In this tutorial I will run you through some very simple methods to create a realistic refection of someone as if they were in front of a glass window.
Flip the image on the left horizontally. With that layer chosen hit the keyboard shortcut ctrl+t on a windows keyboard to transform the object. Right click on it and click flip horizontally.
I want the left picture to touch the right picture so it looks like she is leaning her head on a glass window.
On an accurate reflection if her head is against the glass it will be the closest thing in the reflection since it is touching the glass. Her chin will be the furthest away in the reflection since it is not touching the glass.
So first I am going to rotate and scale the image down a bit so it will look accurate in the reflection.
ow there are some other gaps that I need to cover up, the one on the top left and the other on the bottom. So first I will get rid of the top left one by using my crop tool and just crop the whole image to get rid of that.
As for the bottom gap I am going to copy a portion of the image, paste it back in the canvas and use the warp tool to manipulate it.
To lighten up the image to make it look like a reflection I will use the levels on the image. Duplicate your layer and hide it so you have a backup in case you need to go back.
Hit ctrl+L for the levels control and set them similar to this
Set its opacity to about 70% and its blending mode to overlay.
I hope this gives you a basic idea on how you can make a realistic glass reflection of someone. Thanks for reading.
***QUICK NOTE*** Based off of some comments I received I modified the tutorial a bit to make it look more realistic. All I did was take a regular picture of the city without blurring it, put it below your reflection layer, and set the opacity to about 46%. Then I changed our reflection layer blending mode to hard light. Hope this looks better. Thanks!