How To Make A Water Reflection in Photoshop

Even though I no longer photograph for clients any more, I still very much enjoy staying active in the photographic community and keeping my eye on current trends and following a few of my favourite photographers.

When I saw these images by Cleare Photography I gasped out loud.  

I had never seen anything like it before.

I knew of course that they were photographed safely as composites, but I didn't know how she had created the water effect.

So I did some research and discovered it was a Plug-In called Flood by Flaming Pear

Not being that skilled at Photoshop, I asked my friend and fellow photographer Fran Stephenson to write a guest post to show how easy it is to create the effect.


How to use the flaming pear flood filter

open the image in photoshop

Make a duplicate layer

Go to your filter menu and drop down to your plug ins, select the flaming pear flood filter

Flood appears in its own box, at this point you can play with all the effects.

I like the water to appear as if its behind the subject, to do this you need to move the horizon until it is where you would like it, the water will cover the subject as above, at this point take the eraser tool, and make the edges hard, and remove the filter from the subject.

Once you're happy with removing the effect flatten the image, and repeat the process, so make another duplicate layer, and go to the filter menu again, but this time pop the horizon just under the subject. 

And there you have your finished image, its that simple!

I'm so impressed with the overall effect, I have designed 3 backdrops that I think would look amazing behind a baby or child on a wooden moon prop or swing over a water reflection :

To see my backdrop designs, prices and details on how to order, click here

If you create your own water reflection images, I would LOVE to share them on my facebook page - please feel to post them to my wall or send them to me as a message!