#1 Site for Learning of Multi-Media

Poster from the Words

2012-01-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

Would you like to make your own cool musical poster? This Photoshop tutorial will teach you how to do it.

Final Image Preview

Note: Original tutorial published on Photoshopstar.com had too many errors. Being one the most popular tutorials, tutorial was rewritten and now published.

Resources

Girl

Step 1

First we are going to create a new document in Photoshop with 1000×1000 pixels with all the default settings. Fill the background layer with black color.

Step 2

Select Horizontal Type Tool and place any text (white color, caps on) filling all background as you can see below. Only use one text layer.

Rotate text 45 degrees CW by going to Edit > Transform > Rotate.

Step 3

Open photo and copy it to our canvas over text layer. Go to Edit > Free Transform and resize photo to something similar to what I have.

Select text from text layer (Ctrl+left click on text layer thumbnail in layers). Press Ctrl+Shift+I to invert selection. With selection active, select photo layer and press Delete to clear selection contents.

Press Ctrl+D to deactivate selection.

Apply Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast.

Step 4

Create a new layer. Select Horizontal Tool (Arial, white color, 55px) and write something like “DJ Music!”. Create a second new layer and write “Only best hits!” (Arial, white color, 25px).

Rotate text 45 degrees CW by going to Edit > Transform > Rotate on both layers.

Apply Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options > Outer Glow to both layer to make it more readable.

Final Image

This tutorial is now finished and you got a great effect!

Cool Dots Text Effect

2012-01-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

This Photoshop tutorial explains how to design a three-dimensional text, which consists of dots and a blurred extension.

Final Image Preview

Resources

Font BorisBlackBoxx

Step 1

Create a new document, 1600px for the width and 1000px for the height. Set the Foreground color to #8a5a01, and the Background color to #ba9145, then drag a Linear Gradient from left to right. You can choose your own colors as well, or add an adjustment layer to change the colors as shown in the end of this tutorial.

Open the Brush panel (Window -> Brush), and modify the Brush Tip Shape settings as shown below:

Create the text using the font BorisBlackBloxx, and the Size of 400 pt.

Use the Pen Tool, and make sure to click the Paths icon in the Options bar, to draw a curve in the middle of the first letter. Add the main anchor points, you can modify them later.

If you think that the curve needs more anchor (control) points, you can always add ones using the Add Anchor Point Tool.

Then, you can use the Direct Selection Tool to click and drag the curve’s anchor points or the direction lines.

Step 2

Create a new layer on top of of all layers, and with the Pen Tool still active, right click on the path and choose Stroke Path.

Choose Brush from the Tool drop down menu and make sure that the Simulate Pressure box is un-checked.

This will stroke the path with the modified brush. Hit Enter to get rid of the path.

Create a new path near the inner edge of the letter, and stroke the path on a new layer.

Do the same for the outer edge as well. You will end up having three layers, one for each stroke.

Repeat the same process for the remaining letters. You can use custom shapes instead of drawing the curves when possible (like using the Ellipse Tool, with the Paths icon in the Options bar clicked, for the O letter).

Remeber to stroke the path on a separate layer each time.

You can duplicate any layers for the same letters.

Once you’re done, each letter will have 3 layers covering it with dots.

Step 3

Make the original text layer invisible (by clicking the eye icon next to it), because we don’t need it.

Select all the Dots layers, then go to Layer -> Merge Layers (Ctrl + E) to merge them in one layer, and call it “Merged Dots”.

Use the Erase Tool to get rid of any dots that are not aligned with the others.

Make sure that the “Merged Dots” layer is active (selected), then go to Select -> Load Selection. Choose the “Merged Dots Transperancy” Channel. This will select the layer’s contents (the dots).

Pick the Gradient Tool, and choose the Spectrum Gradient. Create a new layer on top of all layers and call it “Gradient”, then fill the selection with the gradient.

Make the “Merged Dots” Layer invisible.

Step 4

Go to Edit -> Transform -> Perspective, and move the corners as shown below. You can transform the text as you like for now, and you can do that again anytime you think the text needs more perspective later on. Once you’re done hit Enter.

