Photoshop Water Reflection Tutorial



Before



After





Above, you see a “before” and “after” picture demonstrating a realistic water reflection being added into a normal photo of a tree.  The following step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to easily add a realistic water reflection.  You can do this to any photograph, but it works best when there is not water in it to begin with.  I learned how to do this amazing effect from the tutorial that you can find on this website.

Realistic water reflection tutorial:

1.) Open up the photo you will be using in Photoshop

2.) Duplicate the Background Layer by right-clicking on the Background Layer in the layer palette

3.) Add more space to the bottom of the photo:

1. Go to the image menu and choose canvas size

2. Enter 100 for height and set width to 0 (can set them however you want)

3. Set measurement to percent

4. Check the relative option box

5. Click inside the square in the middle of the top row

6. Click OK

4.) Flip the top layer vertically:

1. Select Layer 1

2. Go to the edit menu and choose transform then flip vertical

5.) Drag the flipped image to the bottom of the document:

1. Select the move tool, click inside the document, and drag the flipped image down to bottom until it’s lined up with the bottom of the photo above it (hold down “shift” while dragging)

6.) Add a new blank layer by clicking on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette

7.) Fill in the new layer with white:

                1. Press “D” on your keyboard then Ctrl + Backspace

8.) Apply the Halftone Pattern filter to create black and white horizontal lines:

                1. Click the filter menu, select sketch, and then halftone pattern

                2. Set the pattern type option to line

3. Set contrast to 50, size to 7, or whatever you want

4. Click OK

9.) Apply the Gaussian Blur filter to the lines:

                1. Go to the Filter menu, select blur, and then Gaussian blur

                2. Set radius to 4 pixels, or whatever you like

                3. Click OK

10.) Duplicate the Lines Layer as a new document:

                1. Select the Lines Layer and right-click to select duplicate layer

                2. Set document type to new

                3. Click OK

11.) Save the new document and close out of it:

                1. Select yes when you are asked to save it and save it as water-ripples as a Photoshop PSD file

12.) Delete the Lines Layer:

                1. Click on the Lines Layer and drag it into the trashcan at the bottom of the layers palette

13.) Merge two layers onto a new layer:

                1. Select Layer 1 and push Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E

14.) Use the displace filter to create water ripples:

                1. Go to the filter menu then distort and choose displace

                2. Set the horizontal scale option to 4 and the vertical scale to 0

                3.  Make sure the stretch to fit and repeat edge pixels boxes are checked

                4. Click OK and open your water-ripples PSD file

15.) Hide the ripples on top with a layer mask:

                1. Push Ctrl + Click on Layer 1 to place a selection around the flipped image

                2. Select Layer 2 and click on the layer mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette

16.) Apply the Gaussian blur filter to the layer mask:

                1. Click on the layer mask thumbnail in the layers palette and select mask

                2. Go to the filter menu and select blur and then Gaussian blur

                3. Click OK

17.) Colorize the water with a hue/saturation adjustment layer:

1. Push the Alt key, then the new adjustment layer icon in the layers palette and then hue/saturation

                2. Select “use previous layer to create clipping mask” box

                3. Click OK

`               4. Select the colorize box on the hue/saturation options

                5. Set the Hue to 183, saturation to 26 and lightness to -17, depending on what you want

                6. Click OK

18.) Lower the opacity of the hue/saturation layer:

1. Set the opacity option in the top right-hand corner of the layers palette to 57%, or whatever you want

19.) Flatten image:

                1. Go to the layer menu and select flatten image

20.) Save your flattened image as a JPEG file

                1. Go to the file menu and select save as and set the document type as JPEG

21.) Close the image

               









 

               



Mrs. Clean Advertisement



Mrs. Clean Ad



I created this advertisement in class using Photoshop.  This Ad is advertising a cleaning service that is offering 50% off the first cleaning.  This Ad is targeted for people looking for a cleaner or older people who are no longer able to clean their own house.  I used several tools in Photoshop to help me create this Ad.  One tool I used was the rectangular marquee tool to move my logo onto my Ad.  Another tool I used was the move tool to move different layers around and to organize the text and pictures on the Ad.  I used the eyedropper tool to choose the colors I wanted to use for the text and for the heart.  I used the text tool several times to create my text.  I used the horizontal type tool to create the words "friendly", "dependable", and "organized".  The shape tool was used to create the heart.  I used the blending options on the text layers to add texture and style to my text.  I used color overlay gradient overlay, and outer glow on my text layers as well.  I used the swatches tool to choose the colors that I used.  Overall, I enjoyed doing this project and I found it simple except for the fact that I had to redo mine twice because I saved it incorrectly. 

Mrs. Clean Logo

Mrs. Clean Logo

Above you see the logo that I created using Photoshop and creativity to represent my mom's cleaning business.  I feel like this logo communicates its purpose well.  I think this because I included cleaning supplies such as; a vacuum within the letter “A”, a spray bottle to represent the letter “R”, and a broom to represent the letter “l”.  In my opinion this logo does a great job of representing what Mrs. Clean is about and what the company does, which is cleaning. 

