Glass Window Reflection Effect In Photoshop
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- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:46 Getting started and Adding Adobe Stock Images
- 1:36 Using The Lighten Blending Mode To Create The Reflection Effect
- 2:00 Use the Levels Adjustment Layer To Enhance the Lighten Blend Mode
- 4:46 Enhance The Highlights of The Image
- 6:05 Creating a Green Tint to Enhance a Window Effect
- 6:48 Using a Texture To Add Dirty to The Glass
- 7:56 Add a Darkening Gradient
- 8:43 Creating Highlights and Adding Flares Onto The Window Reflection
- 12:06 Adding a Blur and Noise To Make The Composite More Cohesive
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A glass window reflection effect in Photoshop uses Blending Modes and Adjustment Layers to make it look like a photo was shot through a dusty pane of glass.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a window reflection effect in Photoshop.
This effect will create the illusion that the photo was taken through a glass window.
The images used in this Photoshop tutorial are all Adobe Stock images, but you could easily follow along with your photos with no problem at all.
This technique helps give your photo a bit more depth and emotion. Even if you never intend to fake reflections in Photoshop, this tutorial is still a great crash course in how Blending Modes work. You will also learn how to use adjustment layers to control how they blend.
Key Takeaways
- The Lighten blend mode only reveals pixels brighter than the layer beneath it, which is what fakes a reflection sitting over a subject.
- A Levels or Black & White Adjustment Layer clipped to the reflection controls exactly which parts show through, without touching the reflection photo itself.
- Linear Dodge (Add) is one of Photoshop’s 8 special blending modes, so it reacts to Fill differently than it reacts to Opacity.
- A small amount of Lens Blur and noise sells a composite, since it keeps every layer from looking too sharp next to the others.
- Flipping a composite horizontally is a fast way to catch text or details that would read backward in a real reflection.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Getting Started Window Reflection Effect In Photoshop
- Use Blending Modes To Create A Reflection Effect
- Tips and Useful Techniques
- Add a Color Tint to Enhance The Glass Effect
- Applying a Texture To Create a Stained Glass Effect
- Creating Highlights and Flares
- Blur and Add Noise To Create a More Cohesive Image
- Other Things You Can Do To Improve The Glass Window Reflection Effect In Photoshop
- Video Chapters
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to fake a window reflection with the Lighten and Screen blending modes
- How to control a reflection layer’s luminance with a Levels or Black & White Adjustment Layer
- How to tint the glass with a Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer
- How to add dust and stains with a texture layer and the Blend If sliders
- How to paint highlights and flares with the Linear Dodge (Add) blending mode
- How to unify the composite with the Lens Blur filter and added noise
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop 2015.5 (version 17.0 or later) or the current version
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Create Clipping Mask | Ctrl Alt G | Command Option G |
| Duplicate Layer | Ctrl J | Command J |
| Desaturate | Ctrl Shift U | Command Shift U |
| Free Transform | Ctrl T | Command T |
| Group Layers | Ctrl G | Command G |
| Stamp Visible (merge visible into a new layer) | Ctrl Alt Shift E | Command Option Shift E |
| Move Tool | V | V |
| Brush Tool | B | B |
| Zoom Tool | Z | Z |
| Swap Foreground/Background Color | X | X |
| Decrease Brush Size | [ | [ |
Getting Started Window Reflection Effect In Photoshop
You will need at least three images to work with: a subject, a reflection image, and a texture image which will be necessary to create a stained glass effect.
You could find the photos used in this video on Adobe Stock, or you can simply shoot your own in just a few minutes.
Stock images utilized in this tutorial:
Woman:
https://stock.adobe.com/stock-photo/time-for-breakfast/107361711
Busy City:
https://stock.adobe.com/stock-photo/busy-city/3977204
Glass Texture:
https://stock.adobe.com/stock-photo/dirty-glass/40196017
Use Blending Modes To Create A Reflection Effect
This video will teach you to work with Blending Modes to create a reflection effect.
We will do a quick crash course on how blending modes work and how they can help us create a window reflection effect in Photoshop.
Tips and Useful Techniques
This video shares many tips and helpful techniques to adjust the reflection layer to fit the picture perfectly.
The first way is to create a new Levels Adjustment Layer to change the luminance values of the reflection layer. This shows or hides different areas of the image to make the reflection work better.
This is possible because the reflection layer is set to the Lighten Blending Mode which conceals dark pixels and reveals bright pixels. This means that as pixels become darker than 50% gray, they start disappearing. If they become brighter than 50% gray, then they start appearing.
Another useful technique is to clip a Black & White Adjustment Layer to the reflection layer. Then set the Blending Mode to Luminosity and adjust the luminance values of specific colors to conceal or reveal them.
Add a Color Tint to Enhance The Glass Effect
Have you ever noticed that some glass windows have a green or blue tint? In this video, you will learn how to re-create this effect with a Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer.
