for example, the “ripple” turned into “excitement”, you can return to the “Offset” filter (“Edit> Step back”) and adjust the scale.
In order to achieve such a result as in the picture above, you must have more than the initial skills in Photoshop. Although the author of the lesson, which we took advantage of, called it "Photoshop for beginners ...". So, if you take the first steps and everything worked out as you should, you can be proud of yourself.
Step 4. Finishing touches: make reflection in water realistic
Next, the image should add realism. The problem can be partially solved if the area of ​​the water edge is slightly darkened. To do this, on a new layer, on top of the rest, create a narrow selection along the horizon. Fill it with black, remove the selection and blur it with the Gaussian Blur filter with a radius of about 20 px. Then on this layer, change the blending mode to "Soft Color" and lower the opacity to about 80%. If necessary, you can slightly reduce the saturation of the image by setting the value to about 30 on the adjustment layer "Color tone / Saturation".
Other Reflection Techniques
In the above example, to simulate a realistic “reflection”, noise was used, transformed using other filters into a kind of “wave ripple”. But Photoshop can be reflected in water not only by indirect methods, but also using special filters from the editor’s extensive gallery.
"Ripples from the ocean waves"
The gallery has an Ocean Wave filter from the Distortion group. With a successful setting of the “Wave Size” and “Wave Strength” parameters, it is possible to obtain a quite plausible reflection effect, slightly covered by a slight messy ripple. This happens not from the wind, but from a mirror-like surface disturbed by something.
The effect may be far from perfect, but if you try this filter in combination with other functions, it may turn out to be more realistic.
Reflection in water with halftone pattern.
However, to simulate "ripples" Photoshop lessons most often suggest using a displacement map, an example of which is described above. Applies the Halftone Pattern filter from the Sketch group. As a basis for the map, create a new document on a separate layer and fill it with white.
At the same time, in the filter settings, be sure to select "Pattern Type" / Pattern Type "Line" / 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 used similarly to the example described above (section "Step 3. Transfer the" wave ripple "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, there are a lot of interesting lessons in English only. What to do for those with "Photoshop" in Russian (that is, with crack)?
In order to switch to English (temporarily), it is enough to rename (you can change just one character) a file with the extension .dat, which you will find in the Support Files folder (C: \ Program Files \ Adobe \ Adobe Photoshop CS ... \ Locales \ ru_RU \ )
You can return to Russian by restoring the original name of the file with the extension .dat.