Pick the Lasso Tool, and create a selection around the first letter, then press Ctrl + J to duplicate it in a separate layer. Rename that layer to the letter it contains.

Repeat the same for the other letters. Once you have a layer for each letter, make the “Gradient” layer invisible.

Step 5

Duplicate the first letter’s layer.

Go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur, and set the values as shown below:

Make four duplicates of the copy layer.

Merge the “copy” layers, and move them below the original letter’s layer.

Go to Edit -> Trasform -> Perspective, and transform the merged “copy” layer to make the blurred part look like an extension of the original letter.

Erase the blurred parts to the left.

This is what you should get. You can make the other letters layers invisible if you like.

Pick the Blur Tool, and change the Options bar settings as shown below, then blur the lateral part of the extension.

Use a soft brush with an Opacity value of 30% to slightly erase the end of the extension, so that it looks feathered out.

Repeat the same steps for each letter.

Step 6

Merge the original letters layers in one layer and rename it to whatever text you have.

Duplicate each one of the extension layers to make them more vivid.

Duplicate the merged letters’ layer (cool), and drag the copy layer below the original one.

Go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur, and enter 2.5 for the Raduis.

Step 7

Create a new layer right on top of the Background layer and call it “Shadow”. Set the Foreground color to #634016, and use a soft round brush (500 px) to paint a shadow below the text.

Go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and enter 20 for the Raduis.

Change the “Shadow” layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply and its Opacity to 70%.

If you want you can select all the visible layers (except for the Background), then go to Edit -> Transform -> Perspective, and rotate the text even more.

Step 8

If you’d like to change the Background colors to add more contrast, then select the Background layer, and click the Create new fill or adjustment layer down the Layers panel, then choose “Hue/Saturation”.

Change the Values as shown below:

Once again, click the Create new fill or adjustment layer, but choose “Levels” this time. Change the values as shown below:

Finally, select the “Shadow” layer once again, then go to Image -> Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation, and change the Saturation value to to -100 (to match the new Background colors).

Final Image

Rollover effect animation with DisplacementMap and TweenLite (AS3)

2012-01-01T03:25:00.000-08:00

IN THIS TUTORIAL YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO CREATE A ROLLOVER EFFECT WITH THE DISPLACEMENTMAPFILTER AND TWEENLITE. FOLLOW STEP-BY-STEP OR GO DIRECTLY TO THE SOURCE CODE.

Step 1 – Create Movieclips

First you need to setup the timeline (you can use the example fla file).

Create 4 layer according to the image above. In the “script” layer you will later place the ActionScript code. Layer “label 1″ and “label 2″ contain the label Movieclips for the default and rollover state. “bg” contains a background shape.

The Movieclip on layer “label 1″ looks like this:

On layer “text” you place textfield for the default state. Make sure, that the registration point is the center (both vertical and horizontal) of the Movieclip. Later you will apply a size transition (scaleX and scaleY) to the Movieclip and you want the transition to move to the middle and not the upper left corner.

The Movieclip on layer “label 2″ looks like this:

Pretty much the same here except the text of the label is different.

Step 2 – Set instance names

Set the instance name of the default state Movieclip to “label1″ and for the rollover state Movieclip to “label2″. You do not need the second Movieclip for now, so make the layer “label 2″ a guide layer (the layer will not be compiled into the swf).

Step 3 – Add DisplacementMap

Let’s get the party started. Copy to following code in the first frame of the layer “script”.

var perlinBd:BitmapData = new BitmapData(width, height);

perlinBd.perlinNoise(32, 32, 1, 2, false, true);

dpf = new DisplacementMapFilter(perlinBd, new Point(), BitmapDataChannel.BLUE, BitmapDataChannel.GREEN, 32, 32, "color");           

label1.filters = [dpf];

In line 1 and 2 you create a BitmapData object that will be used as map for theDisplacementMapFilter. In line 1 you initialize the object with the size of the button. In line 2 you apply a perlinNoise() on the BitmapData object. The perlinNoise()method creates a noise image. I won’t go into details what this does. The ActionScript reference to perlinNoise() is a good starting point, besides that you can find lots of examples on the web. If you want to see how the perlin bitmap actually looks like, add the following code to line 3: addChild(new Bitmap(perlinBd));

In line 4 you create the DisplacementMapFilter object. Again, for the sake of simplicity here please consult the ActionScript reference for DisplacementMapFilter to get more details to that filter. For now the important part is the first parameter, where you pass the perlin BitmapData object and parameter 5 and 6, where you set the x- and y-distortion-strength in pixel (they’re called scaleX and scaleY).

