Putting something behind glass in Photoshop

December 4, 2012 8:36 AM

How do I put something behind glass in Photoshop?

Hi all - trying to create an effect of a giant plant bursting out of the roof of a greenhouse.

I have an image of the plant and the greenhouse, but how do I make it look as if the plant is inside the greenhouse, i.e. behind the glass?

Any tips welcome. Thanks a lot.

posted by Blackwatch to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

You want the window to have some reflections and light sheen on it ideally. Then you cut out the glass and duplicate it onto another layer above the plant layer. You then set the blending mode of the glass layer to screen or lighten and adjust the opacity until it looks good.
posted by nathancaswell at 8:50 AM on December 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

The key when working with glass is not to make it too transparent. Introducing a sheen, or a slight reflection helps sell this. You can also place a tint on the glass, or something subtle like dried water spots or even interior condensation.

If you're using anything other than flat glass you'll want to look at distortion on the object behind the glass as well, but for a greenhouse you're not likely to see much distortion.

This tutorial covers creating weight to the glass and has several steps that show what the lighting and distortion on the objects through the glass would look like.

You can also help sell the overall effect by using smaller panes in your greenhouse, that way the plant will end up being crossed by solid objects helping to sell the effect.

Depending on where your light source is those solid objects would cast shadows on the plant. I'm not finding a great source to demo this but this pic shows how the shadows bend when the light source is off to the side.
posted by dadici at 8:54 AM on December 4, 2012 [2 favorites]