Creative Photography: Tell twice the story with a reflection...

By Deborah Sandidge

Tell twice the story with your photograph by creating a watery reflection! This technique can enhance your image and make it look more dimensional. This is one of many techniques that I teach in my online photo courses at BetterPhoto.com's digital photography school!

(c) Deborah Sandidge

Both the shore and the bird were photographs converted to silhouettes, and the rest of the image was fabricated for fun in Photoshop! This is part of a tutorial I wrote for Photoshop Creative magazine. Here's how you can create a reflection in Photoshop...

• Select your image, Cmd/Ctrl A, and copy Cmd/Ctrl C. Cmd V to paste.

• Rotate the image, Rotate Canvas>Flip Vertical (it will look upside down).

• Increase the size of your original image by about double. Go to Image>Canvas Size and click on the top center square and type in the new size in the height field.

• Drag new rotated "reflection" to mirror your existing image. You can also create a rippled effect by choose Filter>Distort> Ocean Ripple.

• Merge the layers, Cmd/Ctrl E.

Another easy and fast way, and my favorite method, is to use the Flood Filter from Flaming Pear. This is the technique shown in the shorebird image above. I use the crop tool to roughly extend the canvas area, and then choose one of the cool effects in Flood. This filter has unlimited variations on waviness, complexity, brilliance and blur. You can also "roll the dice" for a random effect.

These techniques for reflections can make a beautiful difference with your images. Get creative! ~ Deb

Note from the Editor: Join Deb Sandidge for her online Photoshop courses: Photoshop - Enhancing Digital Images and Creating Works of Art and Digital Infrared Photography.