How to Make a Sunset Reflection With Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop allows you to capture exact reflections and mirror images of otherwise simple digital photographs, bringing new dimension and adding visual appeal. Sunset images make excellent subjects for this effect, as a reflected sunset is a breathtaking sight to behold. You need not be a digital imaging expert to produce this effect, as Photoshop automates most of the necessary steps using basic tools and menu commands.
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Instructions
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Open Photoshop and click "File" on the menu bar. Click "Open" on the drop-down menu and select your sunset image from your hard drive. Click the "Open" button in the lower right corner of the window and wait for your image to load.
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Select the part of the image that you want to reflect, if the sunset is part of a larger image (such as a beach landscape). Click the "Lasso" or "Magnetic Lasso" tool on your "Tools" palette and draw a marquee around the sunset area. Choose a start point for your marquee, move your cursor to that spot and click the mouse. Then drag the mouse around the sunset area and end in the same spot where you began. Release your mouse button to set the marquee. You can also use the "Magic Wand" tool to select sections of an image with a single click.
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Make a copy of your selection. If using Windows, click "Ctrl" and "J" simultaneously on your keyboard. If using Mac, click "Command" and "J" simultaneously. Your duplicated selection will appear in a new Photoshop layer.
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Click the "Move" tool on your "Tools" palette (resembling a black arrow) and click the tiny box at the top center of your selection. Drag the box downward, moving the entire image down beneath the original, creating a mirror image. Then click any tool on your "Tools" palette to apply the change.
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Create a layer mask on the layer containing the reflected image. Locate your "Layers" palette, click the layer containing the reflection and then click the "Layer Mask" button, which features an image of a small circle. If your "Layers" palette does not appear on the screen, click the "Window" heading on the menu bar and select "Layers" from the list.
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Set your foreground and background colors as black and white. Your foreground and background color panels appear at the bottom of the "Tools" palette, with the foreground color slightly in front. Click the foreground box and select a black swatch from the "Color Picker" window. Then click the background box and select a white swatch.
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Click the "Layer Mask" box that appears on your reflection layer on the "Layers" palette (it appears directly to the right of the main box). Then click the "Gradient" tool on your "Tools" palette and draw a gradient over your reflection. Click your mouse in the center of the reflection and drag the cursor down slightly below the reflection. Then release your mouse. The gradient will present the illusion of a fading reflection, for a more realistic effect.
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