In line 5 finally you apply the filter to the label Movieclip. Export the fla. Now you might want to play around with the scaleX and scaleY parameter of theDisplacementMapFilter to understand the filter better, since you need to tween this properties later.

Step 4 – Animate DisplacementMapFilter

Now you will animate the filter by putting some TweenLite spice in the soup.

import com.greensock.*;

import com.greensock.easing.*;

var perlinBd:BitmapData = new BitmapData(width, height);

perlinBd.perlinNoise(32, 32, 1, 2, false, true);

dpf = new DisplacementMapFilter(perlinBd, new Point(), BitmapDataChannel.BLUE, BitmapDataChannel.GREEN, 0, 0, "color");         

TweenLite.to(this, 3, {tween:1, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

var _tween:Number = 0;

function get tween() : Number

{

    return _tween;

}

function set tween(tween : Number) : void

{

    _tween = tween;

    dpf.scaleX = 48 * _tween;

    dpf.scaleY = 48 * _tween;

    label1.filters = [dpf];

}

If you already familiar with TweenLite you know, that you can animate a lot of things with TweenLite. x- and y-position, alpha and even some Papervision3D properties (to name only a few). However, to animate the properties scaleX and scaleY of aDisplacementMapFilter there is no build-in parameter. So you need your own custom tween method.

In line 11 you first create the variable _tween with the value 0. After that you create the getter and setter method for that variable. Note that the setter method not only sets the value but also sets the strength of the filter. In line 22 and 23 the magic happens. To put it simple: If _tween is 0 scaleX and scaleY are 0, if _tween is 1 they both are 48 (which you want to be the max strength of the animation). So how to get the values in between?

Simply by letting TweenLite do the work. In line 9 you tell TweenLite to animate the variable tween (you build getter and setter for that) with a duration of 3 seconds and the Sine ease (here you find the bullet proof documentation of TweenLite).

Make sure that the TweenLite package is in the same folder as your fla file and import the classes in line 1 and 2.

Export. Magic!

Step 5 – DisplacementMapFilter animation on mouse over

Since you want the effect to appear only on mouse over you need to set the corresponding event handlers.

import com.greensock.*;

import com.greensock.easing.*;

var perlinBd:BitmapData = new BitmapData(width, height);

perlinBd.perlinNoise(32, 32, 1, 2, false, true);

dpf = new DisplacementMapFilter(perlinBd, new Point(), BitmapDataChannel.BLUE, BitmapDataChannel.GREEN, 0, 0, "color");         

addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, btnRollOver);

addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT, btnRollOut);

function btnRollOver(e:Event)

{

    TweenLite.to(this, 1.2, {tween:1, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

}

function btnRollOut(e:Event)

{

    TweenLite.to(this, 0.6, {tween:0, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

}

var _tween:Number = 0;

function get tween() : Number

{

    return _tween;

}

function set tween(tween : Number) : void

{

    _tween = tween;

    dpf.scaleX = 48 * _tween;

    dpf.scaleY = 48 * _tween;

    label1.filters = [dpf];

}

You add the mouse event stuff in line 9 to 20. Note that the btnRollOut function tweens the tween variable back to 0, so the effect runs backwards. Also note, that you adjusted the duration of the tween a little. The rollout tween runs only half as long as the rollover tween (1.2 vs. 0.6 seconds). Thats because the user generally expects the out-transition to be faster, so he can focus on other things. However, now that you know that rule, feel free to break it…

Step 6 – Add rollover label and fine tuning

Almost done, now you add the rollover label Movieclip and so some fine tuning.

