How to make a mirror image in Photoshop. We create competent reflections in Photoshop. Using the “Flip Horizontal” command
I think you have come across photos with mirror reflections on the Internet more than once. Naturally, most often the photographer did not even think to specifically look for a mirror surface to create a photo. After all, it is much easier to recreate a similar effect in Photoshop.
This skill is likely to be useful to web designers. As you know, even website design has its own fashion and trends. The use of a photo of an object with a mirror reflection refers to the above. This means it’s worth spending 10 minutes of free time and learning this technique. Moreover, creating such an effect is extremely simple.
First, we need a photo of an object on a white background. It could be anything. I chose a vase for my experiment.
Open the picture. Make sure there is enough space below to place the reflection.
We will need the lasso tool to select the image. Find it in the sidebar.
Now let's select the image. Moreover, at the bottom of the object you must do this with the greatest possible accuracy. At the top you can capture the white areas. Great care is not required.
You should get something like this:
Now let’s use the key combinations ctrl+c and ctrl+v. We copy our image to a new layer and paste it in the same document.
Immediately the next key combination is ctrl+t. It will help us flip the resulting image. Play it back and right-click on the work area. From the drop-down list, select “flip vertically”.
Hold down the shift key. Click on the image and drag it down.
As you can see, something is starting to emerge.
The reflection cannot be completely symmetrical. You should take into account the laws of perspective and make the reflection slightly expanding at the bottom. To do this, press the key combination ctrl+t again and now select the “perspective” command. Pull the corner of the image. This is what we get.
Now let's move on to the layers window. Select the bottom reflection and reduce its opacity to 30-40%.
The simplest thing remains. In order to achieve the most realistic mirror reflection effect, we will remove part of it using a mask and gradient.
To do this, in the layers window, click on the mask creation icon.
On the toolbar already familiar to us, look for “gradient”.
We should adjust the gradient from transparent to black. You will find the settings at top panel. Click on the window.
We called up the necessary window. Click on the markers and set the settings. Below the color ranges from white to black. The top handles allow you to adjust the opacity. Black – opacity 100%. White - 0%.
Set up. Now click on the bottom of the image with the reflection and drag it up.
That's all! As you can see, the seemingly complex mirroring effect is done very quickly.
I would like to note that you can apply this skill not only to photography. Mirroring text is done in the same way.
Today we will tell you about how to make competent reflections in photoshop. 3D reflections, product reflections, and a couple other types of great reflections. We'll discuss everything from transformations to blending modes and more. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or a pro, you can still learn a thing or two.
You'll probably think that reflections were extremely popular a couple of years ago, but today they've fallen out of favor a little, and you'd be right. However, you can observe various examples on many websites on the Internet, including Apple.com. Of course, you can't go overboard with reflections in an attempt to keep up with web2.0 styling trends, but it's worth noting that sometimes reflections can give a presentable look to some boring element.
Reflection of a three-dimensional object
What if your object is complex? For example, what if our object is a box?
If we go through the steps of turning the object over, it can lead to disaster. This will give us a completely terrible reflection.
In general, flipping a box is much easier than flipping text. You don't even have to transform anything, you just need to duplicate the box layer and place the boxes on top of each other.
Next, we apply a mask and reduce the display level and thus we get a perfectly reflected box!
This trick works with many shapes. For example, the iPhone photo at the very beginning of the article can be easily reflected using this technique. Next, you only need a little processing to get the correct reflection lined up. All modification will take a few seconds.
Displaying a photo of the product
And now, I can already hear exclamations: “Not so fast!” What are the chances that you will ever have to make a reflection of an old flat box? Someday this may happen suddenly and, in addition, it is much more likely that you will need to take a reflection of a product photo or something more complex.
This is exactly the problem I encountered recently when I was designing dog food ads. See what happens when we apply this technique to a real product shot.
As you can see, the image on the box spoils the whole effect. It should be upside down. We will have to implement this to get the correct reflection.
Keep in mind that Photoshop has many 3D utilities that can help you in this situation. Once you've created a 3D object, you can easily move it around as you please. However, you won't always have time to create 3D objects, which is why it's important to know how to effectively simulate the 3D effect.
The first thing you need to do is flip the image vertically.
Next, press CTRL and click on the layer preview to create a selection of the object. While holding down the ALT key, deselect the sides of the box so that only the front part remains selected.
With this selection active, do a Free Transform (CTRL+T) and then, while holding CTRL, grab the middle pointer in the image below and drag so that it is neatly moved to the bottom of the main box.
Now do the same with the remaining sides of the box. Here, be sure to only select the sides of the box and use the middle left indicator when selecting. This will allow you to create the perfect reflection of the box. Now you might be concerned about the bottom part of your reflection, because here we have everything mixed up.
