Working with water color in Photoshop. Water reflection effect in Photoshop. Congratulations, we've created a digital ripple.

Creating a realistic water surface in Photoshop is quite a difficult task, because it is the distorted reflection of the environment that makes the water look liquid. The Displace filter is a great tool for adding this distortion.

The Displace filter moves pixels in an image according to the brightness value of the displacement map. You can use any PSD file as a displacement map (as long as it was saved with “Maximize compatibility”). Use the first and second channels of this PSD file for horizontal and vertical offset respectively. Each channel is a black and white image. Dark values will change the image in a positive direction (in Adobe coordinates). Bright values will change in a negative direction. The offset amount can be controlled separately. On a scale of 100, the displacement measured in pixels is equal to 128 minus the brightness of the displacement map. For example, a white pixel will change the image 128−255 = -127 pixels in the corresponding pixel.

This tutorial shows how to create a relatively simple displacement map and water surface using it. This method gives good results if the water is calm and the surface is not intersected by other elements.

Translator's note: You create a displacement map once, save it, and each time you create a water surface, use a ready-made displacement map.

Part one: creating a displacement map.

We start by creating an image in which the brightness represents the height of the surface. The dimensions of this image control the size and shape of the waves. Start with a larger image to create smaller waves.

Create a New Document (Ctrl + N) V RGB mode 1000 pixels wide and 2000 pixels high.
Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise Amount: 400%; Distribution: Gaussian; check the box Monochromatic. Click OK.
Then select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 2.0 px and click OK.

We use the result of the previous steps as a bump map to create an image of the slope of the surface. To do this, we will use separately channel 1 (red) and channel 2 (green). Channel 3 (blue) can be ignored since it does not affect the offset filter.

Go to palette Channels and select Red channel.
Apply to it Filter > Stylize > Emboss. Enter the following parameters: Angle: 180°; Height: 1 px; Effect (Amount): 500%. Click OK.
Select Green channel.
Apply filter Emboss again, but this time use the value Angle 90° instead of 180°.
In the palette Channels click on RGB to turn the image into color.

Now let's change the perspective. Stretching the base lowers the horizon. We would have to extend the angles to infinity to extend the water surface all the way to the horizon, but we won't do that. A stretch of about 3000% will be sufficient. Perspective stretching only works between 0 and 700%, so we'll stretch to 600% twice. The result will be 3600%.

Go to palette Layers and unlock the background layer (double-click on it and in the dialog box that appears, click OK).
Select a tool Scale (Z) and while holding down the key (Alt), click a few times on the image to make it smaller like the image below. Select a team Editing > Transform > Perspective (Edit > Transform > Perspective).
Drag one of the bottom corners to the side at 600% width (you can see the width value in the tool options bar) and click Enter.
Click Ctrl + Shift + T to apply the transformation again.
Crop the area outside the canvas. To do this, select the canvas (Ctrl + A) and then use the command Image > Crop. Deselect (Ctrl + D).
Reduce the height of the image to make it a square (Alt + Ctrl + I)(uncheck Maintain proportions and enter the required values). In our example, 1000 by 1000 pixels.

In reality, waves cause rotations in reflection, not shears. As a result, horizontal distortion decreases towards the horizon, and vertical distortion is absent. We must now adjust the green channel because the perspective change has caused smoothing near the horizon. We'll use image blur later to correct this.

Let's set it up first Red channel:

In the palette Channels select Red channel.
Click Q to switch to mode.
Select a tool Gradient (G) and draw a black and white linear gradient from bottom to top of the image to create a gradient mask.
Click Q to return to standard mode. We have a gradient selection.
Fill in (Alt + Backspace) medium gray ( #dadada) color and deselect (Ctrl + D).

Now set up Green channel like this:

In the palette Channels select Green channel.
Click Q to switch to mode Quick Mask Mode.
Select a tool Gradient (G) and, this time, draw a black and white linear gradient from bottom to top of the image, stopping a little higher than in the previous step to select the narrow part near the horizon.
Click Q to turn the mask into a selection.
Fill in (Alt + Backspace) medium gray ( #dadada) color and deselect (Ctrl + D).

This is what the finished displacement map should look like with the hidden Blue channel. Notice that in the green channel, bright areas shift the reflection upward, which represents the angle of the reflection in relation to you. The dark areas create an angle away from you. This may seem a little confusing because the brain interprets changes in brightness in exactly the opposite way.

