How to Add Photorealistic Puddles in Photoshop

standard: en

0:00:00.000,0:00:05.250
Hello and welcome to this episode of

0:00:05.250,0:00:07.890
Denny's tip. In this video you'll know how

0:00:07.890,0:00:09.480
to make your photos look more dramatic

0:00:09.480,0:00:12.000
by adding puddles in Photoshop. You'll

0:00:12.000,0:00:13.740
start off by cutting and pasting parts

0:00:13.740,0:00:15.780
of your photo to create fake reflection

0:00:15.780,0:00:18.359
and you'll paint in the puddle with a layer

0:00:18.359,0:00:20.369
mask and tweak the settings to make it

0:00:20.369,0:00:22.170
look a bit more realistic.

0:00:22.170,0:00:24.119
Finally, you'll finish it by adding a

0:00:24.119,0:00:26.580
subtle ripple effect in the puddles and

0:00:26.580,0:00:28.289
you're gonna do all of this using

0:00:28.289,0:00:30.660
non-destructive editing techniques and

0:00:30.660,0:00:33.300
with very minimal set of layers. So if

0:00:33.300,0:00:34.200
you're interested,

0:00:34.200,0:00:35.610
keep watching and you'll learn how to

0:00:35.610,0:00:37.739
add your own realistic puddles in

0:00:37.739,0:00:44.440
Photoshop.

0:00:44.440,0:00:48.219
Before you begin, you'll need to choose

0:00:48.219,0:00:50.680
the right photo. A photo on a cloudy day

0:00:50.680,0:00:53.649
or after rainfall will work the best, for

0:00:53.649,0:00:54.579
sunny photos,

0:00:54.579,0:00:56.019
it's a lot harder to make the puddles

0:00:56.019,0:00:58.120
look believable and sometimes it just

0:00:58.120,0:01:00.100
won't work. So, if this is you first time

0:01:00.100,0:01:02.079
following this tutorial, start off with a

0:01:02.079,0:01:03.489
cloudy photo like the one that we are

0:01:03.489,0:01:05.979
using. And by the way, we're using a stock

0:01:05.979,0:01:07.210
photo so if you want to follow along

0:01:07.210,0:01:09.250
with the exact same photo, you can check

0:01:09.250,0:01:10.960
the video description below to find out

0:01:10.960,0:01:13.090
where you can buy this photo. Or you can

0:01:13.090,0:01:16.000
just use your own, the first step is to

0:01:16.000,0:01:17.740
create a fake reflection by cutting,

0:01:17.740,0:01:19.869
pasting and flipping different areas in

0:01:19.869,0:01:20.770
the photo.

0:01:20.770,0:01:22.810
Let's start with this door here, we can

0:01:22.810,0:01:23.860
make a selection of it with the

0:01:23.860,0:01:26.530
"Polygonal Lasso tool" here and simply

0:01:26.530,0:01:28.270
draw a selection around the door like

0:01:28.270,0:01:31.210
this. By the way, we only need the bottom

0:01:31.210,0:01:32.950
half of the door and the selection

0:01:32.950,0:01:34.420
doesn't need to be overly precise.

0:01:34.420,0:01:37.780
Duplicate the layer by pressing "CTRL or

0:01:37.780,0:01:40.179
Command + J", before we transform this layer,

0:01:40.179,0:01:42.009
right click on the layer and then choose

0:01:42.009,0:01:44.319
convert to smart object. This will let us

0:01:44.319,0:01:46.149
do a transformation non-destructively

0:01:46.149,0:01:49.720
next, press "CTRL or command T for the transform

0:01:49.720,0:01:52.000
tool then right-click inside of the box

0:01:52.000,0:01:54.849
and select - flip vertical. Don't press

0:01:54.849,0:01:57.520
ENTER yet, position layer so it's on the

0:01:57.520,0:01:58.840
bottom of the door.

0:01:58.840,0:02:00.729
It's not gonna match so we need to skip

0:02:00.729,0:02:02.259
the transformation by right clicking

0:02:02.259,0:02:05.379
inside the box and choosing skew. Now we

0:02:05.379,0:02:07.360
can track the slide vertically to make a

0:02:07.360,0:02:10.899
line with the door like this, I'm going

0:02:10.899,0:02:12.580
to repeat this for the other door and

0:02:12.580,0:02:14.140
since it's essentially the same step,

0:02:14.140,0:02:15.849
we're going fast forward this video to

0:02:15.849,0:02:20.140
save you some time.

0:02:20.140,0:02:24.880
The last object to create a mirror is

0:02:24.880,0:02:26.500
the bride and groom in the middle,

0:02:26.500,0:02:27.580
this one's a little different because

0:02:27.580,0:02:30.069
the more complex shape the easiest way

0:02:30.069,0:02:31.840
to create a selection for this is to use

0:02:31.840,0:02:34.180
the quick selection tool. With this tool,

0:02:34.180,0:02:35.830
you can simply brush over the areas that

0:02:35.830,0:02:38.770
you want to select like this and if you

0:02:38.770,0:02:39.940
want to remove the area from the

0:02:39.940,0:02:41.890
selection, you can do so by holding "ALT

0:02:41.890,0:02:43.690
or option key" and painting over the

0:02:43.690,0:02:46.540
areas that you want to remove. Once we

0:02:46.540,0:02:48.310
have the selection, select back the

0:02:48.310,0:02:50.050
background layer and press "CTRL or

0:02:50.050,0:02:52.840
command J" to duplicate it. Right click on

0:02:52.840,0:02:54.400
the layer and then choose convert to

0:02:54.400,0:02:57.280
smart object, now press "CTRL or command T".

