9 tutorials » Underwater effect Page 1 of 8

Underwater effect
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Tips about how to make the Underwater Wallpaper .

Start with blank document. Fill background layer with gradient going from light blue to dark blue.

file://C:\Documents and Settings\msaxe1\Desktop\Tuts+Ebooks\New Folder2 on user1... 10/1/2007

9 tutorials » Underwater effect Page 2 of 8

In Layer effects, use very large (250px) black Inner Glow, with blend mode = overlay.

In new layer, select very large brush, set color to white and put a single dot.

Transform layer (Ctrl-T) to make dot width less and height more.

file://C:\Documents and Settings\msaxe1\Desktop\Tuts+Ebooks\New Folder2 on user1... 10/1/2007

9 tutorials » Underwater effect Page 3 of 8

Move white dot to top of image (so that only bottom half of it is visible) and set its layer blend mode
to Overlay.

Duplicate this layer and make it about 50% smaller.

file://C:\Documents and Settings\msaxe1\Desktop\Tuts+Ebooks\New Folder2 on user1... 10/1/2007

9 tutorials » Underwater effect Page 4 of 8

Next step is to create nice light rays. Create new document, with square size (width = height), and
width is about 200% of your original image width. (if you design wallpaper at 1024×768, create
2000×2000 image). Fill it with any color, and in Layer effects, check Gradient Overlay. Open
dropdown list of gradient selection, select Noise family of gradients, and select any noise gradient.
Then, set Style to Angle.

To convert Layer effect to editable image, flatten image (from Layer menu). Desaturate (Ctrl-Shift-
U).

file://C:\Documents and Settings\msaxe1\Desktop\Tuts+Ebooks\New Folder2 on user1... 10/1/2007

9 tutorials » Underwater effect Page 5 of 8

Crop image as shown here. Example: if entire image with gradient is 2000×2000, crop to 1024×768.

Copy all (Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C) and paste into our original image.

Then, simply set the blend mode of this layer to Overlay. Voila!

file://C:\Documents and Settings\msaxe1\Desktop\Tuts+Ebooks\New Folder2 on user1... 10/1/2007

9 tutorials » Underwater effect Page 6 of 8

Next step is some bubbles. Select 19px hard brush, and set its spacing to very large value (500-
700%).

Also, check Shape Dynamics, and set size jitter and minimum diameter as shown here.

file://C:\Documents and Settings\msaxe1\Desktop\Tuts+Ebooks\New Folder2 on user1... 10/1/2007

9 tutorials » Underwater effect Page 7 of 8

Make some chaotic btush strokes.

Set layer blend mode to screen (this will make black dots invisible). Then, use layer effects (such as
inner glow, drop shadow, bevel and emboss) to make dots look like bubbles. Registered users can
download PSD file from Downloads page of my site, and see what exactly effects are used.

file://C:\Documents and Settings\msaxe1\Desktop\Tuts+Ebooks\New Folder2 on user1... 10/1/2007

9 tutorials » Underwater effect Page 8 of 8

Repeat bubble-making steps 3-4 times.

…and here is the result!

(10 votes, average: 4.8 out of 5)

file://C:\Documents and Settings\msaxe1\Desktop\Tuts+Ebooks\New Folder2 on user1... 10/1/2007