import com.greensock.*;

import com.greensock.easing.*;

label2.scaleX = 0.5;

label2.scaleY = 0.5;

label2.alpha = 0;

var perlinBd:BitmapData = new BitmapData(width, height);

perlinBd.perlinNoise(32, 32, 1, 2, false, true);

dpf = new DisplacementMapFilter(perlinBd, new Point(), BitmapDataChannel.BLUE, BitmapDataChannel.GREEN, 0, 0, "color");         

addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, btnRollOver);

addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT, btnRollOut);

function btnRollOver(e:Event)

{

    TweenLite.to(this, 0.65, {tween:1, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

    TweenLite.to(label1, 0.65, {scaleX:1.5, scaleY:1.5, alpha:0.25, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

    TweenLite.to(label2, 0.5, {scaleX:1, scaleY:1, alpha:1, delay:0.15, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

}

function btnRollOut(e:Event)

{

    TweenLite.to(this, 0.5, {tween:0, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

    TweenLite.to(label1, 0.5, {scaleX:1, scaleY:1, alpha:1, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

    TweenLite.to(label2, 0.5, {scaleX:0.5, scaleY:0.5, alpha:0, ease:Sine.easeInOut});

}

var _tween:Number = 0;

function get tween() : Number

{

    return _tween;

}

function set tween(tween : Number) : void

{

    _tween = tween;

    dpf.scaleX = 48 * _tween;

    dpf.scaleY = 48 * _tween;

    label1.filters = [dpf];

}

First make the layer “label 2″ to a normal layer (no guide anymore).

So the rollover Movieclip is there, but it should be invisible until the rollover (line 6). Also you want the Movieclip to scale up on rollover, so you set the initial size to half the original size (line 4 and 5).

In line 20 and 27 you set the tweening for the rollover label Movieclip. On rollover it tweens to original size (scaleX:1 and scaleY:1) and gets visible (alpha:1). Also the tween has a tiny delay (delay:0.15) because you first want to animate the default state label Movieclip animate a bit, before the rollover Movieclip hits the scene.

Besides that you apply a additional tweening on “label1″ (line 19 and 26). On rollover “label1″ tweens to a size of 150% (scaleX:1.5 and scaleY:1.5) and it fades to 25% alpha (alpha:0.25). On rollout it tweens back to original values.

Step 6 – Yeah, done!

Now you have a cool rollover effect with the DisplacementMapFilter and TweenLite. And – of course – the fun just started. Play around with the values. Have a closer look (learn!) the DisplacementMapFilter and the perlinNoise() method.

You found a setting that looks even cooler? Let us know and post a comment.

RE - EFFECTS PICS OF SOME GREAT FANTASY 2012

2011-12-31T13:15:00.001-08:00

Colour Fade Effect in FLASH

2011-12-31T09:31:00.000-08:00

Written by Maulin Rozia

A basic example

To fade a blue circle to white over ten frames, do the following:

1	Open a new document, with a white background.
2	Select the Circle Tool, using a blue color. (Or any other desired color).
3	Draw a circle on the Stage.
4	Double-click the circle to highlight both the line and fill.
5	Choose Insert > Convert to Symbol. Select "Graphic" and click OK.
6	Select frame 10 in the Timeline. Choose Insert > Keyframe.
7	Highlight the Symbol on the Stage. Select Modify > Instance.
8	Choose the Effects Panel.Note:In previous versions, this is called the "Color Effect" panel.
9	Choose "Alpha" from the pop-up menu.
10	Enter the number "0" as the percent. Hit the Enter key on your keyboard to activate the change.
11	Highlight frame 1 and choose Modify > Frame, to access the Frame panel.
12	In the Tweening dialog box, choose "Motion" from the menu.Note:In previous versions, this can be found as a Tweening tab. Hit the Enter key to activate the change.
13	Choose Control> Test Movie to see the fade effect.

Photoshop Water Reflection - Add A Realistic Water Reflection

2011-12-31T09:27:00.000-08:00

Learn Photoshop with Photoshop Effects Tutorials

Written By Maulin Rozia

In this Photoshop photo effects tutorial, we're going to learn how to easily add a realistic water reflection to any photo. It's a very easy effect to create and you can add it to any photo you like, although it tends to work best with images that don't already contain water in them.