Save the displacement map (don't forget that Blue channel must be disabled) in the format PSD With "Maximize Compatibility".

To ensure that your PSD files are always saved with “Maximize Compatibility”, select the command Editing > Preferences > File Handling and in the drop down menu Maximize PSD File Compatibility select Always.

Translator's note: remember the place where you saved the displacement map. Having a ready-made map, you can quickly create a water surface effect, starting from the second part of this lesson.

Part two: creating a water surface.

We will create a lake in this valley.

First, we need to make a “flat” reflection, which we will distort later with the Displace filter. In this example, we will consider the landscape as the only background object.

Select a tool Rectangular area (M), determine where the horizon should be and, starting from the selected horizon line, use the tool to create a selected area of the image above this line. Right-click and select command Feather. Enter a value of 1 px and click OK. Copy to new layer (Ctrl + J). This will be the reflection layer.
Expand the canvas down (Alt + Ctrl + C)(in the dialog box that appears, specify the height value and be sure to click on the middle upper square with the arrow so that the canvas only increases downward) to make room for the reflection.
Select a tool Free Transform (Ctrl + T), right-click on the image and select the command Flip Vertical. Then move the image to align it with the top of the image. Click OK.

Near the horizon, almost 100% of the light is reflected from the surface of the water. At a higher angle, the reflection component becomes smaller and thus we can see the color of the water itself. The color of the water will be dark blue or turquoise if the water is clear. Of course, you can make any color of water.

Create a new layer (Shift + Ctrl + N) under the reflection layer.
While holding down the key Ctrl, click on the icon of the layer with reflection in the palette Layers to get the selected area. On the created layer, fill the area behind the reflection with the desired color. (You can change the color later using the command Hue / Saturation). Deselect (Ctrl+D).
Add Layer mask to the reflection layer (at the bottom of the palette Layers gray square with a white circle inside). Select a tool Gradient (G) and extend a black and white linear gradient from bottom to top, just short of the horizon line, to show the bottom of the color-filled layer.

Now let's add some wind. Before applying the displacement map, we simulate the effect of waves at a distance. The blur distance depends on the size of the image and the wind effect you want to achieve.

Select the reflection layer and hold down Ctrl, click on the layer mask to get a gradient selection.
Lock transparent pixels by clicking on the checkerboard icon in the palette Layers.
Apply to Reflection Filter> Blur> Motion Blur (Filter> Blur> Motion Blur). Angle 90°. Set value Offsets (Distance) yourself (depending on your image and the desired effect) and press the button OK.
Apply blur again (Ctrl + F).
Unlock transparent pixels and deselect (Ctrl + D).

Now we are ready to apply the displacement map. The displacement map will stretch or shrink according to the selection. To get the correct perspective, the horizon of the displacement map must be approximately the same as the horizon of the scene. Here we can simply select the contents of the reflection layer to get the alignment correct. A slight displacement is enough to make the water appear liquid. The correct amount of offset depends on the size of the image and the height of the waves.

While holding down the key Ctrl, click on the reflection layer icon to get a selected area.
Go to Filter > Distort > Displace. Enter the offset amount. The horizontal scale value should be 50% less than the vertical scale value (about 60 horizontal and 120 vertical. The values depend on your image). Also select Stretch To Fit And Repeat Edge Pixels. Click OK.
In the dialog box that appears, find the displacement map saved on your computer and click the button Open to apply it.
Deselect (Ctrl + D).

Now it really looks like water. Note that the layer mask is also distorted because it is linked to the layer. This causes the reflection to change with the angle of the surface.

We'll make some final adjustments later.

Activate the layer mask by clicking on its icon in the palette Layers, then select a command Levels (Ctrl + L) and change the white level value to 240 to make the surface a little transparent near the horizon.

As mentioned above, using the command Hue / Saturation, You can adjust the hue, saturation and brightness of the water color layer.
If the horizon line is too clear, blur it slightly with the tool Blur (R).
Finally, crop the edges of the image if the duplicate pixels around the edges are too noticeable.

Final result:

Translation: Vladimir Nesterov

This Photoshop tutorial is about creating a realistic reflection effect from a water surface. Once you become familiar with the techniques described here, you can use them to work on your own projects.

Some of the techniques used here will only be familiar to a limited number of experienced users, but thanks to the detailed, step-by-step description of them, you should not have any problems following the lesson.

