I am still working on an image of fish swimming underwater. I have my fish and bubbles right now, so my water looks less than desirable. Does anyone have any tips on how to make water look realistic?

Hello, I think one thing that makes underwater scenes look beliveable is the way light is defracted because of the movement of the water.

Susie, can I ask how deep is the water? Can the surface be seen? Is it shallow enough to have the light of the sun shown off of the bottom sand?

Maybe you can review some of the images done in Bryce or Vue in their galleries and see if there are some good examples.

I'm sure it can be done in Photoshop but I think you would appreciate the effects done with these 3D programs.

yo

Thanks for your reply. One of my instuctors suggested that to. After looking at images of underwater scenes, I attempted to recreate the effect of refracted light on my image. I am please with the way it turned out, although I would love critisism! If you see anything that would make it make it better, I'd love to hear it. I am stuck using Photoshop, because I am using my school's software.

Attached Link: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~kand/caustics/

Check out this link. It's a freebie stand-alone mini-app, that produces pics that imitate the way light looks after going through water and hitting some surface (caustics). Open output in Photoshop, select and copy-paste it onto a new layer in your pic, and mask to apply it to (for example) the ocean floor, or (lightly) onto the fish themselves.

This looks like a useful program for this type of image. I would like to modify your suggestion Rosemaryr, in the new layer that has the caustic surface, I would recommend using the Perspective option from the Transform tool and slant the image a little to give a sense of depth. You would have to expand beyond the outer edges of the image area to do this but I think it would be effective.

Sorry if I am not making myself clear. It is easier to show than to say.

Yoshi

I've got the mini-app downloaded, and unzipped, but I do not understand what to do next. Could you tell me what steps I need to do? Thanks

I get what you mean Yoshi, that would be a definite improvement, if I can get this program to work.

I am trying it right now, and if the professer does not return right away I will try to explain.

hope to be back soon,

Yo

From experimenting with the dials and having the Automatic Preview check box selected I was able to see the different effects happen as I adjusted the dials.

Here is the settings I used. I hope the screen capture is okay to see.

With your permission I would like to overlay the caustic surface over your image and modify the perspective.

Yoshi the quick

I appreciate it, but I can not get the program to open up at all. I don't know what I am doing wrong.

ugh, I guess it would help if I d/l the right file. (slaps self on head) I am going to give it a whirl and repost my image..I appreciate the help!

Thank you, it beats listening to the droneing of the prof.

I look forward to seeing your revisions.

I would also like to add, you may want to change the blend mode of your added layer to overlay or something like that. You can also add a mask with a gradient to blend out the sharpness of the caustic surface, like the way the detail in the horizon is less focused.

Yoshi

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with SusieQ, and thanks Rosemary for the link, it looks like something i might find useful to have hanging around.

Yomah, good suggestions you have there, ever thought of doing a tutorial?

;)
retrocity

Yoshi--good suggestion as to the perspective adjustment, apply mode, and gradient masking. I should have thought of adding those to my note. grin Oh well, at least it was found to be a useful link to start with! Have fun with it, people!

Alas, it has been a very busy day. I havn't had a chance yet to work on my image anymore. Tomorrow is another day, and with any luck I'll be able to post a much better fish picture :P.....Also if anyone has any comments about the composition of my piece, I'd be glad to hear them. The actual image will be on a calender, and it is very large. The actual picture will be 17" by 12" or so.

Ok, I have tried the caustics app, and with pretty good results. Here is what I have come up with. What do yall think?

Really cool, i think it adds that sense of depth. Looks like i may give that app a go :)

thanks for posting SusieQ, it'll be a great on a calendar!

:)
retrocity

Thank you retrocity! I really appreciate all the help I have recived on this projects, from the bubble brush to the caustic app. You guys rock! Susie :D