How to Make Underwater Text in Photoshop | Adobe Creative Cloud

Distort some text and blend it with an image to create a dreamy illusion.

Start from scratch, or download practice files [https://adobe.ly/3mliw5s] for a head start. Steps below.

Create a displacement map:

1. Open the water bubbles image in Photoshop.
2. Desaturate the image: Choose Create new fill or adjustment layer at the bottom of the Layers panel (Window – Layers). Choose Hue/Saturation and slide the Saturation slider to the left.

Tip: Apply a Gaussian blur to create smoother edges and distortion. With the water layer selected, choose Filter – Blur and adjust the blur Radius (we used 5.0).

3. Save displacement map: Save the desaturated image as a Photoshop document (File – Save as). Give it a name to indicate it is a displacement map.

Submerge some text:
1. Back in the original water bubbles image, type a word such as DREAM. Press Return or Enter to place the text.
2. Right-click on the type layer and choose Convert to Smart Object.
3. Chose Filter – Distort – Displace. Set the Displace properties. Click OK.
4. Choose the PSD you created as your displacement map in a previous step.
5. Duplicate the bottom water layer and drag it to the top of the layers.
6. Right-click on the top water layer and choose Create Clipping Mask.

Add the finishing touches:
1. Choose Exclusion as the Blend Mode for the duplicate water layer.
2. Choose Luminosity as the Blend Mode for the type layer.

That’s it!

To learn more, check out our Companion Tutorial: https://adobe.ly/3bJvHIs

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