Hey RP fans! Deena Wuest from Creating Keepsakes magazine back at the table with another Photoshop tutorial! This week a reader asked me how to create a reflection effect in Photoshop, so that’s what we’ll be talking about today. There are several ways to achieve a reflective result but my favorite way is to use a gradient on a layer mask. Layer masks are brilliant because they can be altered, revised or even deleted without harming their linked layers. And we love that because it means we can experiment without fear!

Here’s a layout that shows an example of an indirect reflection effect in the title.

As seen in the May/June 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. Copyright Creative Crafts Group. Posted with prior permission from the publisher.

This look is actually really easy to achieve. Here’s how!

1. Use the HORIZONTAL TYPE TOOL to enter your text. Right click on your text layer and select RASTERIZE TYPE.
2. Duplicate the text by dragging the layer onto the CREATE A NEW LAYER icon at the bottom of the layers palette. To flip the text upside down, select EDIT > TRANSFORM > FLIP HORIZONTAL. Move the flipped image into the desired position.
3. With the new layer selected, click on the LAYER MASK icon in the layers palette.
4. Press D on your keyboard to set the foreground to black and the background to white and select the GRADIENT TOOL.
5. In the GRADIENT PICKER, make sure the first option, FOREGROUND TO BACKGROUND, is selected. We want to choose the LINEAR GRADIENT option for this technique.
6. Hold down the SHIFT key, click and drag from the bottom of the layer to the top of the layer to create the gradient mask.

And now you know! I hope you have fun experimenting with cool ways to include reflection effects on your layouts and projects! For easy reference, I’ve included a PDF handout you can download and add to your “Wanna Learn How” library. And as my Christmas gift to you, I’ve also attached a word art graphic you can download for free and use on your next project!

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As always, we want to hear from you! Have you seen a digital technique that made you say, “Oooh! I wanna learn how to do that?” Leave a comment to let us know what techniques you want to see here. I have a free one-year subscription to Creating Keepsakes magazine in my hands that will go to one random (and lucky) commenter. So be sure to drop us a line to be entered in the drawing! Good luck!

Downloads

How To Create A Reflection Effect
Word Art Graphic

Deena Boese

Deena Boese is a Contributing Writer for Creating Keepsakes magazine and enjoys designing both digital and hybrid projects for each issue. She was first published with Creating Keepsakes in early 2007. Deena has a passion for story-telling and graphic design, and brings these elements into her digital and hybrid scrapbooking.

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Tags: graphics | Photoshop