We'll be using a simple filter and a displacement map to create the water ripple effect, and a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to give our water a little color.

Here's the photo that I'll be working with throughout this tutorial:

And here's what our image is going to look like after adding the water reflection :

Let's get started!

Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

With our image newly opened inside Photoshop, we can see in the Layers palette that we currently have one layer, the Background layer, which contains our image:

The original image on the Background layer in the Layers palette.

We need to duplicate the Background layer, and we can do that using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac). Now when I look in my Layers palette now, I can see that I now have two layers - my original Background layer on the bottom and a new layer, "Layer 1", above it which is my duplicate:

Press "Ctrl+J" (Win) / "Command+J" (Mac) to duplicate the Background layer.

Step 2: Add More Canvas Space To The Bottom Of The Document

We're going to add our water reflection below the image, so let's add some canvas space to the bottom of our document to make room for our reflection. To do that, go up to the Image menu at the top of the screen and choose Canvas Size. This will bring up Photoshop's "Canvas Size" dialog box. The easiest thing to do here is to add twice as much canvas space as what we currently have, but we only want it to appear at the bottom of the document, not above it or on either side, so we need to tell Photoshop exactly where we want this extra canvas space to go.

First, enter 100 for the Height and set the measurement to percent, as circled in red below. Leave the Width option set to 0. Then make sure the Relative option is checked, which tells Photoshop to give us 100% more canvas space than what we already have. Below the "Relative" option is a 3x3 grid of squares. This is where we tell Photoshop where we want to place our additional canvas space. Click inside the square in the middle of the top row (again as circled below). This tells Photoshop not to place any of the extra canvas space above the document and instead to place all of it at the bottom:

Add more canvas space using the "Canvas Size" dialog box.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box, and Photoshop will add the extra canvas space to the bottom of the image:

The height of the document has now been doubled with the extra canvas space added to the bottom.

Step 3: Flip The Top Layer Vertically

In order to create our reflection, we need to flip our image upside down, so let's do that.

With the top layer selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen, choose Transform, and then choose Flip Vertical.

Photoshop will flip the image upside down in the document:

Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to flip the image on the top layer upside down.

Step 4: Drag The Flipped Image To The Bottom Of The Document

We need the flipped image to be at the bottom of the document, so grab your Move Tool from the Tools palette, or press V on your keyboard for the shortcut:

Select the Move Tool.

Then, with the Move Tool selected, click inside the document and drag the flipped image down to the bottom until the top of it is lined up with the bottom of the original image above it. Hold down Shift as you drag to make sure you drag down in a straight line:

Drag the flipped image down below the original.

Step 5: Add A New Blank Layer

Now that we have our flipped image in place, we can begin to create our water ripple effect. First, we need to add a new blank layer at the top of the Layers palette, so with "Layer 1" still selected, click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Add a new blank layer to the document.

Step 6: Fill The New Layer With White

We're going to fill our new blank layer with white. If white is not currently your Background color, press D on your keyboard, which will reset Photoshop's Foreground and Background colors, making black your Foreground color and white your Background color. Then use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Backspace (Win) / Command+Delete (Mac) to fill the new layer with the Background color (white). Your document will be filled with solid white.

The entire image is now filled with white.

Step 7: Apply The "Halftone Pattern" Filter To Create Black And White Horizontal Lines

Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Sketch, and then choose Halftone Pattern. This brings up Photoshop's Filter Gallery (in Photoshop CS and higher) set to the "Halftone Pattern" filter options on the right, with a large preview of the effect on the left. We're going to use this filter to add a series of black and white horizontal lines to the image. These lines are going to become our water ripples . The more lines we have, the more ripples we'll have. First, we want to make sure we're creating lines and not dots or circles, so set the Pattern Type option to Lines. We control the number of lines by adjusting the Size option. Lower values give us more lines, since we're lowering the size of each line, and higher values give us fewer but thicker lines. I'm going to set my Size value to 7, which I think works best for my image. You may want to experiment with this value on your own. The Contrast option below it determines how sharp the edges of the lines are. Lower values give you softer lines, white higher values give you hard edge lines. Set this value all the way to 50 to give your lines sharp edges. We're going to soften them ourselves with the Gaussian Blur filter in a moment:

Adjust the Halftone Pattern filter options to create a series of black and white lines through the image.