Finished Image

Step 1
Open the stock image with the castle in Photoshop. It's quite large, so let's reduce its size a little. Press Ctrl + Alt + I to open the Image Size window and make the following settings:

Step 2
Select the Crop Tool and move the handles to remove the logo at the bottom, as well as the excess areas on the sides and top.

Step 3
Duplicate the background layer by pressing Ctrl + J, and rename the copy “Reflection”.

Step 4
Now let's increase the size of the canvas, because we need to place our reflection somewhere. Press Ctrl + Alt + C to open the Canvas Size dialog box (Ctrl + Alt + C) and make the settings below.

Click on the reflection layer in the Layers palette to activate it, then press Ctrl + T to turn on Free Transform mode. Right-click on the canvas and select Flip Vertical. Complete the transformation by pressing Enter.

Step 5
Select the Move tool and, with the reflection layer active, hold Shift and drag the layer down, positioning it exactly as shown in the image below.
As a result, we already have something similar to a reflection, but it looks extremely unnatural. This is because the imaginary surface of the water is absolutely calm, and there is not the slightest ripple on it. In the next steps we will fix this shortcoming.

Step 6
So we need to create ripples. For this purpose, we will need a special texture, reminiscent of ripples, which we could apply to the reflection layer. Let's start working on the texture by creating a new document (Ctrl + N), 4000x4000 in size.

Let's add some noise. Go to the menu Filter> Noise> Add Noise (Filter> Noise> Add Noise), and set the parameters below.

To get realistic ripples, we need coarse grain. There is one trick here: we will blur the noise layer, and then increase the contrast. Apply a 5-pixel Gaussian blur: Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur.

Now go to the menu Image> Correction> Curves (Image> Adjustments> Curves), and, placing the sliders as shown below, change the shape of the curve as follows:

Go to the menu Filter > Filter Gallery, and in the Sketch section, select the Bass Relief filter. Set the Detail and Smoothness values to 2. Our texture is starting to look like ripples. But wait, that's not all.

Apply a 35-pixel dynamic blur: Filter> Blur> Motion Blur (Filter> Blur> Motion Blur). This is to get softer and longer waves.

Step 7
Now let's apply our ripple texture to our reflection layer. To do this, let's temporarily move the texture to our main canvas (with a lock). With the texture document active, press Ctrl + A to select all of its contents, then press Ctrl + C to copy everything to the clipboard. Switch to your main document, and by pressing Ctrl + V, paste what you copied onto it.

Next we need to transform the texture so that it has the same perspective as the elements on our canvas with a castle. Activate Free Transform (Ctrl+T).
Reduce the height of the texture so that it occupies the bottom half of the image.
Right-click inside the boundaries of the transformed area and select Perspective. Move the top and bottom transformation handles as shown in the image below.
Make sure that the top border of the texture layer does not extend beyond the top border of the reflection layer. To make it easier to align these layers, simply turn on snapping: View > Snap. Press Enter to complete the deformation.

Step 8
Click on the newly transformed texture layer in the Layers palette. Now, while holding Ctrl, click on the reflection layer icon to select its pixels. Next, press Ctrl + J to duplicate the selected area (with the texture layer active). Name this layer “Texture”, and delete the previous one (Layer 1).
To make sure that you did everything correctly, click, while holding Ctrl, on the layers palette on the layer with the reflection, then, while also holding Ctrl, click on the layer with the texture. The selected area should remain unchanged. If it turns out to be larger, it means you made a mistake and you need to do this step again.

Right-click on the texture layer in the layers palette and select Duplicate Layer from the context menu. In the dialog box that opens, in the Destination section, specify Document: New document. Give it something meaningful and click OK.

Step 9
At the top of the texture you can see a transparent area. We need to get rid of it, for which we will use the menu Image> Trimming... (Image> Trim). In the dialog box, specify Transparent Pixels, and click OK. Save the texture (Ctrl + S) somewhere on your computer (just remember where).

Step 10
Close the texture document, and switch to your main document. Turn off the visibility of the texture layer by clicking on the eye icon next to the layer name in the Layers palette.

Step 11
Right-click on the reflection layer in the layers palette, and in the context menu that opens, select Convert to Smart Object.

With the reflection layer selected, go to Filter > Filter Gallery. In the Distort section, select the Glass filter. Pay attention to the icon in the Texture section. Click on it and click “Load Texture”. Specify the previously saved texture (in step 9).

