How To Create A Reflection In Photoshop

On this video tutorial Aaron Nace from Phlearn looks at how to use a smart object to create a reflection of an image in Adobe Photoshop.

In the first part of this extensive tutorial Nace takes a look at creating and placing a smart object in your photo. First duplicate the background layer and be sure to check “New” for the destination, and save it under a new file name. On your background image, go to File>Place Linked and select your newly saved Smart Object – any changes made to the Smart Object will update immediately on the background image.

Next place a black background behind the text (on the Smart Object file) and use the Blending Mode “Screen.” If you go to Filter > Filter Gallery and choose a ripple effect that suits your photograph, it will actually show changes – pretty cool isn’t it? finally you can edit the effect however you like – for example by adding a gaussian blur.

We have looked at reflections several times in the past, Nace himself did a video on adding “reflections to sunglasses” a while back. If you are more into shooting reflections and not post processing them – check out Ian Plant’s tips on shooting reflections near water.

You can find many more Photoshop video tutorials on LensVid’s Photoshop section (and you can find a lot more Phlearn videos on our special Phlearn subsection).

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.