How to Make Ice Water in Photoshop

Ice water is tough to photograph. Lighting melts the ice; shooting without lighting creates poor photos. You could spend money on special equipment and effects to fake the ice. Or you could shoot the water and mix in the ice with Photoshop.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Open a photograph of a glass of water in Photoshop. A clear glass will produce far better results than colored glass.

2. Create a new layer and add a selection in the shape of a partially melted ice cube (imagine three visible sides.) The shape should be 50 percent gray. You can use the selection tools and fill with gray, or paint the shape with a hard-edged brush.

3. Mask the image. Click the layer's transparent background area with the magic wand. Invert the selection so that the glass is now selected, and click on the "Add Layer Mask" icon in the Layer's palette toolbar.

4. Add highlights and shadows to the cube with the dodge and burn tools. Paint the highlights into what would be the center of each cube side, and shadows to define the edges. You want to create the illusion of three sides of a cube.) Set the layer blend mode to hard light.

5. Apply the Plastic Wrap filter. Tweak the settings until you're happy with the look. Keep the highlight strength on the lower end of the scale and the detail on the higher.

6. Duplicate the ice. Rotate and scale the copy to vary its appearance. Move the new cube so that it doesn't overlap the original. Make as many copies as you want. Vary the layer transparency settings to create an illusion of depth.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't see the Plastic Wrap filter in the Filters menu, change your image mode to RGB.
• If you're working with CS3, make your ice cube into a smart object before you apply the filers. You can find the "Convert to Smart Object" in the Layers palette's options menu. Smart objects allow you to edit the original selection even after filters are applied, and also to modify filter settings after you've applied them.
• When adding highlights and shadows, don't overdo it. All you need is a slight variation of shade and tone. The whiter the highlights and darker the shadows, the less realistic your ice will look.