How to Reflect an Object with Photoshop

I've worked with Photoshop and its effects on a regular basis for over eight years, quickly becoming the "go-to" expert for friends and family with photo retouching, enhancement, or other graphics needs. Over the years I've used a great deal of different Photoshop effects for different purposes, and have found ways to make utilizing the effects easier and more enjoyable for both the average and the advanced Photoshop user.
Have you ever seen a picture with a striking reflection and wonder if you could do the same thing? Well, that's what this article focuses on. Making an object's reflection from scratch can be a rewarding exercise, and have some fantastic effects. Adding a shine to the reflection can make it even more dramatic.

(Disclaimer: I've had people ask me complex questions about getting into the professional photography business. While I have friends in the profession and know that Photoshop is a necessary tool for the modern photographer, I'm not in the business, so I can't answer related questions; I just have a knack for retouching the photos of friends and family and am familiar with the workings of the program.)

Start by finding a photo of an actual object with a user-created surface. To give a reflective shine to the surface, you'll need to recreate a side of the object to reflect onto the fake surface. To that end, click on the "Selection" tool and click the area of the object that you want reflected. You should see a moving line, like ants marching across the selection. Hit Ctrl+J to copy the selection and place it in a separate layer. Click on Edit/Transform/Distort to move and invert the layer. Don't create a selection this time; since you put everything in a new layer, Photoshop automatically takes the entire layer into consideration.

Next, you're going to turn the reflection upside-down to make it believable. Drag the top center point of your boundary down and cross it with the bottom center point. This will turn the reflection in the right direction. You can adjust it by dragging it from the sides and the corner. You may also want to shift the crosshairs in the middle around for more flexibility in the photo, but there's a definite point where doing so ruins the effect you're going for.

When you're finished, hit Enter. If there are other areas you want to reflect onto the user-created surface, now's the time to do it; just follow the steps I mentioned above for each new item.

You'll need to fade the new layer(s) before you're actually finished. This is where Quick Mask comes in: Ctrl+left click the active layer on the "Layers" palette. Hitting Q will put you in Quick Mask mode. Starting at the reflection's origin point-where it touches the object-spread a dark shaded or black gradient (using the Gradient Box from the toolbar) all the way across to the reflection's other side. Getting back into Quick Mask again, press Delete/Backspace to get rid of your selection. Do the same thing for every layer of reflection; just make sure you switch the active layer each time from the Layers palette.

After you've finished that, get rid of any areas of the reflection that seem odd or out of place, then merge your reflection layers into a single layer via Layer Palette/Merge Down. If needed, tone down the opacity of the reflective layer so the surface will have a better opportunity to show through.

You should be able to see your object reflected clearly in the user-created surface. Now that you know the basics, you can try the technique out on different objects and more complex surfaces.