Underwater Windows Effect Photoshop

Underwater aquarium and underwater zoo is a very fascinating place to visit. It gives the visitors a thrill to see the water creatures very near without diving into the water. You can bring that environment in your living room as well. You can give the window of your room an underwater aquarium effect with Photoshop. So, how can you do it? In this tutorial article, I am going to show you How to make Underwater Windows effect photoshop. So, read this article till the end and follow the steps with care, you will get easy instructions from this article, and you will be able to do it easily. Let’s see How to make Underwater Windows effect photoshop:

Photos You will need to make underwater windows effect in Photoshop

You have to make sure you have the following images for making underwater windows effect:

  • A photo of a window. Choose a photo which has a man near the window.
  • A photo of a wet glass.
  • A photo of an underwater.
  • Few photos of fishes.

Let’s begin the underwater windows effect making:

Step 1: Open A Photo Of A Window In Photoshop

  • To do that, go to the “File” menu and select the “Open” option. Then, go to your image location and select your window image and then click on the “Open” button. Your window image will be opened in photoshop afterward.
  • Before approaching for editing, unlock the background layer first. To do this, go to the layer panel, and click on the padlock icon on the background layer. The background layer will be unlocked afterward and it will be renamed as “Layer 0” automatically.
  • Now. make a selection of glasses from the window, do not select the window frames. To do this, go to the left side’s tools panel and select the “Quick selection tool”. Now, brush over the glasses of the window. You will see that selection is selecting the area automatically. If you see that you have over-selected the area, press & hold the “ALT” button and then brush over the over-selected areas.

Step 2: Remove The Selected Areas

Method 1: Mask the selection

To do this, go to the layer panel and click on the “Add layer mask” button from the layer panel. You will see that the mask thumbnail is added with the “Layer 0”. You will also see that only selected glasses of the window remain visible and the rest of the part has disappeared. But we need the glasses of the window to disappear and the rest of the part to be visibled. To make this happen, click on the mask thumbnail of the “Layer 0” and then press “CTRL+I” from the keyboard. You will see that the glasses of the window has disappeared and the rest of the part is visible.

Method 2: Copy In A New Layer

To do this, after making the selection of the glasses of the window, press “CTRL+I” from the keyboard to invert the selection. Then press “CTRL+J” to copy in a new layer. You will see that a new layer “Layer 1” is created.

Step 3: Color Adjustment Of The Copied Layer

Now, we will do some color balance of the copied window image. 

  • So, go to the layer panel, click on the “Levels 1” layer, then click on the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” and select the “Color balance” option. 
  • Color balance panel will appear. From there, click on the “The adjustment affects all layers below (click to clip to layer)” button from the bottom of the panel. Then slide the “Yellow” color slider towards the “Blue”, that means slide it to the right side. 
  • A new color balance layer “Color Balance 1” will be created.

Step 4: Open a photo of underwater and insert it in the main file

  • Go to the “File” menu and select the “Open” option. Then, go to your image location and select your image and then click on the “Open” button. Your image will be opened in a new tab in photoshop afterward.
  • Now, press “CTRL+A” from the keyboard to select the whole image, then press “CTRL+C” from the keyboard to copy the whole image, then come to the existing image’s tab and press “CTRL+V” to paste the copied image. A new layer “Layer 2” will be added.
  • Now, we will adjust the size of the underwater image we have inserted. So, go to the layer panel, select the “Layer 2” layer, then press “CTRL+T” to activate the free transform. Now, drag the handler of the free transform outward to increase the size or drag the handler of the free transform inward to decrease the size. After that, press the “Enter” button.
  • Now, you have to change the order of this layer. Drag this underwater layer “Layer 2” below the copied layer “Layer 1”. The underwater will go behind the window.
  • Now, we will do some color balance of the underwater image. So, go to the layer panel, click on the underwater image layer “Levels 2” layer, then click on the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” and select the “Color balance” option. Color balance panel will appear. From there, click on the “The adjustment affects all layers below (click to clip to layer)” button from the bottom of the panel. Then slide the “Green” color slider towards the “Magenta”, that means slide it to the left side. And, slide the “Yellow” color slider towards the “Blue”, that means slide it to the right side. A new color balance layer “Color Balance 2” will be created.

