Creating a realistic reflection on the surface of water in Photoshop. Create a Simple Ripple Reflection in Adobe Photoshop How to Create Waves in Photoshop

Open the original tree image in Photoshop. Take the Rectangular Marquee Tool and select the area with the tree, something like this:

Then press Ctrl+J to copy the selection to a new layer.

With the new layer active, go to the main menu tab Editing --> Transform --> Flip Vertical (Edit --> Transform --> Flip Vertical), after which the cut area will be reflected vertically.

Make sure that you have the "Snaps" option active in the "View" tab (View --> Snap), if not, then check the box:

Place a horizontal guide so that it snaps to the bottom edge of the new layer:

Take the Move Tool and drag the layer down so that its top edge touches the guide:

Remove the guide (View --> Remove Guide or View --> Clear Guides).

Creating Displacement Maps

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and fill it with white (D key, then Ctrl+Delete).

Go to the Filter tab --> Filter Gallery, in the gallery dialog box, open the "Sketch" tab, where you select "Sketch --> Halftone Pattern". Set the following options:
Pattern Type - Line
Size - 12
Contrast - 5

Click OK.

Now let's save this file as a displacement map. Press the key combination Ctrl+Shift+S, select a location to store the file and give the file a name, for me it will be ReflectionMap.psd, click OK.

We will use this file as a displacement map later.

Turn off the visibility of the last layer to which the "Halftone Pattern" filter was applied, for me it is "Layer 2":

Making the reflection wavy

Right-click on the layer with the reflection, for me it’s “Layer 1”, in the drop-down list select “Convert to Smart Object”, the corresponding icon should appear in the lower right corner of the layer thumbnail:

Go to the main menu tab Filter --> Distort --> Displace, and then set the Horizontal Scale to 5 and Vertical Scale ) equal to 3. Leave the remaining parameters as default:

Click OK. A dialog box will open where you select the ReflectionMap.psd file and click Open.

Tinting the reflection

In the layers panel, click on the icon for creating a new adjustment layer and select "Color..." (Solid Color):

In the color selection window that appears, select the dark blue color #121db5 and click OK. Reduce the layer opacity to 14% and change the blending mode to “Color” (Color). Then right-click on the adjustment layer and in the context menu that opens, click on the item “Create Clipping Mask” so that the adjustment layer acts only on the layer located under it (in our case, the layer with reflection) :

Reducing contrast and creating waviness

Create another adjustment layer “Levels”. In the layer properties panel, drag the left output slider to 29 and the right slider to 200. Also create a clipping mask for this layer:

Create a new layer and go to the tab Filter --> Rendering --> Clouds (Filter --> Render --> Clouds), the document will be filled with smoky gray:

Photoshop has a variety of tools for cutting objects out of an image, from the Pen Tool to advanced selection tools like Refine Edge.

An example of using the Refine Edge tool.

But when it comes to extracting transparent elements set against a solid colored background, there's nothing better than working with channels. In today's tutorial we will be cutting out a water splash set against a white background using a channel selection.

The image that I will take for work is shown below; you can download an archive with photographs of drops and splashes of water from here.

Create a selection using the RGB channel

Open the file in Photoshop, open the channels panel (it is located in the same tab as the layers panel, if this is not the case, then reset the main working environment, as described). Hold down the Ctrl key and click on the RGB channel thumbnail in the channels panel. A highlight will appear in the document:

But at the moment, the surrounding space is selected, not the drops themselves, so you need to invert the selection by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I. Now cut the selected area into a new layer by pressing Ctrl+J.

Now the copy layer is separated from the source by a solid white layer and it is obvious that the color density on the copy layer is insufficient:

Let's fix this. Click on the copy layer and press Ctrl+J several times to copy multiple times:

The color intensified. To compare with the original, turn off the visibility of the group (This is why we created the group - to compare with the original with one click).

If the color density is stronger, remove copies; if weaker, add more.

Removing fringe from edges

Once you have set the desired color density, select all the copy layers by clicking on the bottom one and then clicking on the top one while holding Shift and press Ctrl+E to merge all copies into one layer.

An undesirable side effect of this method is fringe around the edges. It may not be visible on a white background, click on the adjustment layer thumbnail in the Layers panel, and in the window that opens, change the color from white to black.

If there is still fringe, go to the Layers tab --> Edge processing --> Remove border (Layer --> Matting --> Defringe), in the dialog box select the value corresponding to the photo size, for my photo measuring 5237 by 3661 the value 4 pixels was suitable.

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Because We will add an image with reflection, it will need additional space, for this we will double the image canvas vertically. Go to the main menu tab Image --> Canvas Size, switch the units of measurement to percentages, change the height value to 200%, use the arrows to move the location switch to the position shown in the figure and click OK:

Let's rotate our top layer vertically by 180°, to do this, go to the Editing tab --> Transform --> Flip vertical (Edit --> Transform --> Flip Vertical), then drag with the Move Tool layer down:

After the layer with the inverted image has taken its place, create a new layer:

Fill it with white. To do this, set the default colors in the color palette and press the Ctrl+Delete keys to fill the layer with the background color, in our case, white.

Now let's start preparing the Displacement Map.
First, go to Filter --> Gallery of filters (Filter --> Gallery), where we select Sketch --> Halftone Pattern (Sketch --> Halftone Pattern).
In versions below CS6, this path is slightly different: Filter --> Sketch --> Halftone Pattern or Filter --> Sketch --> Halftone Pattern.

