Edit your photos using the tutorials from this section that deal with a wide range of tasks, from correction to effects and filters.  Home Photoshop Photo Editing Believable Water Reflection

Believable Water Reflection


All right, here is a tutorial how to create a realistic reflection on the water, quite easy one if I might say. There are various ways how to achieve this effect really. In this tutorial we will use a displace filter.

Ok, let us begin shall we?

image 1

Open the image with water, that you would like to use. Save it as Displace.psd. We will use this file as our displacement map later in the process.

image 2

The next step is to flip a copy of the image to be reflected on the water. Choose: Image> Rotate Canvas> Flip Canvas Vertical. Use Clone Stamp Tool to correct parts around the image, like I did (you don't have to be very precise with that).

image 3

Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and select part of the image (character). Hold Shift+ Ctrl+ left/ right arrow, and move the parts left or right against the image.

image 4

Then choose: Filter > Blur. You can also use the Blur Tool, and blur the image by hand, your choice really.

image 5

Choose Filter > Distort > Displace. A Displace box will appear, select a larger Horizontal Scale, and smaller Vertical Scale. That option also depends of the water surface you are using (calm water, ocean,…)

Then a dialog box will appear and ask you to choose a Displacement Map. Select Displace.psd (the file we saved in the first paragraph of tutorial).

image 6

Use the Clone Stamp Tool (selected) or Eraser to clear some parts of the reflection, the darkest areas around the image.

Believable Water Reflection Tutorial: Final Result

The last step is to set the Opacity of the Reflection Layer. Reduce it to the point where you think it looks cool :)

Anyways, this concludes this tutorial. Thanks for taking time to read this. Have fun!



Author's URL: Lombi
Thank you for voting.
Rate this Materials:
Bad 
1 2 3 4 5 Excellent
print this page subscribe to newsletter subscribe to rss

Advance your current skills or acquire new skills in Photoshop by creating projects using our step-by-step tutorials. More Tutorials: Most Popular Materials | Fresh Materials | TutorialKit New Photoshop Tutorials

Add comments to "Believable Water Reflection"

Only registered users can write comment

Reader's comments