I used shades of blue in my logo because of the bubbles.  I also chose shades of blue because when I think of clean, I always think of the color blue.  To create this logo, I used a few of the elements of design and some of the tools in Photoshop.  For example, I used the element “line” to make a straight line on the letter “A”.  I also used the shapes tool.  I used the circles to make all of the bubbles and the rectangle to make the broom stick.  I also used the element called “white space” to make the logo itself stand out against its background.  Lastly, I used the text tool.

Overall, I enjoyed doing this project and getting to use my creativity although it was stressful at times.  I feel like my logo looked much better on my rough draft because it was on paper.  The thing I found most difficult was drawing on the computer.  The thing I found the easiest was using the shape tool to form all of the bubbles. 

Perfect Body Image

Before Pic

After Pic

Above, you see my before and after pictures that I transformed using Photoshop.  I got the picture of Megan Fox’s body that I pasted my edited face on from this link.  I did this for a class project to demonstrate how easily a person can be completely transformed and be “perfected”.  As you can see, the after picture does not look much like the before picture.  This shows how anyone can be transformed and look like a model with Photoshop. 

Overall, I think the transformation of my picture looks realistic except for certain parts of the skin because of the differenciaton of Megan Fox’s skin color and mine.  Doing this has really showed me how easy it is to completely change a person’s profile.  Now, when I look through magazines or other advertisements I will wonder if that is really what that person looked like when that picture was taken or how much other photos of events have been photoshopped within magazines.  I think today’s view of the perfect body image is wrong.  This view makes many girls feel severly insecure and have a need to always be perfect.  I believe that changing people’s original facial features is not needed to make someone beautiful and I believe that our society today should believe more in natural beauty. 

On the whole project, I feel like I did a good job for my first time attempting to create a perfect model image from a simple picture of me.  I think I did a really good job on my lips when I used the liquify tool to transform them and also on removing my blemishes.  I feel like I got rid of all of my blemishes and freckles.  Something I could improve on or could’ve spent more time on is deffinately trying to match my skin with the model’s after I pasted my edited face onto her’s.  I think this is what I need to work on most because there are parts of her skin that do not fully match mine; for example on the forehead in the after picture. 

In conclusion, I thought this was an interesting, fun, and creative project.  Overall, I enjoyed it but it was stressful at times because it was very difficult to get a good color for your eyeshadow and to try to match my skin with Megan Fox’s.  This project helped me learn a lot more about Photoshop and helped me become more comfortable with it as well. 

Collage Depicting a Day in the Life of a Mercy Student

The collage below depicts the day in the life of a Mercy Academy student.  Before creating this collage, I learned how to use several tools in Photoshop and how to use the elements of photography to create a more intriguing photograph.  I used quite a few different tools in editing the photos in my collage.  In the bottom right, I used the black/white tool.  A few of the other tools that I used in Photoshop were the hue/saturation adjustments, the exposure adjustments, the curve adjustments, and the levels adjustments.  I used these adjustments to enhance the colors in the picture and to make the corners of the photo either darker or lighter.   I also used a tool called lens correction to move the angle that the lens was focused on to actually hide a blurry spot in the photo.  I used the dodge tool, the lasso tool, and the magic wand tool as well.  I also cropped and resized my photos.  One element of photography that I used that I had learned in class was simplicity in the picture of the girl vacuuming a class room.  The tutorials on the tools in Photoshop and what I learned in class helped me compose this collage project. 

Examples of Photography Elements

Below are three examples of three different elements of photography.  The three elements that I am demonstrating in this blog are; simplicity, avoiding mergers, and pictures in motion.  In order to take good photographs, you need to follow the elements and rules of photography.  Here is a PowerPoint  where you can find other examples of photography elements and tips for photography.

In this photograph, I am depicting the element simplicity.  This photograph is very simple and not complex.  It simply demonstrates a single leaf in water. 

In the above photo, there is an example of the photograph element called avoiding mergers.  Avoiding mergers is basically the same thing as avoiding cutting off someone’s body part in a picture.  In the photograph, my little brother’s arm and face got cutoff half way.  This is something you need to avoid in the art of photography. 

In the photo above, the rule/tip for pictures in motion is demonstrated.   The rule for this element is; if the object you are capturing is in motion, allow there to be space in the photograph in front of the object that is performing the motion.  In the photo above, I took a picture while my brother was riding his bike through our yard. 