We set the following pattern parameters, but the “Size” parameter should be adjusted depending on the size of the image

• Size - 7
• Contrast - 50
• Pattern Type - Line

As a result, on a new layer you will get a sailor suit (or zebra) like this:

Before we can use our black and white lines as water ripples, we need to smooth them out and create even, smooth transitions between them. To do this, we will use Gaussian blur. Go to the Filter tab --> Blur --> Gaussian Blur (Filter --> Blur --> Gaussian Blur). Look at the working document window and increase the radius value in the filter dialog until the transitions between the lines become smooth. In this example, I'm using a small image, so a value of 4 works for me, but the higher the image resolution, the higher the value will be:

Now we need to create a new document from our line layer, we will use this document as a displacement map for the water ripples. At the moment we have the lines layer active. Open the main menu tab "Layer" (Layer) and select "Duplicate Layer" (Duplicate Layer), which will open a dialog box. In the window, in the Destination section, click on the down arrow to the right of the Document option and select New, with this option a new PSD document will be created from the layer:

Click OK to exit the dialog box, and our stripes layer will open as a new document in the Photoshop working window.

This newly created document will be our displacement map, but before we can use it, we need to save it. After saving, you need to close it, because... We won't need it anymore when it's open. When you try to close it, Photoshop will display the usual dialog box, where you click the "Yes" button:

Now the layer with stripes should be removed from the main document; we no longer need it:

Press the key combination Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E to merge the two layers in the panel into a new layer:

Applying the Displacement Maps filter

Go to the main menu tab Filter --> Distortion --> Displace (Filter --> Distort --> Displace), a dialog box will open where you set the following parameters:

Horizontal Scale - 4
Vertical Scale 0
Stretch To Fit - check the box
Repeat Edge Pixels - check the box

Click the OK button in the upper right corner of the dialog box, and Photoshop will open a window asking you to select a file to use as the displacement map.

Select the file you just saved, mine is called "Displacement Map.psd", and then click the Open button. Photoshop will apply the map to the entire image, creating a simulation of water ripples:

Now we have a little problem at the moment. We added a water reflection effect to the entire image, but only needed to the bottom half. We can easily fix this by using a layer mask.

First, hold down the Ctrl key and click directly on the layer above the background in the layers panel:

You'll see a highlight appear around the bottom half of the image in your working document. Then click on the mask creation icon (the top layer must be active!) and you will see how the top layer has a black and white mask covering the upper part of the top layer’s image:

In the document window, the background layer is displayed in the upper half, because the top layer is hidden by a mask, and the top layer is displayed below. Almost done!

Now I think we should blur the dividing line between the bottom and top half in the mask. To do this (and now we have an active mask, in the layers panel there is a white frame around it, if there is no frame, then click on the mask thumbnail) apply the “Gaussian Blur” filter with a radius value of 4.

And let's give at least a hint of the color of the reflection. Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, apply a clipping mask to it so that it applies only to the top layer, check the Toning option (Colorize), move the Hue slider to value around 218 and set the opacity to around 25%:

Well, that’s basically it, look at the finished image:

Water is a complex structure. It itself is transparent, and despite the fact that it is quite clean, we can still somehow see it. And even in its normal state - liquid, water has many different forms, which differ quite greatly from each other. Although water looks quite simple, and it is simple in its "design" - you can't just go and learn how to draw it once and for all. This is because what you're really painting is not the water, but the effect it has on the world as seen through it.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create an image of liquid water in its many forms: drops, lakes, puddles, rain and waterfalls. I'll show you how to use many of Photoshop's tools to speed up your drawing process. I will also try to explain certain rules, once you have mastered them, you will be able to modify the examples given in this lesson to suit your needs. The most important lesson from this entire tutorial is how to use filters correctly to create the textures you need in just a few seconds.

This lesson is a continuation of the lesson Drawing realistic snow effects in Photoshop

Many of the techniques from that lesson will apply to this one too. You can find other lessons on creating realistic effects that imitate natural elements (fire, earth, air, snow) on our website.

1. Draw a drop of water

Before starting the lesson, let's see what effect we would like to get:

1. Light source: its direction is critical
2. Highlight: it creates a distinct shiny point on the front of the drop.
3. Specular Shadow: You can see the highlight because it is reflected instead of staying inside. That's why a shadow forms under it
4. Secondary reflection: residual light that was transmitted inside the drop is reflected outside
5. Cast shadow: Since the light inside is reflected, it is not cast at that location, hence there is a shadow.

Because a drop of water is also a lens, it can focus bright light and transmit it into a cast shadow.

The natural state of a group of water particles is a sphere. However, due to gravity, we tend to see them not as a sphere, but as a flattened dome. This also means that the drop changes in perspective: from an oval shape (1) to a dome shape (2).

Step 1

We will be drawing water drops using a method that will allow you to reuse them later to create as many drops as you wish. Feel free to modify my method to create the effect you like best.

To begin, prepare a background (for example, you can take a leaf texture from the source materials; create a document no wider than 600 pixels), and draw an oval using a hard brush on a new layer (You can create a new layer by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+shift+N) .

Step 2

Step 3

Then activate Embossing(Bevel & Emboss). This will create shadow on the front side of the drop and light on the back side.