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box, and Photoshop will fill the image from top to bottom with your black and white lines:

The image is now filled with black and white horizontal lines.

Step 8: Apply The "Gaussian Blur" Filter To The Lines

Before we can use our black and white lines as water ripples , we need to smooth them out and create nice, smooth transitions between them. To do that, go up to the Filter menu once again, choose Blur, and then choose Gaussian Blur, which brings up the "Gaussian Blur" dialog box. Keep an eye on your image and drag the slider at the bottom of the dialog box to increase the Radiusvalue until the lines have a very soft edge to them. I'm using a small image for this tutorial, so for me, a Radius value of about 4 pixels works well. If you're using a larger, high resolution image, you'll need to set yours to a higher value:

Use the Gaussian Blur filter to smooth out the edges of the lines.

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box and apply the blur to the lines.

Step 9: Duplicate The Lines Layer As A New Document

We're going to create a brand new document out of our lines layer, which we'll then use as our displacement map for our water ripples . With the lines layer selected, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and select Duplicate Layer, which brings up the "Duplicate Layer" dialog box. In the "Destination" options, click on the down-pointing arrow to the right of the Document option and set it to New, which will create a new Photoshop document out of our layer:

Set the "Document" option in the "Duplicate Layer" dialog box to "New".

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box, and your layer will open up in a new document on the screen.

Step 10: Save The New Document And Close Out Of It

This new document that we've created is going to become our displacement map, but before we can use it, we need to save it. We're also going to close out of it after we've saved it, since we won't need it open anymore, and the easiest way to accomplish both of those tasks is to simply close out of the document. When you try to close out of it, Photoshop will as you if you want to save the document before closing it. Click Yes:

Choose "Yes" when Photoshop asks if you want to save the document before closing it.

Photoshop will bring up the Save As dialog box. You can name your new document anything you like. I'm going to name mine "water-ripples". Make sure you save it as a Photoshop .PSD file, since those are the only files that Photoshop can use as a displacement map. You'll probably want to save the document to your Desktop, since we'll need to find it again in a moment.

Step 11: Delete The Lines Layer

Now that we've used our black and white lines to create the file we'll be using as our displacement map, we can get rid of it. To do that, simply click on it and drag it down onto the Trash Bin icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Click and drag the lines layer ("Layer 2") onto the Trash Bin at the bottom of the Layers palette to delete it.

Step 12: Merge The Two Layers Onto A New Layer

Before we can add use our displacement map, we need to merge our two image layers onto a new layer above them. To do that, with "Layer 1" selected, use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Win) / Shift+Command+Option+E (Mac). Nothing will appear to have happened in the document, but if we look in the Layers palette, we can see that both layers have been merged onto a new layer at the top:

Both layers are now merged onto a new layer, "Layer 2".

Step 13: Use The "Displace" Filter To Create The Water Ripples

We're ready to create our water ripples using the displacement map we just created. With the new merged layer selected in the Layers palette, go back up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Distort and then choose Displace .

This brings up Photoshop's "Displace" filter dialog box. This is where we determine the strength of our ripple effect, and we do that with the Horizontal Scale option at the top. I'm going to set mine to a value of 4, which will give me a realistic ripple effect. You may want to experiment with this value with your own image. Setting it too high though will create too much of a horizontal distortion and you'll lose the realism.

We don't need any vertical distortion to create our effect, so set the Vertical Scale option to 0. Also, make sure that Stretch To Fitand Repeat Edge Pixels are selected:

Go to Filter > Distort > Displace to bring up the Displace dialog box.

Click OK in the top right corner of the dialog box, and Photoshop will ask you which file you want to use as your displacement map. Choose the file that you just saved a moment ago, which I saved to my Desktop as "water-ripples.PSD", and then click Open. Photoshop will then apply the displacement map to the entire image, creating our water ripples :

The image after applying our displacement map with the "Displace" filter.

