CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO VIEW LARGERDo you want to learn how to create text with a reflection like you see above? Well, it's actually a lot easier than you think. There are a lot of steps, but if you bear with me, you will see how simple it is to create this effect.
As always with Photoshop, there are many ways to create the desired effect but this is how I do it.
Here we go:
1. Open a new document and add text in the color and font you desire.
2. Copy this layer by dragging it in the layers palette to the "Create New Layer" button.
3. You will now see that you have created a new layer with the same name and the word "copy" appended to it.
4. Now with the "copied" layer highlighted (or chosen) go to the "Edit" menu from the toolbar at the top of Photoshop. From there choose "Transform" ----->"Flip Vertical".
5. With the "Move" tool chosen, pull this inverted text to line up just below the original text...we are still working with the "copied" layer.
6. Now we will add a "Layer Style" to this text layer. At the bottom of the "Layers" palette, you will see in italicized letter "F" in a black circle...click this and choose "Gradient Overlay".
7. Doing step 6 will pop up the "Layers Style" menu...
a. Make sure you have your text color as the forground and white as the backround in the color choice box. (See #1)
b. From the dropdown menu you will find by clicking on the downward pointing arrow (See #2) in the "Gradient:" box, choose the first square...this is the "foreground to background" gradient.(See #3)
8. Make sure you have all the correct information in the required boxes. (see all red circles above) Blend Mode: Normal Opacity: 100% Gradient: Foreground to Background (which we did in the previous step) Angle: -90 (line in circle should be straight down) Scale: 100%.
Now click on OK to save these choices.
(It is fun to try to play around with each of these tools to see exactly what each effect does.)
9. Now you might want to adjust the opacity of this layer to get just the effect you are looking for. Here I have reduced the opacity quite a bit.
10. Still working with the "copied" layer (see#1) we are going to "Rasterize" the text to make it a bit more editable.
a. From the toolbar at the top, choose "Layer"(#2) ---->"Rasterize"(#3)---->"Type"(#4). This rasterizes the text layer we have been working on. Giving us more options on how to transform it.
11. To further create the illusion of a true reflection I like to transform the reflected text just a bit more. To do this I go to the "Edit"(#1) menu------>"Transform"(#2)------>"Skew"(#3). This will add a box around the text with areas (little squares) where you can tug and shape the text.
12. I have pulled both of the bottom corners out a bit in the direction of the arrows above...this creates an illusion of the text expanding towards the top of the reflection. I think this gives it a great little added touch. Of course you could skip this and just end the tutorial at Step 9.
Above you will see the final product. I hope that you can use this tutorial. Please feel free to contact me with any questions, and comments are ALWAYS appreciated!!
Later....
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