• Play with the meaning Depths(Depth(1)) and Size(Size (2)) so that both the light and the shadow inside the drop are not too sharp
• Install Corner(Angle) in accordance with the direction of the Shadow (3)
• Change Gloss contour(Gloss Contour) on according to Gauss(Gaussian (4))
• Install Backlight mode(Highlight Mode) Overlap(Overlay) to make the light have a brighter background (5)
• Play with Opacity(Opacity) Shadow Mode(Shadow Mode) to achieve a more realistic effect(6)

Step 4

Now we have to apply Stroke(Stroke) - this will add a transparent border between what is inside the drop and what is outside.

• The stroke should be almost invisible - play with the size to make it so (1)
• Change Fill type(Fill Type) on Gradient(Gradient (3))
• Set up Corner(Angle) according to the light source (4)
• Also experiment with scale(Scale) to achieve a soft transition effect (5)
• Lower Opacity(Opacity) if the stroke appears too sharp.(2)

Step 5

• Set up Corner(Angle) according to illumination (1)
• Experiment with the settings so that the shadow appears only at the edges, leaving the central area of ​​the droplet clear (2)
• Change Circuit(Contour) on Rounded steps(Rounded Steps (3))
• Add some Noise(Noise (4))

Step 6

Now let's apply Color overlay(Color Overlay) - this is not necessary, but it will make our drop more pronounced.

• Install Blend Mode(Blend Mode) Overlap(Overlay) for greater Brightness and Transparency (1)
• Set the color to greenish-blue (for example, like this #006372) (2)
• Lower Opacity(Opacity) to such a level that the color is barely noticeable (3), unless, of course, you want to have a colored liquid.

Step 7

Applicable Gradient overlay(Gradient Overlay) - this will give a highlighted area on the back side of the drop.

• Install Blend Mode(Blend Mode) Screen(Screen) for brightness (1)
• Change Corner(Angle) to indicate the place that we are going to highlight (3)
• Play with the settings Scale(Scale) to place the gradient correctly (4)
• Lower Opacity(Opacity) to make the light visible, but not just white (2)

Step 8

• Install Blend Mode(Blend Mode) Screen(Screen) for brightness (1)
• Install Color(Color) white (4)
• Make the glow small, diffused and barely noticeable using the settings Opacity(Opacity (2)), Noise(Noise (3)), and Size(Size(5)).

Step 9

Now let's apply Shadow(Drop Shadow) - this will create a cast shadow behind our drop.

• Install Corner(Angle) according to lighting (2)
• Experiment with the settings Distance(Distance), Scope(Spread) and Size(Size) to achieve the feeling that the shadow is really behind the drop, but not under it (3).
• Lower opacity(Opacity) to make the shadow look more realistic (1)

Step 10

In order to give even more volume to our drop, apply Inner glow(Inner Glow)

• Install Blend Mode(Blend Mode) Multiplication(Multiply) for dimming (1)
• Install color(Color) dark blue (for example, this #1e1e5a) (3)
• Source(Source) install Centered(Center) (4)
• Play with the settings contraction(Choke) and Size(Size) so that the shadow is located in the center, and only where it already ends Inner shadow(Inner Shadow) (5)
• If the effect is too harsh, reduce Opacity(Opacity) (2)

Step 11

Now, all we have to do is add a highlight to the front side of our drop. Create a new layer and paint the highlight with a hard brush using pure white.

Step 12

To better highlight our highlight, just add External glow(Outer Glow). To do this, double-click on the layer with the left mouse button to open the dialog box Layer Style(Layer style).

Step 13

So that both styles can be reused for further work, open the window Styles(Styles) and click on the icon Create a new style(Create New Style) while standing on the layer whose style you want to save.

Step 14

Now, every time you want to draw a drop, just:

1. Paint the drop shapes using a hard brush, each on a new layer.
2. Apply the drop style by selecting the desired layer and clicking on the created style.
3. Add a new layer above the previous one and paint a white dot with a hard brush.
4. Apply the Glow style to the drawn point.

Step 15

If you want to create a larger droplet, you need to remember two things:

• The drops can't be too big, otherwise gravity will take over and simply destroy its shape. This means that the picture should look like it was taken in macro mode - i.e. with an observer who is himself quite small in size, or he must be very close to the object.
• The effect of magnifying the drop-lens should be clearly visible from this angle, and accordingly you should clearly emphasize it in your picture

And of course, the layer style we created for the small droplets needs to be modified to adapt it to the larger look.

To create the magnifying effect, you need to do the following:

• Duplicate the background (Control-J)
• Copy the drop
• Place the duplicated background layer between the two drop layers
• Create a Clipping Mask (Control-Alt-G)
• In addition to everything, you can still cut off everything unnecessary outside the drop in the following way: holding down the CTRL key, click on the drop, thus loading the selection, then invert it Control-Shift-I, and now you can press (Control-X), which will allow cut off all unnecessary parts outside the outline of the drop.

Step 16

2. Draw a Lake or River

Step 1

We'll start with the same scenery as in the previous part, where we set the water level and created a reflection. Accordingly, we must have a ready-made background, a clipping mask and a reflection associated with it.

Step 2

Create a new layer and set it to clipping mask mode (Control-Alt-G) relative to the previous one. Fill (G) it with dark brown or gray.

Step 3

Duplicate (Control-J) the background and drag a copy above the clipping layers. Set this copy to clipping mask mode (Control-Alt-G).

Step 4

We need to get rid of overly harsh reflections underwater. Double click on the layer and go to the section Mix if(Blend If). Hold down the Alt key and drag the white arrow to the left to make the brightest areas transparent.

