Posted on January 17, 2007 - by Khaled

Photoshop “Reflection” tutorial

So this is the second simple Photoshop tutorial I am posting in the new Photoshop tutorials series. As I’ve stated before, this is to show to achieve the reflection effect that was created at the end of the Photoshop “Glass Text” Tutorial. And yes! many of you were requesting it.

This tutorial was done using Adobe Photoshop CS2 but, of course, it can be achieved using older Photoshop versions. So we are going to start where we ended in the previous Photoshop “Glass Text” Tutorial. You are curious aren’t you ? Dig for it to find out

Last time we’ve ended up with the following graphic:

The PSD file has 2 text layers (a rasterized one -The copy- and a regular one). Select one of them, press ctrl (or cmd) and select the second one.

Hit ctrl+E (or cmd+E) to merge them together (another option is to select them then go to Layer > Merge layers).

Now you only have one rasterized text layer.

Hit ctrl+J (or cmd+J) to duplicate the layer. Select the top layer (if it is not already selected),then go to Edit > Flip vertical.

You will have something like the following graphic:

Move the flipped layer down until you have a tiny gap line between the two texts, something like this:

Now reorder your layers so that the flipped layer is listed under the original regular layer in the layers palette.

Select white color as foreground color:

Select the Gradient tool:

Select the second filling option (Foreground to transparent) :

Next step consists on selecting the flipped text layer (that is placed under the original text layer in the layers palette), then hold the shift key (in order to have a straight linear stroke) and make a stroke with the gradient tool from the bottom to the top like shown below:

This is what you will Obtain:

Make a second gradient stroke similar to the first one or may be one that ends just at the edge of the white background, it will really depend on what you want to achieve. I’ve made a similar stroke and this is what I had:

Now the reflection effect itself is done, you may try to tweak the setting and options used above to obtain a result that fits better your needs.

You can add a lens flare effect for instance, to do so select the original text layer, Go to filter > Render > Lens Flare…

Select the following settings or just tweak them to have a more adequate effect, move the lens spot with your mouse to put it on the top of the last letter (the P here):

Here’s the result:

Enjoy customizing your text further more: For instance you can always change the text’s color despite that you have rasterized the text type. To do so use the Hue/saturation option (Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation) or just hit ctrl+U (cmd+U). I will turn my text to a lime-ish green shade (Hue: 150 and Saturation: 15). Don’t forget to change the reflection’s layer color, use the same settings (Hue: 150 and Saturation: 15).

Here’s what I had:

I hope you have enjoyed this tiny tutorial! next time I will show how I’ve changed the color of the frog’s eye in my header! You guessed it right: I had so many questions about it! So don’t forget to come back soon and check the upcoming Photoshop tutorials

Carpe Diem