Flip, Rotate and Mirror Designs and Patterns in Photoshop
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Step 5: Drag The Photo On Layer 1 To The Right Of The Original Image
Now that we've added our extra canvas space, we need to drag the copy of our image on Layer 1 into the new area. Select the Move Tool from the Tools palette, or press the letter V on your keyboard to select it with the shortcut:
Make sure Layer 1 is selected in the Layers palette (selected layers are highlighted in blue). Hold down your Shift key, then click inside the document and drag the photo on Layer 1 over to the right side of the original image. Holding the Shift key down as you drag will limit the direction you can move, making it easy to drag the photo horizontally. When you're done, you should see two copies of the photo sitting side by side each other:
Step 6: Flip The Image On The Right Horizontally
So far, all we have are two identical twins. Let's create our first mirror effect by flipping the image on the right horizontally so it appears as a reflection of the one on the left. Go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen, choose Transform, and then choose Flip Horizontal:
The photo on the right instantly becomes a mirror reflection of the photo on the left, creating our first effect:
Step 7: Merge The Two Layers Together
So far, so good, but as they say, but we've only just begun. Let's merge our two layers into a single layer by going up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and choosing Merge Down, or press Ctrl+E (Win) / Command+E (Mac) to select the Merge Down command with the keyboard shortcut:
Nothing will seem to have happened in the document, but if we look at our Layers palette, we can see that our two layers have been merged into a single layer:
Step 8: Duplicate The Layer
Just as we did back in Step 3, let's duplicate the layer. Press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac) to quickly duplicate it using the keyboard shortcut. A copy of the layer appears above the original in the Layers palette:
Step 9: Double The Height Of The Canvas
We're going to create another reflection of our image, this time vertically. For that, we need to double the height of our canvas and have the new canvas space appear below our existing image. Let's once again bring up the Canvas Size dialog box by going up to the Image menu at the top of the screen and choosing Canvas Size. When the dialog box appears, set the Width to 100 percent (which will leave the width of the canvas at its current size) and the Height to 200 percent. To force the extra space to appear below the image, click on the top middle square in the Anchor grid:
Click OK to close out of the dialog box. Photoshop adds the additional canvas space below the image. If you can't see the entire canvas area because it has become too large to fit on your screen, go up to the View menu and choose the Fit on Screen command, or press Ctrl+0 (Win) / Command+0 (Mac). Photoshop will zoom the image out to whatever level is needed for it to fit:
Step 10: Drag The Image On Layer 1 Below The Original
With the Move Tool selected in the Tools panel and Layer 1 selected in the Layers palette, click inside the document and drag the photo on Layer 1 down below the original image. Hold down your Shift key as you drag to limit the direction you can move, making it easy to drag the photo straight down:
Step 11: Flip The Bottom Image Vertically
To turn the bottom image into a mirror reflection of the top image, go up to the Edit menu, choose Transform, and then choose Flip Vertical:
We now have our second mirror reflection, this time vertically:
So far, all we've been doing is making copies of the image and flipping them horizontally or vertically. Let's see how much further we can take things by rotating copies of the image and trying out different layer blend modes!
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