Do you see? There are no mirror reflections!

Step 5

Create a new layer and fill it with the color of the mountains (dark blue). We use this layer to give the water a bluish tint.

Step 6

Change Blend Mode(Blending Mode) layer on Multiplication(Multiply) and lower Opacity(Opacity). The less clear the water (the deeper the lake), the less transparent it should be in our picture.

Step 7

Let's get back to reflection - this is the most important aspect of water. Let's duplicate it. Next, position it above all the layers in clipping mask mode and take it out of this mode for a while (Control-Alt-G). Lower it a little opacity(Opacity), just enough so that you can see what's behind it, fix it as shown below. Use the tool Rectangular area(Rectangular Marquee Tool (M)) to select an area and copy it by dragging while holding down the Alt key. Your task is to create the illusion that there is only water behind these columns. It doesn't have to be perfect - it's just to fool the system, not your eyes.

Step 8

Set the layer back to clipping mask mode (Control-Alt-G). Next, double click on it. In option Mix if(Blend if) drag the entire black marker to the right, and then, holding down the Alt key, drag half of the marker to the right, but all the way to the end. This will make the dark areas transparent.

Step 9

This effect weakens with distance, so we need to partially hide it. Go back to the original reflection and drag it to the very top of the layers palette (still in clipping mask mode). Add layer mask(Layer Mask), and then add a black and white gradient - the black part should be in the foreground.

Step 10

We got perfectly still water, which because of this does not look very natural. What if we want to add subtle ripples to the water surface?

Click on the bottom layer with the reflection and then go to Filter - Gallery of filters. Select filter Airbrush(Sprayed Stroke) from the package Strokes(Brush Strokes), change Stroke direction(Stroke Direction) on Horizontal(Horizontal) and play with the sliders to achieve the desired effect (you may need to change the image size first as there is a limit to these settings).

Step 11

It was a faint ripple. We can make it stronger by adding a pattern that will make it look more like a river.

Create a new file, make it large enough. Fill it with any color, then double click on it and add Gloss(Satin) from a set of patterns (in the dialog box, select the item Pattern overlay(Pattern Overlay)). Then press (Control-A) to select everything and copy it using the keyboard shortcut (Control-Shift-C).

Step 12

We paste our pattern into the main document. Using the tool Free transformation(Free Transform Tool (Control-T)) to adjust it according to the perspective - the pattern should be as dense as possible in the background (in the distance) and as large as possible in the foreground. To move anchor points separately, do this while holding down the Ctrl key.

Step 13

The pattern looks too regular. To fix this, use the tool Patch(Patch Tool (J)) - Simply select an area using the tool and drag it to the location you want to copy it to.

Step 14

Use the same pattern again to make the background even more dense.

Step 15

To properly blend the pattern with the rest of the background, use Layer mask(Layer Mask) and a soft brush.

Step 16

Merge both layers with ripples into one and trim them.

Step 17

We want only the white areas to be visible on this ripple layer, the black areas should be transparent. Do you remember how to achieve this effect? (Hint: double click on the layer... use the option Mix if(Blend if)...).

Step 18

We change Blend Mode(Blending Mode) on Overlap(Overlay) and enjoy the effect.

Bright ripples in the shadows can appear as if the reflections are at the bottom - if you want this effect, erase the ripples from the bases of the columns.

Step 19

Water is very reflective - it literally works like a mirror. This means that it also reflects strong light around it. Our scenery is not the best example to show this effect (the light source is not reflected in our painting), but I will still try to show you how to achieve the illusion of light reflected by ripples.

Create a new layer and use the tool Rectangle(Rectangle Tool (U)) draw a rectangular shape. Put a pattern on it Gloss(Satin).

Step 20

Next, right click on the layer and select Rasterize Layer Style(Rasterize Layer Style). Change Blend Mode(Blending Mode) on Overlap(Overlay) and then use the tool Free transformation(Free Transform Tool (Control-T)) to properly adjust the perspective for the rectangle. You can also use the mode Deformation(Warp) to “break” the correctness of the pattern.

When you do this, with help again Layer masks(Layer Mask) correctly fit the rectangle into the wall of the column.

Step 21

If the effect turns out too weak, simply duplicate the layer (Control-J).

Step 22

Apply the same method to the other column.

Step 23

We can also add a "thickness" effect to the water using a filter. Glass(Glass). Go to (Filter > Filter Gallery > Distort > Glass).

Step 24

If you want to draw a deep lake, with the bottom located far away from the observer, the bottom will be invisible. Then use dark blue, green or brown as the water color and no visible background below.

Strong ripples like we used earlier may not work very well here. Let's try another method. Create a new water layer (clipping mask CTRL+ALT+G) and fill it with black. Next, let's go to Filter - Noise - Add Noise(Filter > Noise > Add Noise). Now apply (Filter > Blur > Motion Blur) with a zero angle.

Go to (Filter > Filter Gallery > Artistic > Plastic Wrap), this will create small ripples. Next, we set up the perspective using the tool Free transformation(Free Transform Tool).

And finally, we translate Blend Mode(Blending Mode) in Overlap(Overlay) and lower Opacity(Opacity).

3. Draw a puddle

Step 1

Again, we will need a background and a reflection. Create a New Layer and use the tool Lasso(Lasso Tool (L)) to create sketches of puddles.