By checking the “Colorize” checkbox you can apply a color to an entire layer, then use the Opacity slider to adjust the intensity of that color.
Applying a Texture To Create a Stained Glass Effect
Perfection doesn’t exist in the real world. Even the cleanest windows should have some dust or stains. To make the composite look more natural, we will use a texture layer to apply subtle stains on the glass.
You don’t need to worry about creating complicated masks. We will use the “Blend If” sliders in the Layers Styles window to selectively hide bright pixels and keep the dark ones.
Tip: Blend If normally hides pixels only until you flatten the layer. See how to use Blend If to permanently hide pixels in Photoshop by converting the layer to a Smart Object first.
Creating Highlights and Flares
This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to create lights shining on the glass with the help of the Linear Dodge (Add) blending mode.
Linear Dodge (Add) is one of the 8 special blending modes in Photoshop that gives your different results when you adjust opacity compared to fill. Also, these eight blending modes blend differently when the “Transparency Shapes Layer” checkbox is unchecked in the Layers Style window.
Blur and Add Noise To Create a More Cohesive Image
With the Lens Blur filter, we’ll add a slight blur and a bit of noise. That makes the image blend better, so it looks more like a real photo and not a composite.
This is a trick that you can use on all your composites, not just this glass window reflection effect.
Other Things You Can Do To Improve The Glass Window Reflection Effect In Photoshop
We did not have enough time in this video to show all the different things that you can do to create a realistic glass window effect.
In your own projects, you may want to try different things to enhance this effect, such as flipping the image horizontally. Especially if there is visible text since, in the real world, a reflection will show the text inverted.
You may also want to blur the reflection layer to match the depth of field in the image. Having a reflection that is too sharp may be a giveaway that the image is a composite.
Video Chapters
- 00:46 – Insert Adobe Stock Images
- 01:36 – Create The Reflection Effect With The Lighten Blend Mode
- 02:00 – Use the Levels Adjustment Layer To Enhance the Lighten Blend Mode
- 04:46 – Enhance The Highlights of The Reflection
- 06:05 – Creating a Green Tint to Enhance a Window Effect
- 06:48 – Using a Texture To Add Dirty to The Glass
- 07:56 – Add a Darkening Gradient
- 08:43 – Create Highlights and Flares
- 12:06 – Add a Blur and Noise To Make The Composite More Cohesive
Frequently Asked Questions
The glass window reflection effect in Photoshop uses Blending Modes and Adjustment Layers to make a photo look like it was shot through a pane of glass. A second image blends over the subject as a reflection, then a tint, texture, and highlights sell the glass.
The Lighten blend mode creates the reflection. It only shows pixels that are brighter than the layer underneath, so a second photo set to Lighten reads as a faint reflection instead of a solid image.
Clip a Levels or Black & White Adjustment Layer to the reflection layer. Dragging their sliders changes which parts of the reflection show through, without touching the reflection photo itself.
Add a Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer and check Colorize. Dragging the Hue slider picks the tint color, and the Opacity slider controls how strong it looks.
Add a texture photo above your composite, then use the Blend If sliders in the Layer Style window to hide its bright pixels and keep only the dark ones. That leaves just the dirt and stains visible on the glass.
Paint soft white highlights with the Brush Tool, then set that layer’s blend mode to Linear Dodge (Add). A Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer clipped on top colors the glow so it matches the scene’s lighting.
The Lens Blur filter and a little noise keep every layer from looking too sharp next to the others. It is a small step, but it is what makes the composite read as one real photo instead of several stacked ones.
Yes. The tutorial uses Adobe Stock images, but the same Blending Modes and Adjustment Layers work on any subject, reflection, and texture photo you shoot or already have.
Conclusion
That’s the whole glass window reflection effect in Photoshop: a reflection layer, a color tint, some dust, a few flares, and a touch of blur.
Every technique here, from the Levels Adjustment Layer to the Blend If sliders, still works the same way in the current version of Photoshop.
Watch the full video above, and comment on the video with any questions.
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Related Links
Final Image
Drag the slider to see before and after
Thanks so much, Jesús!
You’re welcome, Johnny!
Impressive tutorial! Since I’m a new beginner may I know how to open these 3 files (Dirty Glass, Busy City and Woman) into one on top another as 3 Layers.
After you open the first one you can go to File > Place Embedded. (or File > Place,if you’re on CS6).
If you are using a CC library then open the Libraries panel (Window > Library) and drag them into the canvas.
What is the website you discovered?
S
Susie, I don’t understand your question. What website?
Jesus , I am product photographer in Venezuela . I think that your tutorial are most comprehensive tutorials availables right now . Really amazing .
If possible let me know how to do get the before and after slider effect . Your help will be apreciated
Jose, the slider is a WordPress plugin called TwentyTwenty
are you stock photos in the video with costs or can I download them?
They are from Adobe Stock, and are not free. However, you can download a watermarked version to practice on.