Hello,

I'm creating compositions of various models dropped in to computer generated backgrounds for a project entitled 'Future Sports', and I'm struggling with creating a convincing reflection of the models on the floor. Without having to select areas (of the feet in particular) and warp them, do any of you guys out there know of a relatively easy way to do this (at the moment it's taking me a good 45 mins for each reflection). I'm sure there must be an easier way! :0 Apologies if this topic has come up in the past (I couldn't find anything in a quick search) and thanks for any help!

You might wait for one of the local gurus to stop by, but I doubt there's any quick fix. Realistic reflections require a completely different perspective than the original. If you don't have a good reference photo, transform and liquify is the only way to get what you need, provided you don't want to venture into the realm of 3D modelling.

Unfortunately there is no quick fix for this. Good luck.

For a more realistic look, I'd use a gradient mask to lessen the intensity of the reflection as it gets farther away from the subject.

A straight on reflection is not to diffacult to do, but be careful to watch and match the reflection fades in the existing back ground. You will need to use gradient masks to 2 this. In your example the reflections not only fade as it move away, but towards the right. Also, even though there are reflections, don't forget to cast shadows.
As far as making the selections, learn to use the pen tool, if you don't already know how, and practice, practice, practice. The more you do, the less time it will take to make a good selection. There are some shortcuts, if there is enough contrast, but there are always going to be some that you will just need to do the work.

If you have CS3 then Russell Brown has a good tutorial on his site - you will need to scroll down to the one titled Mirror Mirror....

http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html

It uses the clone stamp tool in negative position mode.

Christine

Thanks to everyone that took the time the time to reply :) I was hoping for a quicker solution and/or a tutorial that may cover the trickier aspects of reflections (as they aren't always simply just the object copied and inverted, unfortunately) but think I'm just going to have to keep using the old grey cells and remember all the rules on perspective until photoshop bring out a 'reflection' stamp tool ;)

Thanks again,

Anna.

here is a plugin i found
havent used it so dont know if its good or not or if its what you want :)

http://photoshop.pluginsworld.com/plugins/adobe/925/mehdi/quick-mirror.html

The way I have done this in the past is to take either image into a 3D application in pieces and create a reflective surface floor, worked like a charm last time but took a bit of setup or I had one that I sued a 3D model of a person close to the subject and blended the reflection from 3D with the faked reflection in PS.

With an angled reflection there wil be additional work to do.