Step 2

Fill the puddle shapes with brown, and then lower Opacity(Opacity) so that the bottom is slightly visible.

Step 3

Place the reflection above the layers, then click on the puddle shapes while holding down the Ctrl key - this will create a selection based on the shape of the puddles. Next, invert the selection by pressing (Control-Shift-I), then press Delete to remove everything unnecessary from the outside. (We don't use a clipping mask because the puddles are half transparent and there would be a reflection there)

Step 4

Just like we did with the lake reflection, now we need to make the dark areas of the reflection transparent.

Step 5

Again, we'll need to apply the Fresnel effect to our reflection. To do this use Layer mask(Layer Mask).

Step 6

Let's make a little disturbance on the surface of the water. To do this we go to Filter - Filter Gallery - Distortion - Glass(Filter > Filter Gallery > Distort > Glass).

Step 7

Duplicate (Control-J) the puddle shape layer and place the copy above all layers. Change level fills(Fill) to 0, then double click on it and play with the settings Inner shadow(Inner shadow) and Shadows(Drop shadow). Actual values ​​will depend on the size of your painting, but always keep in mind that the main goal is to create a slight shadow within...

And the light edge on the outside.

4. Draw light rain

Step 1

Create a new layer. Fill it with black, then go to Filter - Noise - Add Noise(Filter > Noise > Add Noise). Using a tool Free transformation(Free Transform Tool (Control-T)) expand the boundaries of your rectangle.

Step 2

Next, go to (Filter > Pixelate > Crystallize). Use the tool again Free transformation(Free Transform Tool) to move the noise away from the background.

Step 3

Let's go to Filter - Blur - Motion Blur(Filter > Blur > Motion Blur) to create real blobs out of all this chaos. Change Blend Mode(Blending Mode) on Screen(Screen) to remove the black background.

Step 4

Using layer mask(Layer Mask), clear any drips from the columns.

Step 5

Create a noise layer again.

If the resulting points seem too weak, try correcting them using the editor Levels(Levels (Control-L)), and drag the right handle as far to the left as possible.

Apply Motion blur(Motion Blur) again to create the effect of falling drops.

Now, let's create a rippling effect on the surface of the puddles using light drops. Make sure that the entire background (ground, columns, sky and puddles) blends together. Then activate Soft round brush(Soft Round brush), go to quick mask mode(Quick Mask Mode (Q)) and draw an oval on the surface of the puddle.

Step 6

Press Q again to exit Quick Mask mode, then invert the selection by pressing the keyboard shortcut (Control-Shift-I). Next, let's go to Filter - Distort - Twist(Filter > Distort > Twirl). Experiment with the angle to achieve the desired effect.

Step 7

Repeat the same for other areas. To do this faster you can create New operation(New Action). Draw an oval in quick mask mode(Quick Mask Mode), then press Record(Record) and follow these steps:

• Press Q
• Press Control-Shift-I
• Press Control-F (apply last applied filter)
• Press Control-D
• Press Q

Apply this Operation(Action) when you draw an oval, and then just continue drawing.

5. Draw a rainstorm

Surprising fact: we don’t know for sure what rain looks like. Seriously. In our minds, we usually think of it as tons of drops falling around, but that's not exactly what we actually see. If you don't believe me, just create a "rain brush" and go over the entire painting. It just doesn't work that way! Raindrops move too fast and there are too many of them for your eyes to catch them all at once - even cameras have some trouble with this.

Consequently, no matter what we draw, it will be just some kind of approximation - an image of an impression, rather than an actually observed phenomenon. We need to focus on what rain does instead of just drawing raindrops because we don't actually see those raindrops.

Step 1

The sky looks too clear for our heavy rain. So let's add more clouds using a stock photo. Embed an image of clouds into your background using Layer mask(Layer Mask).

Step 2

Next we go to Window - Correction(Window > Adjustments). In the dialog box that opens, click on the first icon. Move this layer above all the others and adjust it so that the whole picture becomes dark and gloomy.

Step 3

Take advantage Round soft brush(Soft Round) to draw heavy rain in the background.

Step 4

Using a soft round brush with low opacity(Opacity) make the other column more cloudy.

Step 5

Step 6

During heavy rain, there will be too many droplets to reflect the ripples and streaks from each individually on the surface of the water, so we simply use a filter instead. Let's go to Filter - Filter Gallery(Filter > Filter Gallery), and then you will need to experiment with two filters Distortion - Glass(Distort > Glass) and Imitation - Cellophane packaging(Artistic > Plastic Wrap).

Step 7

Merge all the layers together (Control-E), then duplicate the resulting layer. Use Layer mask(Layer Mask) to select the first column. (If you want to see what exactly you painted in this mode, click "Backslash - \").

Step 8

Let's go to Filter - Filter Gallery - Imitation - Cellophane packaging(Filer > Filter Gallery > Artistic > Plastic Wrap). Use this filter to simulate water running down walls.

Step 9

Use Layer mask(Layer Mask) to make the water more transparent on the dark side.

Step 10

Do the same for the other column.

Step 11

Next, we have to make the ground wet and shiny. Create a new layer and fill it with any color. Next, double-click on it to apply. layer style(Layer Style), select the item in the dialog box Pattern overlay(Pattern Overlay), select a pattern Gloss(Satin) from the list of patterns.

Step 12

Now right-click on the layer and select Rasterize Layer Style(Rasterize Layer Style). Then, just like we did with the lake, we adjust our pattern according to the perspective we need using the tool Free transformation(Free Transform Tool (Control-T)).