To get a more pronounced effect, increase the Distort value. And to get less noticeable, set the value lower (6-7). The benefit of using smart objects is that you can change the settings of the filters applied to them at any time. Our effect is almost complete. But despite this, there are still some things we can improve.

Step 12
In reality, water has a certain degree of reflection, which has not yet been taken into account in our work. Remember the texture layer whose visibility we turned off earlier? Turn on its visibility again by clicking on the icon with the eye (or rather, where it should be). Change the Blend mode of this layer to Soft Light and reduce the Opacity to 18%. Now you can notice that the degree of reflection of our water surface is more consistent with the real one.

Step 13
The water has the color of the sky. Let's reproduce this effect in our image. Select the Brush tool, and while holding Alt, click somewhere on the sky area above the castle, taking a sample. The color that will be under the cursor at this moment will be set as the Primary color.
Now create a new layer (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and fill it with Foreground color: Alt + Backspace. Name this layer “Color”.

Move this layer under the texture layer (by clicking on it and dragging with the mouse pointer). Next, etch the color layer onto the reflection layer: while holding Alt, click on the dividing line between these layers.
Etching one layer onto another means that the top layer will only be visible over the pixels of the layer below it.

Press D to reset the colors to default, then press X to switch between them.
By clicking on the special Add layer mask button at the bottom of the layers palette, create a layer mask for this layer. Select the Gradient tool and in the options bar at the top of the program window, select the Foreground to Background gradient.

Step 14
Click on the layer mask with the Gradient tool active, hold Shift and drag the mouse pointer in the direction shown below. This step will eliminate the possibility that the color will not be visible at the top of the image, but, using the gradient principle, will gradually appear towards the bottom.

Water is a complex structure. It itself is transparent, and despite the fact that it is quite clean, we can still somehow see it. And even in its normal state - liquid, water has many different forms, which differ quite greatly from each other. Although water looks quite simple, and it is simple in its "design" - you can't just go and learn how to draw it once and for all. This is because what you're really painting is not the water, but the effect it has on the world as seen through it.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create an image of liquid water in its many forms: drops, lakes, puddles, rain and waterfalls. I'll show you how to use many of Photoshop's tools to speed up your drawing process. I will also try to explain certain rules, once you have mastered them, you will be able to modify the examples given in this lesson to suit your needs. The most important lesson from this entire tutorial is how to use filters correctly to create the textures you need in just a few seconds.

This lesson is a continuation of the lesson How to draw realistic snow effects in Photoshop

Many of the techniques from that lesson will apply to this one too. Other lessons on creating realistic effects that imitate natural elements (fire, earth, air, snow) you can find on our website.

1. Draw a drop of water

Before starting the lesson, let's see what effect we would like to get:

Light source: its direction is critical
Highlight: it creates a distinct shiny point on the front of the drop.
Specular Shadow: You can see the highlight because it is reflected instead of staying inside. That's why a shadow forms under it
Secondary reflection: residual light that was transmitted inside the drop is reflected outside
Cast shadow: Since the light inside is reflected, it is not cast at that location, hence there is a shadow.

Because a drop of water is also a lens, it can focus bright light and transmit it into a cast shadow.

The natural state of a group of water particles is a sphere. However, due to gravity, we tend to see them not as a sphere, but as a flattened dome. This also means that the drop changes in perspective: from an oval shape (1) to a dome shape (2).

Step 1

We will be drawing water drops using a method that will allow you to reuse them later to create as many drops as you wish. Feel free to modify my method to create the effect you like best.

To begin, prepare a background (for example, you can take a leaf texture from the source materials; create a document no wider than 600 pixels), and draw an oval using a hard brush on a new layer (A new layer can be created by pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+shift+N) .

Step 2

Step 3

Then activate Embossing(Bevel & Emboss). This will create shadow on the front side of the drop and light on the back side.

Play with the meaning Depths(Depth(1)) and Size(Size (2)) so that both the light and the shadow inside the drop are not too sharp
Install Corner(Angle) in accordance with the direction of the Shadow (3)
Change Gloss contour(Gloss Contour) on according to Gauss(Gaussian (4))
Install Backlight mode(Highlight Mode) Overlap(Overlay) to make the light have a brighter background (5)
Play with Opacity(Opacity) Shadow Mode(Shadow Mode) to achieve a more realistic effect(6)

Step 4

Now we have to apply Stroke(Stroke) - this will add a transparent border between what is inside the drop and what is outside.

