Easy Waterdrops Updated

[Goonfella]

This tutorial is available as a PDF. Click here to view or download it

This is an updated version of the Waterdrop tutorial first posted by Eraesr using a slightly different technique with newer plugins. These are the ones I used -
Drop Shadow from KrisVDM`S Plugin Pack
The new Inner Shadow from Boltbait`s Plugin Pack

OK let us begin.


Open a suitable image.In my case I have used a leaf but water drops, as we all know, can be found in lots of different places so just choose one you like .

1.New Layer.
Use the Ellipse Select tool to create a water drop shape. Bear in mind the surface you will be using when making it.
 


2.Then, with the colours default black & white, get the Gradient too land make a Linear Gradient across the selection with the white side nearest to the direction of the light.Set the layer blend mode to Overlay.


 
3.Deselect the ellipse (Ctrl-D ), then go to Effects>Object>Drop Shadow and add a shadow to it. These are my settings but you can experiment-



Then go to Effects>Object>Inner Shadow plugin add some internal shadow to the waterdrop. These are my settings-

Adjust the opacity of the layer for the best effect. I decided on 130.

New layer called Highlight. With the primary colour set to white use the Paintbrush to add a small dot at the brightest part of the drop then blur it slightly with Gaussian Blur. I used a setting of 4.
You should end up with something like this -



If you want, for a bit more realism, you can distort the image under the water drop. To do this go to the Water drop layer and select anywhere outside the drop, then Ctrl-I to invert the selection.
 
Then move down to the leaf layer, and use your preferred method to distort the area underneath the drop. I used the Effects>Distort>Bulge at these settings-



When you have deselected you should have something like this -



You can then merge the waterdrop layers, copy and paste onto a new layer, move and adjust the shape to have a few more of them quite easily. You will need to redo the highlight and distort the leaf under each new waterdrop. I did this quickly for this tut and got this result. It could probably be made to look better with more time spent on it.

Hope you find this tutorial useful.
 

Edited March 15, 2019 by Woodsy
Rehosted to Postimage.

[Eli]

Thanks, Goonfella. This tail has a very happy ending. An excellent use of BoltBait's Inner Shadow.

[racerx]

Nice tut. Here is my quick result of it...

 

 

Edited February 1, 2015 by racerx

[DrewDale]

Thanks Goonfella.

[Goonfella]

Nice work racerx. You just need to rotate a few of the waterdrops to suit the direction they would be running but other than that it`s a good result.

 

Drew did you remember to change the blend mode to overlay? The drops look a bit grey and this could be why. 

I like the way you made your own leaf as well.

[HELEN]

Nice tut, Goon! I was actually thinking of this tutorial (well, the one Eraser wrote) and how I used it in my roses a while ago. Thanks for the updated version.

[DrewDale]

Nice work racerx. You just need to rotate a few of the waterdrops to suit the direction they would be running but other than that it`s a good result.

 

Drew did you remember to change the blend mode to overlay? The drops look a bit grey and this could be why. 

I like the way you made your own leaf as well.

I did set the blend mode to overlay Perhaps my gradient was wrong ? The leaf was a stock image, I'm not that creative

[Goonfella]

That`s odd. Maybe adjusting the opacity of the layer would do the trick .

Stock leaf? I think it must have been the green background and the stalk that deceived me. Sorry.

[Seerose]

@Goonfella! Thank you for another nice creations. 

 

 

*Photo self.

[Goonfella]

Very nice Seerose  but the drops are a bit grey don`t you think?

 

Drewdale had a similar problem. Hope it`s not my tut at fault.

 

(tried doing my tutorial start to finish with a flower this time instead of a leaf and it still worked out fine so I am lost as to why you guys end up with grey waterdrops. )

 

I did notice that I forgot to mention at Step 3 that you first have to Deselect the ellipse before adding the Drop Shadow so I have added that in.
 

Edited February 2, 2015 by Goonfella

[Eli]

Well, this is my little water drop. I used BoltBait's Inner Shadow Selection, Gaussian blur and Bulge plugins only. I did not use the Gradient tool nor the DropShadow plugin.

[Goonfella]

Excellent result Eli. I like the fact you adapted the tut to your own needs. Nice work.

[racerx]

Here's what real rain drops on my flower look like. It's pretty hard to spot the fake one....

[Goonfella]

That's a great comparison of fake vs real racerx. You've done a superb job with your waterdrop, I would never have been able to pick it out from the rest.

[Seerose]

Very nice Seerose  but the drops are a bit grey don`t you think?

 

 

@Yes, you are right. Sometimes I do not understand properly. Because I have no knowledge of English. I strive every day to learn more. With or without google-translator. 

Thank you for the answer and explanation.

[Oceana]

A good tutorial Goonfella, I also ended up with grey/black drops. How did Eli do that drop without a gradient ?

[Pixey]

Yes, a very nice easy to-the-point tute! Thank you.

 

Herewith my attempt.

 

 

[Goonfella]

Nice work Pixey. Looks great.

[doughty]

Funny how just adding a few rain drops to a flower will make it prettier.   Big impact and easy to do.  Knowing how to do this will come in handy I'm sure. Thanks for posting.

 

Comment: I found BoltBait's Inner Shadow in Effects>Selection. So I ran that first then deselected to add Drop Shadow. I also lightly erased the top of some of the drops by setting the hardness level on one.

 

 

[barbieq25]

Looks great Doughty

[Ishi]

Really nice and simple and suits the weather now for me that its the rainy days from here.

 

 

I'd see what I can do if I add more Gaussian blur, Liquify and Dents in it to make more realistic droplets. This is my first attempt though. Its my own photography. You have to scroll down to see the altered version. Its all done through PDN.

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2015 by Ishi

[barbieq25]

Nice capture Ishi Drops are a bit too blurry maybe? Nice effect on the background. I like how you drops are picking up some of the colour from the vegetation. Nice work!

[Ishi]

Thanks Barbieq.

 

Yeah, I too feel the droplets were a little under-imposed on the picture. Maybe I haven't quite perfected their opacity, shadow, highlight and midtone levels but I just played safe on that one, not wanting to put on so much opacity on my droplets. I applied a blue color filter/tint to the droplets layer so they were a bit blue. I intended them to be blurry, especially on their edges to make them more seem realistic. I wanted to distort the droplet shapes more next time.

 

I also had to rely heavily on my Curves+ to bring up blue and green, Levels to adjust shadows, highlights and midtones and Vibrance adjustments to achieve this bluish green color grading effect. I wanted it to appear as if it was taken early in the morning or late in the afternoon after some raining.

 

 

Thanks for the heads up..

Edited August 23, 2015 by Ishi