PSP Reflection

Creating a reflection is relatively easy with Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and you can create some stunning results. And darn - it's just flat out fun!


Original	Reflection

When you have completed this technique you will have 4 layers plus the background layer. If layers make you tremble with fear - well - just go to your happy place and follow along. By the time you are finished you will no longer fear layers.

How To do It

Choose an image. It's best if it's a simple image with nothing in the background.

If you have a lot of "stuff" in your background then you will need to do some selecting to isolate the portion you want to reflect. As a matter of fact, getting the selection correct may be the most difficult part of the procedure.

Once your image is completely selected make a copy (Ctrl-C).

Make A New File

Make a new file about 1/3 longer than your original image file (the longer part is where your image reflection will be). What you have now are two files - the original image you will be working with and the new file.

Make the new file active and paste in your copied image (Ctrl-V).

This will give you a white Background layer and the pasted image layer you just created. Resist the inclination to Merge Down the layers because you want the image all by itself on its own layer.

I've chosen a neat Porsche badge for the reflection.

Initial Layer Palette

Now we can begin ...

Select the white Background layer and create a new Raster Layer. This layer will be the background Gradient that you will be creating. If you don't know how to create a Gradient with Paint Shop Pro - well - here is how you do it ...

Creating Gradients

You select or create Gradients with PSP in the Materials Palette.

Drop down the little menu bar under the current color and select the middle icon - this is where you will find the Gradients in PSP.

Click on the Gradient that is visible in the Materials Palette and the following screen will appear.

Material Properties (Gradients)

This is a very useful screen - you can change the Horizontal and Vertical position of the center point and choose the kind of Gradient you want. In this procedure we will create a Sunburst Gradient and for the final step later a Linear Gradient.

You can see in the image above that the Sunburst Gradient is selected.

PSP has a whole whack of Gradients available and you can see them by clicking on the Active Gradient. If you see one that fits your image then simply select it and you are done. If not then you will need to create your own Gradient with the Gradient Editor.

You might as well learn how to create a Gradient now because you will need a Black to Transparent Gradient later and it is not included in the pre-set PSP Gradients.

Click on the Edit button directly below the active Gradient to bring up the Gradient Editor.

Gradient Editor

Click New to create your unique, and probably stunning, Gradient - give it a name.

In the middle portion of the Editor (where it says Gradient), click on the little Marker at the left end of the gradient (the left facing red arrow)and then move your cursor over the image and it will change into the eyedropper.

Choose a color from your image and you wil see this color on the left end of the gradient in the editor.

Now click the Marker on the right end of the gradient (the right facing red arrow) and select the second color from your image and it will appear on the right end of the gradient in the editor.

Now you have a gradient that is all your own!

If you move the little diamond on top of the Gradient left and right you can change the appearance with the colors you have selected. When you are satisfied then click Close.

The final step to complete your reflection needs a Black to Transparent Gradient and this is how to make one.

In the editor, make the left end of your Gradient black. Do this by either selecting the left Marker and use the eyedropper to pick up black from your image or click on the Custom Color box (the big red arrow) and select black from the choices.

Now select the right Marker and make it white.

Go down to the Transparency section, select the right Marker and lower the Opacity to 0.

Now you have a very useful Black to Transparent Gradient.

The following video explains these procedure in detail ...

Gradients Video

Back to creating a reflection

Now you have the Background layer and two additional layers. Activate the new layer you created (below the image and above the Background), select the Flood Fill Tool and click on the image to put your gradient on this layer.


New Layer Added	Gradient Added

This is starting to look good with just the addition of the Gradient!

Next step - create another Raster Layer above the Gradient Layer and name it shiny surface. Select the Rectangular Selection Tool and make a selection about 1/3 of the way up the layer. Make sure the selection goes part-way up the image.

This is how your layers will look now ...


New Layer Added	Black Surface Added

And this is how your reflection image looks now ...

Now comes the fun part - we're going to

flip a copy of the image (the badge in my case)
move it down and then
apply a Black to Transparent Gradient.

Activate the Image Layer (Badge Layer in this case), right click on it and select Duplicate. You'll see a new layer created above your image layer named Copy of ...(Copy of Badge).

Select Image > Flip (Ctrl-I) to turn the image upside down.

This is where we are now ...


Layer Palette	Flipped Badge

Make sure the Flipped Layer is activated, select the Move Tool and then either use the down arrow key to move the image down or move it down with the Move Tool.

In my case I want the flipped image to be just underneath the original image like this ...

To get your flipped image exactly where you want it zoom in and use the arrow keys to move it left/right or up/down.

The Last Step

With the Flipped Image layer activated, add a new Raster Layer - this is for the Black to Transparent gradient.

draw a rectangular selection from left to right and from the the top of the flipped image to the bottom of the image
select the Flood Fill tool and click on the layer

This will appy your Black to Transparent gradient over the reflection and this is how the end product will look.

The Final Image

And that, my friends, is how to create a neat reflection with Paint Shop Pro.

And here is the video ...

Return to Paint Shop Pro page from Reflection.