Piracy Podcast and My Thoughts on Copyright Law

Alex Forst's School Picture

My group and I have created a Piracy Podcast. The graphic we used was original work so it is fair use, although, we did use the website Picnik to edit the graphic.  The music we used in our piracy podcast was a country tone from Garage Band that is allowed to be used on a Podcast created in Garage Band.  I believe that downloading music is not wrong as long as you follow all of the Copyright laws, legally download and purchase the music from a store such as iTunes, and give the artist credit for their work.  I think Copyright laws should and need to exist because artists and everyone else in the music industry need to get credit and money for their hard work, although, there shouldn't be as many detailed laws about copyright/piracy as there is today because people get confused about what they can and cannot do.  Many people do not even know or realize that what they are doing is illegal or copyright infringement and they are not aware of the serious consequences.  Piracy is so prevalent or common in today’s society because of the economy and because of people thinking they will never get caught.  Legally downloading all of your music can get expensive, so therefore many people choose to take the risk of illegally downloading music or other media.  Even though people get caught illegally downloading music every day, several people still strongly believe that they will not get caught if they illegally download music because almost everyone does it, so they do it anyway.  I see where the artists are coming from in their part of the argument.  I understand why they get upset when people do not give them credit for their work or when they don’t earn all of the money that they could if copyright infringement didn’t exist, but, if someone used my graphic or podcast without my permission, it wouldn’t really bother me as long as they gave me credit for it.  As far as the graphics go, as long as it's not a personal photo, I wouldn’t care too much.  In conclusion, there are serious consequences if you get caught committing piracy or copyright infringement and that it hurts the artist, songwriters, producers, etc. as well. 

An Example of Copyright Infringement

My thoughts and ideas about Copyright have slightly changed since I have learned more about the law itself. Now that I know more about the Copyright Law, I realize that there are too many specifics for the law. The average person has committed Plagiarism at least once in some way without getting caught. I've come to the conclusion that many people commit the crime without even knowing they did it. I myself learned a lot that I did not know before. I believe that the Copyright Law hasn't been very successful in ending/stopping Plagiarism. Even though there are serious consequences, thousands of people are still committing the crime. 

In 2007, country singer/songwriter James Martinez filed a $20 million copyright infringement lawsuit against Tim McGraw, claiming that Tim McGraw's 1997 hit, "Everywhere," is similar to James Maritnez' hit in 1996, "Anytime, Anywhere Amanda." The lawsuit was originally filed in Texas, but got moved to Nashville. Tim McGraw fought that he didn't even write the song, he only recorded it. His songwriters wrote "Everywhere" and they were listed among the defendants, along with McGraw's producers and record label. Copyright Infringement lawsuits are very common in Nashville. McGraw's manager, Scott Siman, called the allegations "absurd" and told the Tennessee newspaper, "Artists can be targets for these kinds of suits and we defend every one vigorously." You can find this article here.

Based on what I know about Copyright infringement, Tim McGraw was breaking the law because he recorded a song similar to one that had already been published by another artist.  The punishment he served was going to court.  The lawsuit was closed because Tim McGraw did not write the song, he only recorded it and because Martinez did not file the lawsuit until 11 years after the song had been recorded.  I think this was fair because the songs are different and because Tim McGraw did not write it.

 Tim McGraw

What the Future of Technology Holds

Today's world uses computers and other technology for many differents things in their life. They use technology at work, at home, and at school. You use it in the kitchen to cook, in your room to listen to music, watch Tv, straighten/blowdry/curl your hair, etc. We use it so much in our daily routines that we forget how fortunate we are to have the amazing advancements in technology that we do today.

I think computers and other technology are very useful tools for several things such as; organizing, studying, research, entertainment, socializing, learning/education, and communicating. People may use computers or other technology such as personal organizers, phones, or applications to help them stay or become organized whether its for work, school, or personal use. With these items you can create spreadsheets, lists, folders, powerpoints, documents, calender reminders, notepads, etc.

My personal experiences with computers and other technology at home are difficult at times, but mostly easy and simple. I use computers on a daily basis for many things for my personal use. I mainly use my computer for socializing/communicating, entertainment, and studying/researching for school projects or homework. I get on Facebook daily and have notifications sent to my phone via text message. I am also an Itunes member and use Youtube to watch videos.

In school, I have a little more difficulty with computers/technology because I usually only have a specific amount of time to do something which usually seems to always cause more problems like freezing, browser loading problems, login problems, etc. It also makes it more difficult in school to use computers because I do not own the computer so it makes me feel more uncomfortable with the technology. I have had past experiences where my teachers have lost emails or documents saved onto computers at school, and times when the teacher didn't recieve the email in time because of technical difficulties and I got penalized for the tardiness. I enjoy using computers more for personal use at home more than at school even though they can be very helpful in both places.

In the future, I see people using technology more than we already do. I see the world depending on the use and tools of technology more in the future because of bigger expanisons in technology. Schools will probably switch to using computers and other technology for everything such as; homework, bookwork, notes, etc. I think all of our school books will be online rather than an actual textbook in the future. I believe that more things in our households will be controlled by computers as well like; refridgerators, AC, microwaves, stoves, TVs, etc. I think work offices will use less paper and more technology. The prices for everything technology wised will most likely be raised rapidly because of the advances in technology. Our future will most likely be smarter, more educational, more expensive, and more advanced in technology and computers.

Overall, we have amazing technology and we are just going to continue to expand our technology and continuing making advancements. No one knows what the future will hold, but it will most likely have a lot to do with technology and computers because this is already a big part of the world today.

girl on computer