0:02:57.280,0:03:00.340
Flip it vertically and position it below

0:03:00.340,0:03:03.580
the bride to transform this into a curve

0:03:03.580,0:03:05.440
you can right-click and change it to

0:03:05.440,0:03:08.019
transfer mode to warp. Now you can simply

0:03:08.019,0:03:09.670
drag downwards like this to make it

0:03:09.670,0:03:12.940
contour properly.

0:03:12.940,0:03:20.870
Finally, I'll repeat this for the group.

0:03:20.870,0:03:22.640
Now we have a reflection and it looks

0:03:22.640,0:03:26.599
pretty good. Now that we're done creating

0:03:26.599,0:03:28.760
the reflection, we can form the puddles.

0:03:28.760,0:03:31.129
Before we begin, merge the layers by

0:03:31.129,0:03:32.750
selecting all of the reflection layers

0:03:32.750,0:03:34.430
and then right-click and choose convert

0:03:34.430,0:03:36.709
to smart object. This is just a

0:03:36.709,0:03:39.140
non-destructive way to merge layers. Now

0:03:39.140,0:03:41.060
we can add an inverted layer mask by

0:03:41.060,0:03:43.129
holding "ALT or Option" and click on this

0:03:43.129,0:03:45.860
button here, in the layers panel. Select

0:03:45.860,0:03:48.049
the brush tool, and then use a large soft

0:03:48.049,0:03:50.510
brush like this setting brush opacity to

0:03:50.510,0:03:52.670
around 50%, and then paint over

0:03:52.670,0:03:54.290
the areas that you want the puddles to

0:03:54.290,0:03:55.590
appear in.

0:04:04.960,0:04:06.540
Right now, the puddles look like they're mirror reflection

0:04:06.540,0:04:07.480
to make it look more

0:04:07.489,0:04:09.409
realistic, we need to do two things.

0:04:09.409,0:04:11.030
Number one,

0:04:11.030,0:04:13.459
reduce the opacity and number two, darken

0:04:13.459,0:04:16.010
a bit. First, let's start it by going to

0:04:16.010,0:04:17.840
the adjustments panel and adding the

0:04:17.840,0:04:20.539
levels adjustment layer. Here you can

0:04:20.539,0:04:21.949
move the middle input slider to

0:04:21.949,0:04:23.990
darken the image like this. To make it

0:04:23.990,0:04:25.760
only effective reflection layer below

0:04:25.760,0:04:28.490
click on this button here next

0:04:28.490,0:04:30.320
reduce the opacity to around fifty

0:04:30.320,0:04:34.970
percent. Before we finish, here's a tip if

0:04:34.970,0:04:36.889
you want a blur layer mask instead of

0:04:36.889,0:04:38.660
using the Gaussian blur filter. You can

0:04:38.660,0:04:40.130
select the layer mask and then go into

0:04:40.130,0:04:42.650
properties panel, here you can adjust the

0:04:42.650,0:04:44.090
feather setting which will blur the layer

0:04:44.090,0:04:46.520
mask. It's the same thing as a blur

0:04:46.520,0:04:48.349
filter but it's better because you can

0:04:48.349,0:04:51.710
undo or change the settings at any time.

0:04:51.710,0:04:54.410
The last thing to do is to add a slight

0:04:54.410,0:04:56.750
ripple effect. Select a reflection layer

0:04:56.750,0:05:00.620
then go to filter -> distort -> wave. Play

0:05:00.620,0:05:02.030
around with the settings to get a set of

0:05:02.030,0:05:03.830
ripple effect that matches the roughness of

0:05:03.830,0:05:04.940
the floor,

0:05:04.940,0:05:06.710
I like to start off by setting the scale to

0:05:06.710,0:05:09.140
around twenty five percent. The preview

0:05:09.140,0:05:11.120
image in this tool is way too small, so

0:05:11.120,0:05:13.190
what I like to do instead, is just click

0:05:13.190,0:05:15.230
OK to preview it and then if it doesn't

0:05:15.230,0:05:17.270
look good, double-click on the smart photo

0:05:17.270,0:05:19.070
in the layers panel and you can edit the

0:05:19.070,0:05:42.169
settings again.

0:05:42.169,0:05:44.210
We're done, here is how the image looks

0:05:44.210,0:06:02.160
like before and after.

0:06:02.160,0:06:04.470
Hey thanks for watching this video, now

0:06:04.470,0:06:06.090
which is a quick way to add photos in

0:06:06.090,0:06:07.890
Photoshop if you have any questions or

0:06:07.890,0:06:10.170
feedback let me know any comments below.

0:06:10.170,0:06:12.570
Aside from that, I wish you an awesome day.

0:06:12.570,0:06:13.890
Subscribe to my channel if you haven't

0:06:13.890,0:06:26.779
already and I'll see you again next week.