The good thing here is that you can completely ignore this point. Don't forget that we'll have a fade effect here, so the bottom won't even be visible.
This is what the final version looks like. Not too bad considering the shape was so complex and it only took a couple of minutes. Once you get the hang of it, it will take you much less time.
A little about blending modes
It's definitely worth noting that when working with reflections in Photoshop, you shouldn't stick to the default blending mode. Experiment. Try different modes and see how they affect the reflection.
Each reflection you create may contain different colors, so a specific blending mode may work much better than the default one.
If you're looking for some fun, you can even try doing two takes of the reflection with different settings mixing modes. This sometimes helps to get a more realistic image of the reflection.
Conclusion
Reflections have been used quite frequently in recent years. The purpose of this article is to help you implement smart reflections by separating yourself from burdensome unnecessary tasks and operations. Remember that reflections in a design should not be used so often, which also applies to other effects (shadows, gradations, framing, etc.).
You must be able to determine when reflection should be used and when it will be unnecessary. You should also be able to create reflections of both simple elements and complex elements.
The main thing is to specify the picture on your computer or phone, if necessary, specify the type of mirror image, and click OK at the bottom. The rest of the settings are already set to default.
Examples with mirrored photographs: 
The first example above is the original photo of a yellow cucumber flower, that is, without modifications. To create the second example we used mirror reflection photographs horizontally (from left to right), for the third example - mirror reflection vertically. The photo of the Kodak battery was reflected using the standard method - horizontally.
This online tool can work without recompression and without loss of quality when saving in jpg format. To do this, you need to check the appropriate box in the “output image format” settings.
The use of mirror reflection will not only allow you to correctly correct the position of a photograph or picture, but will also allow you to look at it in a new way. Try it and see for yourself! This site also has similar effects: mirror collage, mirror reflection under the picture and the looking glass effect.
The original image is not changed in any way. You will be provided with another processed image.
Mirror image in graphic editor Adobe Photoshop systematized as a special case of arbitrary transformation. However, in several sections of the editor menu there are two separate lines with commands for mirroring the image in 2 planes (horizontal and vertical). There are several methods to access these commands.
You will need
- Graphic editor Adobe Photoshop
Instructions
1. Expand the “Image” section in the graphics editor menu if you want to mirror each document as a whole, including all graphic, text layers, masks, etc. In this section, go to the “Image Rotation” subsection, where you will find two mirroring commands – “Flip canvas horizontally” and “Flip canvas vertically”. Select one of them, and Photoshop will carry out the necessary transformations on all layers of the document.
2. Click the one you need in the layers palette if you want to mirror only its contents, and not each document. After this, expand the “Editing” section in the menu and go to the “Transformation” subsection. It contains more transformation tools than were in the list of the corresponding subsection in the “Image” section, and the commands you need “Flip horizontally” and “Flip vertically” are located here at the very end of the list. Click the required one and the image in the selected layer will be reflected in the corresponding plane.
3. Allowed to use Alternative option action described in the previous step. To do this, you should also first select the layer that you want to mirror by clicking the mouse. After this, you need to press the M button on your keyboard to enable the Rectangular Marquee tool. This can also be done by clicking on the corresponding icon on the toolbar. After this, right-click the image and in the drop-down context menu select "Free Transform". A frame with anchor points will appear around the silhouette of the image of this layer, but you do not need to do anything with it, but you need to right-click the image again. This time, the dropped menu will contain all the items that you saw in the “Transform” section in the previous step, including the desired “Flip Horizontal” and “Flip Vertical”. Select the command with the required mirroring direction.
When working in the Adobe Photoshop graphics editor, you often need to mirror an image. Depending on the properties of the document being processed, as well as the type of reformation required (vertical or horizontal reflection), the actions that need to be performed to solve this problem will vary.
You will need
- – Adobe Photoshop; – initial image.
Instructions
1. Load the image you want to flip into Adobe Photoshop. Press Ctrl+O on your keyboard or click on the “Open…” item in the File section of the main application menu. A dialog will be displayed. Go to the directory with necessary file and select it. Click the "Open" button. You can also easily drag a file from an Explorer window, folder, or file manager into the Adobe Photoshop workspace with the mouse.
2. Analyze the uploaded image. From the Layers panel, find out whether it consists of one or more layers. If there are several layers, view their contents. To do this, first turn off the visibility of all elements by unchecking the boxes in the Layers panel, and then, alternately switching between them, temporarily make them visible. Decide whether you need to flip the image in some specific layers without affecting others, or whether you need to rotate the entire image. In the first case, go to the fourth, and in the second, go to the third step.
