Glass Window Reflection Effect in Photoshop

How to Create a Window Reflection Effect in Photoshop

This tutorial layers a rainy-window texture over a portrait so it looks like it was shot through a pane of glass with water on it. Screen blend mode makes the dark parts of the texture disappear, a Box Blur puts the drops out of focus, and Hue/Saturation colors each copy to match the light in the photo, the part Aaron likes most. Layer masks keep the texture off the face. The whole effect takes just a couple of minutes.

The video on this page is the short, music-only version. For the full walkthrough with Aaron explaining every step, watch How to Add Textures & Overlays to a Photo in Photoshop.

Choosing the Window Texture

The technique starts with the sample portrait and window texture in this tutorial’s download. The texture is raindrops and some bokeh on a dark background, and that is the thing to look for in any texture: light elements on a dark background. The dark areas are the part that will disappear, so a dark background lets you mix the two images a lot better. Any stock image or texture like this can work.

Placing and Scaling the Texture

With the Move Tool, drag the texture from its own document onto the portrait. Press Cmd/Ctrl + T to transform, hold Alt/Option and drag a corner to scale from the middle until the texture covers the photo, then press Enter.

Setting the Blend Mode to Screen

The texture layer’s blend mode is changed from Normal to Screen, which gets rid of the dark areas and leaves just the light areas: the drops and the lights. Hold Shift and drag left or right with the Move Tool to place the lights, and press Cmd/Ctrl + T again if it needs more scaling.

Why a Dark Texture Works

Screen makes the darks invisible, and the darker an area of the texture is, the less of it shows. Normal mode would simply cover the portrait underneath.

Converting to a Smart Object

At this point the subject and the water drops are both perfectly in focus, which wouldn’t really be the case. Looking through glass, the glass would probably be out of focus and the subject in focus, so the texture gets a blur. It is always a good idea to make a Smart Object before you apply blurs, so you can change the blur at any time.

Set the blend mode back to Normal first (Aaron always creates a Smart Object in Normal mode), right-click the layer and choose Convert to Smart Object, then change Normal back to Screen. It looks the same.

Blurring with Box Blur

Go to Filter > Blur > Box Blur and raise it until the drops go soft. Box Blur looks a little more like a realistic lens blur than a Gaussian Blur does. Because the layer is a Smart Object, the blur is a Smart Filter: double-click Box Blur in the Layers panel to change it at any time, or turn it off and on to compare.

Darkening with Levels

Still on the texture layer, press Cmd/Ctrl + L for Levels and pull the dark slider in to make the darks a bit darker. Screen is making the dark areas invisible, so darker darks mean even less of the texture shows. It simply makes the layer less visible.

Colorizing to Match the Light

Press Cmd/Ctrl + U for Hue/Saturation and check Colorize. Bring Saturation up so you can see what you are doing, then move Hue until it mimics a color of light in the image. This first layer becomes the blues. Matching the color makes the reflections look like they represent the light from your photo, and it is what Aaron likes most about this effect.

Turn the Smart Filters off and back on to see how much better the texture integrates with the photo, then drag the layer around until the lights land somewhere more interesting.

Duplicating for a Second Color

So far only one of the colors in the photo is represented. Press Cmd/Ctrl + J to duplicate the texture layer and move the copy to a different spot. Double-click Hue/Saturation in the copy’s Smart Filters and move Hue until it mimics the reds in the image.

More Copies, Moved and Flipped

For a different look, duplicate the blue layer again and drag it down the frame (zooming out makes this easier), then press Cmd/Ctrl + T, right-click and choose Flip Vertical. One more duplicate of a red layer finishes the stack: four texture layers in Screen, each a copy of the same texture with its own color.

Masking Each Texture Layer

Each texture layer gets its own layer mask. Add a mask and, with a nice soft Brush (B), paint black wherever you don’t want the texture. On the blue layer that means the couple of spots sitting on the face. The layers can be grouped at the end, but the masks stay on the individual layers, not the group.

Painting Away a Hard Edge

Watch for the hard edge of the texture, which shows up on the last red copy. A hard edge is a dead giveaway that the texture was added in Photoshop, so paint black over it on that layer’s mask until it fades out.

Why This Technique Works

Screen mode makes the dark parts of the texture invisible, so only the drops and the lights sit on the portrait. The Box Blur puts the glass out of focus while the subject stays sharp, the way it would look through a real window, and matching each copy’s color to the light in the photo makes the reflections look like they belong to it. Levels makes the darks darker so less of the texture shows, and a mask on each layer keeps it off the face and removes any hard edge, which would be a dead giveaway.

Final Thoughts

Building a window reflection effect comes down to a texture with light elements on a dark background, Screen blend mode, a Smart Object with Box Blur, Levels and Hue/Saturation as editable Smart Filters, one duplicate for each color of light in the photo, and a mask on each layer to keep the texture off the face and hide hard edges.

Quick Reference: Keys, Menus and Settings

• Place and scaleDrag the texture in with the Move Tool; Cmd/Ctrl + T, Alt/Option-drag a corner
• BlendBlend mode Normal to Screen; Shift-drag to move in a straight line
• Smart ObjectIn Normal mode, right-click > Convert to Smart Object, then back to Screen
• BlurFilter > Blur > Box Blur
• Darken and colorCmd/Ctrl + L darker darks; Cmd/Ctrl + U, Colorize, Hue to match the light
• Copy and flipCmd/Ctrl + J per color; Cmd/Ctrl + T, right-click > Flip Vertical
• MaskLayer mask on each layer, soft brush (B), paint black over the face and any hard edge

No AI, no generative credits.