displacement-water-photoshop-tutorial

Creating a realistic water surface in Photoshop is quite a challenge because it is the distorted reflection of the surroundings that makes the water look liquid. The displace filter is an excellent tool for making this distortion. The displace filter “shifts pixels” in an image according to the brightness values of a displacement map.

The following tutorial shows how to create a relatively simple displacement map and how to create a water surface with it. This method does not adjust for wave height and distances, but it produces good results if the water is calm and if the surface is not intersected by other elements.

Link: Displacement Water – Photoshop Tutorial