3. Flip the entire image. Expand the Image section of the main application menu, select the Rotate Canvas item. Next, select Flip Canvas Horizontal if you need to flip it horizontally and Flip Canvas Vertical if the picture needs to be flipped vertically.
4. Flip the image on one or more layers. In the Layers panel, set the visibility checkboxes and select the elements corresponding to the layers on which the image should be reflected. You can select several elements at once by clicking on them with the mouse while pressing the Ctrl key. Expand the Transform section of the Edit section of the main menu. Select Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical to flip horizontally and vertically, respectively.
5. Save the reflected image. In the File section of the main application menu, select “Save As...”. You can also press the key combination Ctrl+Shift+S. In the dialog that appears, specify the required format, as well as the file name and the directory where it will be placed. Click the "Save" button.
You can flip an image horizontally or vertically in almost any image viewing program. But at the same time, the overall quality of the initial file often deteriorates. To avoid this, it is better to use graphic editors. Let's say Adobe Photoshop. With the support of Photoshop tools, you can not only quickly make a mirror image of a picture, but also edit it until you get the desired result.
Instructions
1. Open image V photoshop. To do this, use the “File – Open...” command and find the location of the desired picture on your computer. Or easily drag and drop image from the folder easily into the program by holding the file with the left mouse button.
2. Select the command “Image – Rotate Canvas...” and then use the desired function: “Flip horizontally” or “Flip vertically”. If you don’t need to do anything more, save the picture in great quality with the command “File – Save...” or “File – Save as...”.
3. If you want the initial image and its mirror image were in the same picture, you will need to create additional layers and change the size of the canvas.
4. Right-click on an exclusive layer in this moment in file. First select the “From background...” menu. This command will make the layer with the image not background, not tied to subsequent actions with the image size. After that, select “Make a duplicate layer...”.
5. Now, depending on whether you want a vertical or horizontal reflection, double the height or width of the workspace, respectively. Use the “Image – Canvas Size” command.
6. Later, select the copy layer and flip it in the desired direction. With mouse support, drag the layer so that it stands next to the initial one. image m. When the desired result is achieved, you will save image .
7. In order to simulate the reflection of the initial image on water or other surfaces, you will need to add realism to the resulting layer. To do this, you can experiment with layer transparency and blending modes; apply different results (Filters command); deform and change the perspective (command “Editing – Transform”), etc.
8. When creating an unnatural reflection, use real photographs as a guide. Let's say, if you need to make the result of reflection on water, look at several photographs that depict objects reflected on the surface of the water. After achieving the desired result, do not forget to save image .
Video on the topic
When working with images in the Adobe Photoshop graphics editor, it is impossible to do without selecting each image or its individual fragments. To implement this operation, the program has a whole set of tools, divided into several groups. Using them is not particularly difficult, but requires some practice.
You will need
- Graphic editor Adobe Photoshop.
Instructions
1. If you want to select everything in a layer image to the height and width of the document, then first click on the line of this layer in the layers panel. The display of the panel can be disabled - press the F7 key or select “Layers” from the “Window” menu so that this element is displayed in the Photoshop interface. Having selected the required line, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + A or the “All” item in the “Selection” menu section. An animated dotted frame will appear along the edges of the image, showing the boundaries of the selected fragment. If you later move to another line in the Layers panel, the contents of the other layer will be selected.
2. The first step describes an exceptional method, one that does not require you to select anything from the toolbar. And to select, say, a rectangular fragment of an image, you first need to click the second icon on this panel - “Rectangular area” - or press the key with the letter M. After that, using the mouse pointer, specify the desired rectangular area on the image.
3. The mouse is also used to specify an oval or perfectly round selection on the image. To switch a tool from a rectangular format to an oval one, click its icon on the toolbar with the left button and hold until a menu of four lines appears. Select the “Oval Marquee Tool” option, and then proceed as in the previous step.
4. To select a fragment of an image of any shape, use the Lasso tool - this is the next (third) icon on the panel. Instead of clicking on it, you can press the L key. Draw the desired closed selection area with the mouse pointer. This tool has two variations, one of which, “Frank Lasso,” allows you to select difficult polygons, and the other, “Magnetic Lasso,” is very useful for selecting identically colored areas of the image. You can choose one of these options in the same way as in the previous step - when you press and hold the left button on the tool icon, a menu with a list appears.
5. The tools of the fourth button – “Magic Stick” and “Rapid Selection” – are designed for working with image fragments that have identical colors and color concentrations. They are similar in action to the “magnetic lasso”, but when using these tools you only need to specify one example point by clicking on it with the mouse pointer. Later, Photoshop, at its discretion, will select each section of points similar to the example. Use the W key to enable this tool.
Video on the topic
Video on the topic
