Final Image
As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:Resources
Step 1
Open the Castle image. This image is quite big so let’s reduce the size a bit. Press Ctrl + Alt + I to open the Image Size window and use the settings shown below:Step 2
Select the Crop Tool and drag the upper and lower handles in order to remove the author’s trademark as well as the extra pixels at the top, left and right margins.(Don’t worry, it’s perfectly legal. You can honor the author by linking to his website or this particular image).Step 3
Duplicate the background layer by pressing Ctrl + J. Name this layer “Reflection”.Step 4
Now let’s increase the canvas size (we have to put our reflection somewhere). Press Ctrl + Alt + C to open the Canvas Size window and choose the settings shown below.Step 5
Select the Move Tool (V) and with the “Reflection” layer still selected click and drag down while holding Shift in order to move the layer downwards as shown in the image below.This could already be considered a reflection but it looks quite unrealistic because the water is way to calm and there are no ripples. We will address these issues in the following steps.
Step 6
Now we need to create some ripples. In order to do that we will need a special texture resembling ripples which we can then apply on the reflection layer. Let’s start working on our texture by creating a new document (Ctrl + N), 4000 x 4000.Step 7
We want to match the ripples texture to our reflection layer. In order to achieve that we will have to temporarily move the texture over to our original document (the castle document). While in the texture document select all by pressing Ctrl + A and copy by pressing Ctrl + C. Select our original document and press Ctrl + V to paste.Reduce the height of the texture to fit the bottom half of the image.
Right-click within the transformation boundary and select Perspective. Drag the top handles in and the bottom handles out in order to achieve a transformation like mine below.
Make sure the upper bounds of the texture layer don’t exceed the upper bounds of the “Reflection” layer. For an easier alignment make sure you have Snap active (View > Snap). Press Enter after you’re done.
Step 8
In the Layers palette click on the texture layer we just transformed on the previous step to make sure it’s active. Now Ctrl-click on the “Reflection” layer to create a selection of its pixels. Press Ctrl + J to duplicate the selection (while on the texture layer). Name this new layer “Texture” and delete the previous layer (Layer1).In order to make sure that you followed my steps correctly Ctrl-click on the “Reflection” layer and after that Ctrl-click on the Texture layer. The selected area should remain the same. If it’s bigger then you’ve made a mistake and should redo the steps.
Step 9
You notice that there is a transparent area in the upper part of our texture. We need to get rid of that and in order to do so we will choose Image > Trim . Select Transparent Pixels and press OK. Save the texture (Ctrl + S) somewhere on your computer (remember where).Step 10
Close the texture document (Ctrl + W) and go back to our original document. Turn off the visibility of the “Texture” layer by clicking on the little eyeball icon on the left of its thumbnail.Step 11
Right-click on the “Reflection” layer in the layers palette and from the drop down menu choose Convert to Smart Object.Step 12
Water has a certain reflective quality and our reflection lacks this quality. Remember the “Texture” layer we turned off on step 17? Turn its visibility on again by clicking on the eye icon (more exactly where the eye icon used to be).Change its blending mode to Soft Light and lower the Opacity to 18% and notice how the “Reflection” layer has gained that reflective quality.
Step 13
Usually the water has the color/tint of the sky. Let’s do this in our image. Select the Brush Tool (B) and Alt-click somewhere on the blue of the sky in order to sample a color (sampling a color means that whatever color lies under the sampler’s tip becomes the foreground color).Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and fill the layer with the foreground color (Alt + Backspace). Name this layer “Color”.
Clipping a layer to another means that the upper layer will be visible only through the pixels of the lower layer.
Add a layer mask to the “Color” layer by choosing Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Select the Gradient Tool (G) and from the upper option bar select Foreground to Background option.
Step 14
Click on the layer mask and with the Gradient Tool still selected hold the Shift key and drag downwards as indicated in the image below. This step will ensure that color will not be visible in the upper part of the image and will gradually become more visible in the lower parts.Step 15
Almost done! Let’s do something to improve the appearance of the overall image. A bit of color correction would be just what this image needs. Create a new Curves Adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves).Step 16
In order to boost the contrast add a Black & White Adjustment layer by choosing Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White. Change the Blending mode of this layer to Soft Light and lower the opacity to 46%.Step 17
We are almost there. The image looks too symmetrical because we have flipped vertically the original layer. Also, there are some ugly pixel artifacts in the lower part of the image (we created those when we applied the Glass filter to the Reflection layer). In order to address both of these issues let’s crop our image and get rid of some of the lower part.Step 18
Finally, let’s add a Vignette effect. Create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and fill it with white (with white as foreground color press Alt + Backspace). Choose Filter > Lens Correction and in the Custom tab drag the Vignette Amount slider towards the left. Press OK and change the blending mode of the layer to Multiply.Notice how the “Color” layer is a bit too intense? Let’s lower its Opacity from 12% to 7%.
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