Advanced' Photo Effects Tutorials

The first step in any good PS image is finding good source images. I always try to use images that are NOT copyrighted by other people, as it can result in trouble down the line.

For this image I used a photo of my boat that I took while I was restoring it.


I found the lake image in a google image search though...

Masking is difficult to explain, please refer to another tutorial if you don't have the hang of it yet; but please try to use it instead of erasing - it allows you to add back pieces later if you want them to show up again.

I masked out all the background and stuff around the boat, hopefully your source will be a little better. I also cloned over a few pieces of the trailer that was on top of the boat's hull.

The rest of the process has a lot to do with the transparency of different layers appearing in the water.

Duplicate the (masked) boat layer.
Hide the lower boat layer.
Now, select the top boat layer and mask off the hull area which will be under water.
Unhide the rear boat layer.
Adjust the rear boat layer's transparency to 25%
Your image should resemble this:

Now that you have those two layers of boat, allow the water layer to be viewed. (just to see how it looks)
If the top layer needs hidden/revealed more to fit the angle of the water, do so now with your layer mask.
It should look something like this:

Now that you are happy with how your boat looks out of the water, and it's hull is partially visible; it's time to create the reflection.

Select the boat layer that is 100% visible.
Duplicate it.
Go to: Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical
You should have an upside down copy of your boat now.
Adjust the opacity of the layer to 20-25%
Now select the move tool.
Holding down shift, drag the image vertically until it reaches an appropriate position in relation to the boat.

We need to remove a little bit of the boat's reflection to account for depth.
Add a mask to the reflection layer.
Select the paint brush, and select a large "fuzzy edged" brush. (around 300+ pixels diameter)
Go over the bottom area in a straight across motion, so that the bottom of the reflection fades out.


Also, tweaking the skew of the reflection helps adjust for different camera angles.
Edit > Transform > skew/distort will help in making the reflection more realistic.
(i did not do this step in my image, but it will be very helpful in positioning your reflection)

Allow the water layer to be viewed.

Now, its time for a little tweaking...

Duplicate the Boat reflection layer and hide the copy in case you are not happy with this next effect.
Select the boat reflection layer and click: Filter > Blur > Motion Blur
Blur the layer slightly in the same direction that the waves are flowing, this will help create the effect of it being a reflection.

Other than that tweak it until your heart's content, maybe adjust the transparency to make it more/less visible to fit your image.

Hopefully this tutorial helps!

I used this same method to turn this:

Into this:

(with a few more steps of course)