Step 13

We change Blend Mode(Blending Mode) on Soft light(Soft Light). Next, double click on the layer and set the necessary settings in the options dialog box Mix if(Blend If) to make the black areas transparent.

Step 14

To clean overlapping areas, use Layer mask(Layer Mask).

Step 15

Create a new layer. Take soft round brush(Soft Round brush) and paint heavy fog in the background.

Step 16

Change level opacity(Opacity) up to 50%. Take advantage Layer mask(Layer Mask) and remove the columns from your fog.

Step 17

Next, merge all the layers together, except for the fog layer. Right-click on its mask and select Apply layer mask(Apply Layer Mask). Then, while holding down the Ctrl key, click on the layer to load the selection and go to Filter - Blur - Motion Blur(Filter > Blur > Motion Blur). Set the angle to the same angle as your rainfall (for this, your main layer must be selected). Now our background looks blurry because of all those raindrops, even though we didn't draw anything.

Step 18

Create a new layer and paint the surface of the far column with a hard brush.

Step 19

Ctrl-click on the white column, then turn off the layer and select your main layer. Now apply again Motion blur(Motion Blur), but this time with a slightly lower value distances(Distance).

Step 20

Create a new layer and fill it with black. Next we go to Filter - Noise - Add Noise(Filter > Noise > Add Noise ) .

Step 21

Use the tool Free transformation(Free Transform Tool) to slightly stretch our rectangle.

Step 22

Let's go to Filter - Filter Gallery - Simulation - Dry Brush(Filter > Filter Gallery > Artistic > Dry Brush). This will create many points of interest out of the noise. To see them, change Blend Mode(Blending Mode) on Screen(Screen).

Step 23

To create rain from the resulting points, use a filter Motion blur(Motion Blur). You can use the same method, but with different effects, so that the result meets your expectations. Again, rain is not an observable object, it is a highly variable phenomenon, and there are many ways to depict it plausibly. Don't be afraid to use larger droplets, a stronger blur, or anything else you like!

Step 24

When heavy rain hits the water surface of a puddle, a splash of interesting shape appears. They are not very noticeable in our painting, but I will show you how to create such a detailed splash in case you want to use it for some macro scenes.

Create a new file, fill the background with black and add a new layer. Draw an oval.

Draw another larger oval above it and connect them.

Add touches of splashes.

Add lots of dots and small lines to imitate splashes.

Lower opacity(Opacity) of this layer, and then create another one and paint some areas with white. Then completely remove the first layer, after which merge all visible layers(Merge Visible) and invert the colors by pressing (Control-I). Next we go to Editing - Define Brush(Edit > Define Brush Preset) to save it.

Step 25

Let's return to our main document. Create a new layer and paint the splashes with your new brush. Don't forget to adjust your brush size according to your perspective.

Step 26

To make splashes more naturalistic, lower opacity(Opacity) and\or install Blend Mode(Blending Mode) Overlap(Overlay). Duplicate the layer to enhance the effect.

Step 27

You can add splashes to the wall where the rain is pouring down on it. To set the correct angle without changing the brush settings, simply use the option To turn(Rotate(R)).

6. Draw a waterfall

Just like with rain, a waterfall can be depicted in many ways. Since waterfalls are considered beautiful and are photographed all the time, there is a good chance that your painting will be comparable to the photograph. The problem is that photographed, fast-moving water will look different depending on the shutter speed of the camera. The easiest way to depict a waterfall is to photograph it with a camera with a slow shutter speed, which is why this method was used in video games not so long ago - but this is also why they look so bad.

But hey, even in the most modern AAA prints we can't find perfect pictures of waterfalls, so why is that? Water is an extremely complex object. Each drop acts like a lens, and accordingly, the computer needs to expend a huge amount of system resources to visualize the effect of the lens. Just imagine what will happen when you put together thousands, millions of lenses! That's why a complex waterfall must be broken down into specific sets of "rules" that will allow the computer to do its job.

It's the same with drawing. There are three ways for you:

• You can paint a waterfall from a pattern as if you wanted to depict something else - using spots and drops of color
• You can create a waterfall from many drops by focusing on each of them
• You can try to find some rules for creating a waterfall so it looks like it is, and then find a way to recreate it in Photoshop.

Obviously, we will try to implement the third method! I slightly modified the scenery for this purpose. This will not be a very typical base for a waterfall, but it will be suitable for our purposes.

Step 1

Let's start by determining the direction of flowing water. The greater the pressure, the larger the arch of our waterfall. You also need to pay attention to the future!

Step 2

Make sure that all the layers that form the background are merged together. Activate quick mask mode(Quick Mask Mode (Q)) and draw the inside of the sketch.

Press Q again to exit Quick Mask mode and invert the created selection using the keyboard shortcut Control-Shift-I. Then we go to Filter - Filter Gallery - Distortion - Glass(Filter > Filter Gallery > Distort > Glass). In this way, we will be able to distort what is under water in the same way that water would optically do in reality.

Step 3

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and draw a rectangular shape using the tool Rectangle(Rectangle Tool (U)). Next, let's go to Filter - Noise - Add Noise(Filter > Noise > Add Noise) to fill our shape with a noise texture.

Now let's go to Filter - Design - Crystallization(Filter > Pixelate > Crystallize) to connect small dots into larger clusters.

