Hi.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create to look of realistic reflections in water.
This method takes into account the way water looks from various distances.
Open a photo that you'd like to reflect in water.
I downloaded this one from Shutterstock.
To ensure that your results will look simiar to mine, check its resolution by going to
Image and Image Size.
Make its resoltuion 150 pixels per inch.
Then, click OK or press Enter or Return.
If the photo extends beyond your canvas, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0.
Next, we'll convert the photo into a Smart Object, so we can modify the filters and effects
that we'll be adding to it at any time.
Click the icon at the upper, right of the Layers panel and click "Convert to Smart Object".
Go to Image and "Canvas Size".
Click the top, middle arrow and change its measurements to “Percent”.
Make its Height: 200%.
Then, click OK.
To fit it onto your canvas, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0. Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl
or Cmd + J. Go to View and make sure "Snap" is checked.
If it isn't, just click on it.
Open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T. Go to the top, middle of the Transform
and when you see a vertical, double-arrow, drag it down until your photo snaps to the
bottom of your document.
Then, press Enter or Return.
Drag the top layer below the bottom layer and name it "Reflection".
Go to Filter, Blur and "Motion Blur".
Make the Angle: 90 degrees and the Distance: 30 pixels.
Then, click OK or press Enter or Return.
Go back to Filter, Distort and Wave.
Make the number of Generators: 100, the Wavelength: 1 and 17, the Amplitude: 1 and 20 and the
Scale: 100% and 1%.
The Type is "Sine" and "Repeat Edge Pixels".
Then, click Ok or press Enter or Return.
Click the Adjustment layer icon and click "Color Balance".
Under "Midtones", in the Yellow/Blue field, type in 60.
Let's place the relection layer and its adjustment layer into a folder.
To do this, Shift-click on the Reflection layer to make it active, as well, and press
Ctrl or Cmd + G. Ctrl-click or Cmd-click on the New Layer icon tyo make a new layer below
the active layer.
We'll the empty layer with black, but first, if your foreground and background colors aren't
black and white, respectively, press "D" on your keyboard.
Since black is your foreground color, press Alt or Option + Delete.
Make the folder active and make a copy of it.
Name the the top folder, "Reflection top" and the bottom folder, "Reflection bottom".
Open the top folder and make the adjustment active.
To restrict the adjustment to effect only the one layer below it, either click the clipping
mask icon or press Ctrl + Alt + G on Windows or Cmd + Option + G on a Mac.
Scroll to the bottom of your Layers panel and double-click "Wave" to open it.
Make the number of Generators: 1, the Wavelength: 28 and 29, the Amplitude: 1 and 2 and the
Scale: keep it at 100% and 1%.
Then, click OK.
This reflection is much milder than the first reflection we created.
Because ripples look smoother the further away the water is to our vantage point, we're
going transition the top of the milder reflection with the first reflection.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask next tot he active layer.
Open your Gradient Tool and make sure the Linear Gradient icon is active.
Click the gradient bar to open the Gradient Editor.
Click the "Black, White" gradient and click OK.
Go to the top of the reflection and drag straight down approximately one third of the way down.
Then, release.
Presently, the ripples at the top and bottom of the the reflection are inverted.
To reverse them, we'll invert the layer mask by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + I. Next, we'll add
a soft, dark gradient along the top of the reflection.
Scroll to the "Reflection top" folder and close it.
Open the "Reflection Bottom" folder and make the Reflection layer active.
Click the Layer Mask icon to make a layer mask next to it.
As before, go to the top of the reflection and drag your Gradient Tool straight down
approximately one third of the way down the reflection.
Then, release.
Presently, the shore line is a bit too dark, so we'll correct it by first closing the bottom
folder and Shift-clicking on the top folder to make it active, as well.
Open your Transform Tool and if you see this message, it's just telling us that the Smart
Object will be temporarily turned off as we use the Transform Tool.
Just click OK.
Go to the top, middle of the Transform and when you see a vertical, double-arrow, drag
it up just a bit and press Enter or Return.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!