The stroke should be almost invisible - play with the size to make it so (1)
Change Fill type(Fill Type) on Gradient(Gradient (3))
Set up Corner(Angle) according to the light source (4)
Also experiment with scale(Scale) to achieve a soft transition effect (5)
Lower Opacity(Opacity) if the stroke appears too sharp.(2)

Step 5

Set up Corner(Angle) according to illumination (1)
Experiment with the settings so that the shadow appears only at the edges, leaving the central area of the droplet clear (2)
Change Circuit(Contour) on Rounded steps(Rounded Steps (3))
Add some Noise(Noise (4))

Step 6

Now let's apply Color overlay(Color Overlay) - this is not necessary, but it will make our drop more pronounced.

Install Blend Mode(Blend Mode) Overlap(Overlay) for greater Brightness and Transparency (1)
Set the color to greenish-blue (for example, like this #006372) (2)
Lower Opacity(Opacity) to such a level that the color is barely noticeable (3), unless, of course, you want to have a colored liquid.

Step 7

Applicable Gradient overlay(Gradient Overlay) - this will give a highlighted area on the back side of the drop.

Install Blend Mode(Blend Mode) Screen(Screen) for brightness (1)
Change Corner(Angle) to indicate the place that we are going to highlight (3)
Play with the settings Scale(Scale) to place the gradient correctly (4)
Lower Opacity(Opacity) to make the light visible, but not just white (2)

Step 8

Install Blend Mode(Blend Mode) Screen(Screen) for brightness (1)
Install Color(Color) white (4)
Make the glow small, diffused and barely noticeable using the settings Opacity(Opacity (2)), Noise(Noise (3)), and Size(Size(5)).

Step 9

Now let's apply Shadow(Drop Shadow) - this will create a cast shadow behind our drop.

Install Corner(Angle) according to lighting (2)
Experiment with the settings Distance(Distance), Scope(Spread) and Size(Size) to achieve the feeling that the shadow is really behind the drop, but not under it (3).
Lower opacity(Opacity) to make the shadow look more realistic (1)

Step 10

In order to give even more volume to our drop, apply Inner glow(Inner Glow)

Install Blend Mode(Blend Mode) Multiplication(Multiply) for dimming (1)
Install color(Color) dark blue (for example, this #1e1e5a) (3)
Source(Source) install Centered(Center) (4)
Play with the settings contraction(Choke) and Size(Size) so that the shadow is located in the center, and only where it already ends Inner shadow(Inner Shadow) (5)
If the effect is too harsh, reduce Opacity(Opacity) (2)

Step 11

Now, all we have to do is add a highlight to the front side of our drop. Create a new layer and paint the highlight with a hard brush using pure white.

Step 12

To better highlight our highlight, just add External glow(Outer Glow). To do this, double-click on the layer with the left mouse button to open the dialog box Layer Style(Layer style).

Step 13

So that both styles can be reused for further work, open the window Styles(Styles) and click on the icon Create a new style(Create New Style) while standing on the layer whose style you want to save.

Step 14

Now, every time you want to draw a drop, just:

Paint the drop shapes using a hard brush, each on a new layer.
Apply the drop style by selecting the desired layer and clicking on the created style.
Add a new layer above the previous one and paint a white dot with a hard brush.
Apply the Glow style to the drawn point.

Step 15

If you want to create a larger droplet, you need to remember two things:

The drops can't be too big, otherwise gravity will take over and simply destroy its shape. This means that the picture should look like it was taken in macro mode - i.e. with an observer who is himself quite small in size, or he must be very close to the object.
The effect of magnifying the drop-lens should be clearly visible from this angle, and accordingly you should clearly emphasize it in your picture

And of course, the layer style we created for the small droplets needs to be modified to adapt it to the larger look.

To create the magnifying effect, you need to do the following:

Duplicate the background (Control-J)
Copy the drop
Place the duplicated background layer between the two drop layers
Create a Clipping Mask (Control-Alt-G)
In addition to everything, you can still cut off everything unnecessary outside the drop in the following way: holding down the CTRL key, click on the drop, thus loading the selection, then invert it Control-Shift-I, and now you can press (Control-X), which will allow cut off all unnecessary parts outside the outline of the drop.

Step 16