How To: Create a Reflection in Photoshop

Hello dear photoshop users,

I saw that there wasn’t a lot of tutorials on the web for this so I decided to make my own. In this tutorial I will be using photoshop cs5.1 extended version although I am sure this will also work on cs4, cs3 and maybe cs2. Ok now on with the tutorial.

Step 1: Duplicate the Layer

What you want to do in the first step is duplicate the image you want to have reflected. To duplicate the layer simply just right click the layer the image is on and click the option duplicate layer. 

Step 2: Flipping It Vertical

This step is simple. To start out click the duplicated layer after you have accomplished step one, then go up to the edit menu in the menubar then down to transform and over to flip vertical. This will give you an image that looks something like your image flipped vertically.

Step 4: Masking it.

For This step what you want to do is get your images to almost be touching with the original picture above the vertically flipped image. After you finished that click the little mask button next to the Little fx button beside it. The button will look like a circle in a rectangle. 

Step 5: Gradient?

For this step what you want to do is to fond and click the gradient tool in your toolbox that usually lines the left side of photoshop. After having selected the tool make sure you have the black on the left to white on the right gradient. After making sure, click you cursor at the bottom of the vertically flipped image and slowly drag up holding the mouse click down, hold shift while doing so. Let go of your mouse after the cursor reaches the end of the vertically flipped image. 

Step 4: Perfect it.

If you are not immediately happy with how much the vertically flipped image is showing, keep doing Step 5 over and over till it suits your needs. You can also play with the opacity bar to get the best image. 

All Done!

You are now done making a refection of your image in photoshop! Enjoy making and practicing this reflection tool in your other images to really impress your audience. Thank you for reading and goodbye my friends!

Ps: Feel free to comment!