After which we go to Filter - Filter Gallery - Imitation - Watercolor(Filter > Filter Gallery > Artistic > Watercolor) - this will smooth out the edges a little. Duplicate the LAYER (Control-J) and hide the copy for now, we will need it later, but a little later.

And finally, we go to Filter - Filter Gallery - Strokes - Airbrush(Filter > Filter Gallery > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes). For stroke directions(Stroke Direction) set vertical(Vertical). After this, the picture should look slightly like water flowing down.

Step 4

Now let's use the tool Free transformation(Free Transform Tool (Control-T)) to bring our rectangle into the correct perspective. To move anchor points separately, hold down the Ctrl key.

Step 5

Double click on the layer and change the mode settings Mix if(Blend If) so that the black areas become partially transparent.

You can also add some blue using the editor Color balance(Color Balance) by pressing the keyboard shortcut (Control-B).

Step 6

Duplicate (Control-J) the “water wall” and set it to a higher level of naturalism. To achieve this, you need to use the mode Deformation(Warp) tool Free Transformation(Free Transform Tool).

Step 7

My waterfall is partially in the shade, so I used Layer mask(Layer Mask) to make the water less shiny in this area.

Step 8

Make visible a copy of the noise-modified rectangle (the one we made in step 3). Next we go to Filter - Filter Gallery - Simulation - Sponge(Filter > Filter Gallery > Artistic > Sponge). With this we will create foam from the falling water.

Step 9

Use the tool Free transformation(Free Transform Tool (Control-T)) in mode Deformation(Warp Mode) to warp our rectangle.

Step 10

Experiment with mode settings Mix if(Blend If) to make dark areas transparent.

Step 11

Take advantage again Layer mask(Layer Mask) to adjust the shading.

Step 12

Go back to the background layer and select the water in quick mask mode(Quick Mask Mode (Q)) just before the waterfall.

Apply to this selection Filter - Filter Gallery - Distortion - Glass(Filter > Filter Gallery > Distort > Glass). Obviously, the surface of a river cannot be smooth when such a flow of water falls on it!

Step 13

Using textures is simple and quick, but at the same time they are quite boring and give a feeling of some unnaturalness. So we need to add a little chaos. That's why we'll draw some more foam, but this time by hand.

Create a new file and fill the background with black. Draw something chaotic, like this. It doesn't have to look exactly the same as in the screenshot - most chaotic patterns will work well here.

Change the brush settings as shown below by calling up the dialog via (F5).

Step 14

Use the adjusted brush to paint more foam. Now, how you use the brush is completely up to you. The more curvature the waterfall has, the more foam there will be, and the less clear water we will see. Start by adding a large amount of foam to the top of the waterfall - the place where the water leaving the surface is still "trying" to flow horizontally, but gravity is pulling it down.

Also, the water splashes a lot below, so add a whole cloud of foam here. Constantly change the size of the strokes - large, almost transparent strokes will look very good on the borders of the waterfall.

Foam also falls down the waterfall.

If the water pressure is not very strong, some drops of water will fall under the main curve of our waterfall.

You can also use the Bubble Brush from the previous part to add air bubbles.

Step 15

Now, let's make the wall under the waterfall wet. Select it in quick mask mode(Quick Mask Mode (Q)).

Now add one of those filters we used before, for example, Glass(Glass).

Step 16

You can finish the painting by adding any details you wish. I added a filter Cellophane packaging(Plastic Wrap) for the column directly next to the waterfall to make it look wet. I also added larger ripples for the river, in the same way we did when we painted the lake.

Step 17

Now, there's still a chance that you didn't like the resulting effect. It just might be that what you get doesn't match your own idea of ​​a waterfall. Then let's change the camera shutter speed and see if this version of our picture is better.

Basically, a low speed shutter won't add anything other than motion blur(motion blur). The problem is that Filter - Blur - Motion Blur(Filter > Blur > Motion Blur) only works in one direction, and the waterfall is shaped like a curve. Therefore, we need to select it gradually, in parts, deselecting it as the curve increases. For this operation you will again need quick mask mode(Use the Quick Mask (Q)).

When you get to the foam level below, you can combine them using a Gaussian blur: Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur(Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur), and also add manually using Soft round brush(Soft Round brush).

Better? I think so!

In these lessons we went over almost every possible form of water. I hope this helps you in your future projects, whatever they may be. But that’s not all - there are still elements that are waiting to be conquered, if you want more, then there is a similar lesson in which we will already conquer another element, namely, the element of earth.

This Photoshop tutorial is about creating a realistic reflection effect from a water surface. Once you become familiar with the techniques described here, you can use them to work on your own projects.

Some of the techniques used here will only be familiar to a limited number of experienced users, but thanks to the detailed, step-by-step description of them, you should not have any problems following the lesson.

Finished Image

Step 1
Open the stock image with the castle in Photoshop. It's quite large, so let's reduce its size a little. Press Ctrl + Alt + I to open the Image Size window and make the following settings:

Step 2
Select the Crop Tool and move the handles to remove the logo at the bottom, as well as the excess areas on the sides and top.

Step 3
Duplicate the background layer by pressing Ctrl + J, and rename the copy “Reflection”.

Step 4
Now let's increase the size of the canvas, because we need to place our reflection somewhere. Press Ctrl + Alt + C to open the Canvas Size dialog box (Ctrl + Alt + C) and make the settings below.

