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Reflections

March 12th, 2013

This tutorial shows how to reflect text, but you can also do the same with images.

Objective

Finished Result
Reflections - finished

Tutorial

  1. Open a new, blank canvas. I will be using a 300x150px one.
  2. Using the Paint Bucket , fill the Background with the color of your choice.

    Reflections - #2

  3. Use the Text Tool to write something on top.

    Reflections - #3

  4. In your Layers window, Duplicate your text by hitting Ctrl+J or by right clicking it and selecting “Duplicate layer”.

    Reflections - #4

  5. Now we want to change that copy text layer into a normal layer. Right click on the copy and select Rasterize Type. (Older versions call it “Rasterize Layer”.)

    Reflections - #5

  6. Make a selection around your whole canvas by hitting Ctrl+A (Select All). Then, right click inside the selection and choose Free Transform.

    Reflections - #6

  7. Right click inside the selection again, and choose Flip Vertical. Hit Enter on your keyboard to apply the transformation.

    Reflections - #7

  8. Use the Move Tool to move the copied text a few pixels below the original text.

    Reflections - #8

  9. Use the Rectangular Marquee to select the bottom half of the copied text.

    Go to Select >> Modify >> Feather (or just Select >> Feather in old versions) and set it to 15px. (Use a larger number if the text/image is larger.)

    Hit Delete on your keyboard once or twice to make the text fade.

    Reflections - #9

  10. Set the Opacity of the copied text to 50%.

    Reflections - #10

    Now it looks like…

    Reflections - #10

  11. Make a New Layer at the top. I will name it shadow.

    Reflections - #11

  12. Select black as your foreground, and then select the Gradient Tool . It should go from black to transparent, and it should be a Linear Gradient.

    Reflections - #12

    Use the Rectangular Marquee to select the area below the original text. Make a small gradient inside this selection on layer shadow.

    Reflections - #12

  13. Set the Blending Option of layer shadow to Soft Light. You can also try Overlay or just lowering the Opacity if those look better.

    Reflections - #13

    It now looks like this…

    Reflections - #13

  14. To soften the top of the shadow, go to Filter >> Blur >> Gaussian Blur and set it to 1px.

    Reflctions - #14

  15. And now for the finishing touches. Use the Eraser with a soft brush, and erase parts of the left and right sides.

    Here’s the finished product!

    Reflections - finished

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