Step 14: Hide The Ripples On Top With A Layer Mask

Of course, we have a slight problem at the moment. We've added our water ripple effect to the entire image, and we only wanted it in the bottom half. We can fix that easily though using a layer mask. First, Ctrl-click (Win) / Command-click (Mac) directly on the thumbnail for "Layer 1" in the Layers palette to place a selection around the flipped image at the bottom of the document:

"Right-click" (Win) / "Control-click" (Mac) directly on Layer 1's thumbnail in the Layers palette to place a selection around the flipped image.

You'll see a selection appear around the bottom half of the image in your document. Now, with the merged layer still selected, click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:

Click on the "Layer Mask" icon to add a layer mask to the merged layer at the top of the Layers palette.

Photoshop will add a layer mask to the merged layer, and because we had a selection around the bottom half of our document when we added the layer mask, only the bottom half of the merged layer remains visible. The top half becomes hidden from view, removing the unwanted water ripples from that part of the image:

The ripple effect is now hidden from the top half of the image after applying the layer mask.

We're almost done. Let's finish things off by adding a hint of color to the water, which we'll do next.

Step 15: Apply The "Gaussian Blur" Filter To The Layer Mask

Before we add our finishing touch by colorizing the water , let's soften the edge of the layer mask a little so there isn't such a harsh dividing line between the image on top and the water below. We'll use the Gaussian Blur filter for that, and since we want to apply it to the layer mask, we'll need to first select the mask. We can do that by clicking on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette:

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials: Click on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette to select the layer mask.

You can tell that the layer mask is now selected by the white highlight box around its thumbnail. We're going to apply the Gaussian Blur filter to the mask, so go back up to the Filter menu, select Blur once again, and then select Gaussian Blur. When the dialog box appears, simply click OK to apply the same Radius value we used previously.

Step 16: Colorize The Water With A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer

Let's finish things off now by adding just a hint of blue to our water, and we'll use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer for that. We want the adjustment layer to only affect the bottom half of the image where the water ripples are, so hold down your Alt (Win) / Option(Mac) key, click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, then select Hue/Saturation from the list of adjustment layers:

Hold down "Alt" (Win) / "Option" (Mac), click on the "New Adjustment Layer" icon, then drag your mouse to "Hue/Saturation" to select it.

By holding down "Alt/Option", this tells Photoshop to bring up the New Layer dialog box before adding the adjustment layer. Select the Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask option by clicking inside the checkbox to the left of it:

Select the "Use Previous Layer To Create Clipping Mask" option in the "New Layer" dialog box.

This option tells Photoshop that we want the adjustment layer to affect only the layer directly below it in the Layers palette, and since the layer below it is the layer containing our water ripples , only the water ripples will be colorized, which is what we want. Click OK to exit out of the dialog box.

This will bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box. We want to colorize our water, so the first thing we want to do here is select theColorize option in the bottom right corner. Then select the color you want your water to be by dragging the Hue slider at the top. I'm going to drag my slider to the right to a value of about 218, which I think is a good color for my water :

Use the Hue/Saturation dialog box to colorize the water .

Click OK to exit out of the dialog box , and you'll see that your water on the bottom has now been colorized, but the color is much too strong at the moment.

Step 17: Lower The Opacity Of The Hue/Saturation Layer

To reduce the intensity of the color we just added to the water , all we need to do is go up to the Opacity option in the top right corner of the Layers palette and lower the opacity value. I'm going to lower mine all the way down to about 25%, which adds a much more realistic amount of color to the water :

Lower the opacity of the adjustment layer until the water has only a hint of color to it.

Once you've lowered the opacity of the adjustment layer to reduce the color intensity of the water , you're done!

Here once again is my original image for comparison:

The original image once again.

And here is my final "water reflection" result:

The final effect.

Just for fun, here's another example of the exact same effect applied to a different image. The only thing I changed here was that I only added half as much canvas space below the original image (I set the "Height" value in the Canvas Size dialog box to 50% instead of 100%). Everything else was done exactly the same way:

Another example of an image using the same effect.