Click on the reflection layer in the Layers palette to activate it, then press Ctrl + T to turn on Free Transform mode. Right-click on the canvas and select Flip Vertical. Complete the transformation by pressing Enter.

Step 5
Select the Move tool and, with the reflection layer active, hold Shift and drag the layer down, positioning it exactly as shown in the image below.
As a result, we already have something similar to a reflection, but it looks extremely unnatural. This is because the imaginary surface of the water is absolutely calm, and there is not the slightest ripple on it. In the next steps we will fix this shortcoming.

Step 6
So we need to create ripples. For this purpose, we will need a special texture, reminiscent of ripples, which we could apply to the reflection layer. Let's start working on the texture by creating a new document (Ctrl + N), 4000x4000 in size.

Let's add some noise. Go to the menu Filter> Noise> Add Noise (Filter> Noise> Add Noise), and set the parameters below.

To get realistic ripples, we need coarse grain. There is one trick here: we will blur the noise layer, and then increase the contrast. Apply a 5-pixel Gaussian blur: Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur.

Now go to the menu Image> Correction> Curves (Image> Adjustments> Curves), and, placing the sliders as shown below, change the shape of the curve as follows:

Go to the menu Filter > Filter Gallery, and in the Sketch section, select the Bass Relief filter. Set the Detail and Smoothness values ​​to 2. Our texture is starting to look like ripples. But wait, that's not all.

Apply a 35-pixel dynamic blur: Filter> Blur> Motion Blur (Filter> Blur> Motion Blur). This is to get softer and longer waves.

Step 7
Now let's apply our ripple texture to our reflection layer. To do this, let's temporarily move the texture to our main canvas (with a lock). With the texture document active, press Ctrl + A to select all of its contents, then press Ctrl + C to copy everything to the clipboard. Switch to your main document, and by pressing Ctrl + V, paste what you copied onto it.

Next we need to transform the texture so that it has the same perspective as the elements on our canvas with a castle. Activate Free Transform (Ctrl+T).
Reduce the height of the texture so that it occupies the bottom half of the image.
Right-click inside the boundaries of the transformed area and select Perspective. Move the top and bottom transformation handles as shown in the image below.
Make sure that the top border of the texture layer does not extend beyond the top border of the reflection layer. To make it easier to align these layers, simply turn on snapping: View > Snap. Press Enter to complete the deformation.

Step 8
Click on the newly transformed texture layer in the Layers palette. Now, while holding Ctrl, click on the reflection layer icon to select its pixels. Next, press Ctrl + J to duplicate the selected area (with the texture layer active). Name this layer “Texture”, and delete the previous one (Layer 1).
To make sure that you did everything correctly, click, while holding Ctrl, on the layers palette on the layer with the reflection, then, while also holding Ctrl, click on the layer with the texture. The selected area should remain unchanged. If it turns out to be larger, it means you made a mistake and you need to do this step again.

Right-click on the texture layer in the layers palette and select Duplicate Layer from the context menu. In the dialog box that opens, in the Destination section, specify Document: New document. Give it something meaningful and click OK.

Step 9
At the top of the texture you can see a transparent area. We need to get rid of it, for which we will use the menu Image> Trimming... (Image> Trim). In the dialog box, specify Transparent Pixels, and click OK. Save the texture (Ctrl + S) somewhere on your computer (just remember where).

Step 10
Close the texture document, and switch to your main document. Turn off the visibility of the texture layer by clicking on the eye icon next to the layer name in the Layers palette.

Step 11
Right-click on the reflection layer in the layers palette, and in the context menu that opens, select Convert to Smart Object.

With the reflection layer selected, go to Filter > Filter Gallery. In the Distort section, select the Glass filter. Pay attention to the icon in the Texture section. Click on it and click “Load Texture”. Specify the previously saved texture (in step 9).

To get a more pronounced effect, increase the Distort value. And to get less noticeable, set the value lower (6-7). The benefit of using smart objects is that you can change the settings of the filters applied to them at any time. Our effect is almost complete. But despite this, there are still some things we can improve.

Step 12
In reality, water has a certain degree of reflection, which has not yet been taken into account in our work. Remember the texture layer whose visibility we turned off earlier? Turn on its visibility again by clicking on the icon with the eye (or rather, where it should be). Change the Blend mode of this layer to Soft Light and reduce the Opacity to 18%. Now you can notice that the degree of reflection of our water surface is more consistent with the real one.

Step 13
The water has the color of the sky. Let's reproduce this effect in our image. Select the Brush tool, and while holding Alt, click somewhere on the sky area above the castle, taking a sample. The color that will be under the cursor at this moment will be set as the Primary color.
Now create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and fill it with Foreground color: Alt + Backspace. Name this layer “Color”.

Move this layer under the texture layer (by clicking on it and dragging with the mouse pointer). Next, etch the color layer onto the reflection layer: while holding Alt, click on the dividing line between these layers.
Etching one layer onto another means that the top layer will only be visible over the pixels of the layer below it.

Press D to reset the colors to default, then press X to switch between them.
By clicking on the special Add layer mask button at the bottom of the layers palette, create a layer mask for this layer. Select the Gradient tool and in the options bar at the top of the program window, select the Foreground to Background gradient.

Step 14
Click on the layer mask with the Gradient tool active, hold Shift and drag the mouse pointer in the direction shown below. This step will eliminate the possibility that the color will not be visible at the top of the image, but, using the gradient principle, will gradually appear towards the bottom.