Step 5: Open photos of fishes and insert in the main file

  • Go to the “File” menu and select the “Open” option. Then, go to your image location and select your image and then click on the “Open” button. Your image will be opened in a new tab in photoshop afterward.
  • Now, select the fish. You can use any one of “Quick selection tool”, “Lasso tool”, “Polygon lasso tool”, “Magnetic lasso tool” and “Pen tool”. If you use the pen tool, make sure you press “CTRL+Enter” after making the path to convert the path into selection.
  • Here, I am using the magnetic lasso tool. So, go to the left side’s tools panel and select the “Magnetic Lasso tool”. You will find this tool under the lasso tool. Now, start the starting point of the magnetic lasso tool from the edge of the fish, then hover your cursor around the edge of the subject, you will see that it is drawing the selection path automatically and then join the path with starting point, selection will be made.
  • Now, go to the “Select” menu, then go to the “Modify” option and then choose the “Feather” option. Set the feather radius between 0.5. Then click on the “OK” button.
  • Now, you have to copy the selected part in a new layer. To do this, press “CTRL+J” from the keyboard. Selected part is copied in a new layer “Layer 1”.
  • Now, go to the left side’s tools panel, and select the “Move tool”. Now, click & hold the man’s photo and drag to the main file. A new layer will be created on the main file.
  • Now, you have to change the order of the fish layers. Drag the fish layers between the copied window layer “Layer 1” and “Color balance 2” layer. The fishes will go behind the window.
  • Do this process if you insert more than one fish in your main file.

Step 6: Add a glass effect on the window

We will use a wet glass image for this effect.

  • So, go to the “File” menu and select the “Open” option. Then, go to your image location and select your image and then click on the “Open” button. Your image will be opened in a new tab in photoshop afterward.
  • Now, press “CTRL+A” from the keyboard to select the whole image, then press “CTRL+C” from the keyboard to copy the whole image, then come to the existing image’s tab and press “CTRL+V” to paste the copied image. A new layer will be added.
  • Now, we will adjust the size of the wet glass image we have inserted. So, go to the layer panel, select the wet glass layer, then press “CTRL+T” to activate the free transform. Now, drag the handler of the free transform outward to increase the size or drag the handler of the free transform inward to decrease the size. After that, press the “Enter” button.
  • Now, you have to change the order of the wet glass layer. Drag this wet glass layer between the copied window layer “Layer 1” and fish layers. The wet glass will go behind the window and fish will go behind the wet glass.
  • Now, go to the layer panel, select the wet glass layer, then change the blend mode from “Normal” to “Soft light”. You will find the blend mode option beside the opacity option. Decrease the opacity from the layer panel between 60% to 70%.

Step 7: Darken the window frame

  • To do this, go to the layer panel, click on the “Color balance 1” which is related to the copied window layer “Layer 1”, then click on the “Create a new layer” button from the bottom of the layer panel. A new layer will be created. Now, right click on this layer and select the “Create clipping mask” option.
  • Now, go to the left side’s tools panel, select the “Brush tool” and set the foreground color as black. Then go to the top bar/ option bar, set the opacity between 60% to 70% and set the flow between 30% to 40%. Now, brush on the frame of the window.
  • Now, merge all the layers in a new layer. To do this, go to the layer panel, click on the top layer and then press “CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E” from the keyboard. All the layers merged in a new layer.

Step 8: Adjust the color of the whole image

  • Go to the layer panel, select the merged layer, then click on the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” button from the bottom of the layer panel and select the “Solid color” option.
  • A window will appear. From there, select the blue color and click on the “OK” button. A new layer “Color fill 1” will be created.
  • Now, go to the layer panel, select “Color fill 1” layer, then change the blend mode from “Normal” to “Soft light”. You will find the blend mode option beside the opacity option. Decrease the opacity from the layer panel between 20% to 60%.
  • That’s it.

 

 

Video Tutorial about “Underwater Windows Effect Photoshop” who really don’t want to read whole article just follow below video.

That’s how you can make Underwater Windows effect photoshop. In this tutorial I have shown you the process of making an Underwater Windows effect in Photoshop. Above I have described how to make the selections of the glasses of the window, how to insert underwater images and fish images behind the window, how to blend wet glass with the window, and many more. For your convenience, I have included some keyboard shortcuts so that you can do your work fast and easily. I hope you have understood How to make Underwater Windows effect photoshop. This is a very easy way to do this. 

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