Written by Steve Patterson. In this Photoshop Effects tutorial, we're going learn how to add reflections, or at least, different reflections, to sunglasses. This is a popular Photoshop effect and opens up a world of creative and artistic possibilities depending on who is wearing the sunglasses and who or what you have them looking at.

Here's the image I'll be using for this tutorial:

If we look closely, we can see that there already is a faint reflection in her sunglasses, and it looks like she's standing on the side of a road if I'm not mistaken. To me, she could just as easily be standing on a tropical beach, so we're going to give her more mirror-like reflective lenses and have her looking towards the water instead by using this photo:

as the reflection in her sunglasses:

Let's get started!

Step 1: Select One Of The Lenses

We need to work on one lens at a time, so let's begin with the lens on the left (our left, her right). To complete the work on the other lens, all we'll need to do is repeat the same steps we're about to do. First, we need to select the lens, so select around the outside of it using the selection tool of your choice (Lasso Tool, Pen Tool, etc.):

Step 2: Create A New Blank Layer

With the lens selected, click on the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to add a new blank layer above the original Background layer, which is the layer that contains our original image:

Photoshop adds a new layer above the Background layer and automatically names it "Layer 1". Double-click directly on the layer's name in the Layers palette and rename it to "left lens" to make it easier for us to keep track of what we're doing (it's always a good idea to name your layers):

Step 3: Fill The Selection With Black On The New Layer

With the "left lens" layer selected (the currently selected layer is highlighted in blue in the Layers palette), press the letter D on your keyboard to reset your Foreground and Background colors if necessary so black becomes your Foreground color (white becomes your Background color), then use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Backspace (Win) / Option+Delete (Mac) to fill the selection we made with black:

Press Ctrl+D (Win) / Command+D (Mac) when you're done to deselect the selection.

It looks like we've filled the left lens with black, but since we're using layers and we've filled the selection on a layer above the Background layer, our original image isn't affected at all. The black filled selection area and the original photo are completely separate from each other.

Step 4: Drag The Second Image Into The Document

At this point, we need to bring in the image we're going to be using as the reflection in the sunglasses, so open your second image in Photoshop if it's not open already and have both images displaying in their own separate document windows on the screen (you can cycle through the various screen modes for each document by pressing the letter F on your keyboard). Press V to quickly select Photoshop's Move Tool, then simply click anywhere inside the second image and drag it into the sunglasses document:

If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that the second image has been added on a new layer above the "left lens" layer. Double-click on the layer's name and rename it to "left reflection":

Step 5: Create A Clipping Mask

Currently, the image on the "left reflection" layer is blocking much of the sunglasses image from view. What we want is for it to appear only inside the left lens, and we can do that easily by using the "left lens" layer as a clipping mask for the "left reflection" layer above it. What this means is, the only area of the tropical beach photo that will remain visible is the area sitting above the black-filled area on the layer below it. Any areas of the tropical beach photo that are sitting above any transparent areas on the "left lens" layer below it will be hidden from view.

To create the clipping mask, with the "left reflection" layer selected in the Layers palette, go up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen and choose Create Clipping Mask, or use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+G (Win) / Option+Command+G (Mac). Either way turns the "left lens" layer into a clipping mask for the "left reflection" layer above it, and the tropical beach photo (or whatever photo you happen to be using) is now sitting nicely inside the left lens:

If we look in our Layers palette, we can see that the "left reflection" layer now appears indented to the right, with a small arrow pointed down towards the "left lens" layer below it, which indicates that the "left reflection" layer is now being clipped by the "left lens" layer:

Step 6: Resize And Reposition The Image With Free Transform

Now that our reflection image is inside the left lens, let's resize it and reposition it. We can do both of those things at once using Photoshop's Free Transform command, so press Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up the Free Transform box and handles around the second image. Even though we can only see the part of the image that's inside the lens, Photoshop places the Free Transform box and handles around the actual dimensions of the image. If you can't see some of the handles because they're outside of the viewable area inside the document window, press F on your keyboard to switch your view mode to Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar, which will allow you to see all of the Free Transform handles (press F a couple more times when you're done with Free Transform if you want to switch back to the document window view mode). Then simply drag any of the corner handles inward to resize the image. Hold down Shift as you're dragging to constrain the proportions of the image, and hold down Alt as you drag if you want Photoshop to resize the image from its center:

If you need to rotate the image, move your mouse outside any of the corner handles. You'll see your mouse cursor change to a curved line with a small arrow on each end. Simply click and drag with your mouse to rotate the image.

To move the image, click anywhere inside the Free Transform box and move the image around with your mouse. Just don't click on the small target icon in the center, otherwise you'll move the target icon, not the image. Press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) when you're done to accept the transformation. Here's my image after moving and resizing my tropical beach photo inside the lens: