ripples in water from one lake to another

[Paul G Elson]

I want to transfer a boat and the water ripples around it to the surface of a lake in a different image. The water colors/tones are different in the two images, and I want to have the transferred water/ripples blend into that of the lake to which it is being transferred, which has a glassy surface.
I've tried selecting it with a large feather, a mask with a gradient, the Color blending mode, and tried to tweak the colors in Curves, Levels, and Color Balance. Since it's still not looking natural, I've either not finessed it enough, or perhaps there's a better way??

[JasonSmith@adobeforums.com]

Maybe a displacement map?

Save the 'source' lake image as a .psd file.

go to the 'target' lake image, then go to Filter>Distort>Displacement Map.

Then load in your 'source' image.

You may have to try different X/Y settings to get it right.

This wont affect the colors, so you will still need to match the colors between the two images.

[Doug_Katz@adobeforums.com]

Paul, is it the color that looks artificial or the point where the edges of the water from the transferred image meet the host image?

If the former, take a shot at the Match Color command. Use it before you make the transfer. Make a feathered selection around a "well-colored" area of water in the host image. Make the target image active and select a good area of the water that you want to transfer. Select the Match Color command, set the host image as the Source, make other appropriate dialog settings, and then tell us what happens.

If the latter (the "shape" of the rippling transition from transferred image to host), then Jason's idea might work. I'd also try the Liquify command which really might be pretty perfect for this sort of thing.

[John_Slate@adobeforums.com]

Or with the reflected image on its own layer (including a rough amount of the other water color) you can play with the blend-if sliders for "this layer", maybe to isolate the reflection from the other water.

If the ripples look too ripply for the glassy surface, that is another issue.

If it really is a glassy surface you may want to work with a flipped version of the boat, and play with opacity, maybe adding a little smudge here and there to simulate tiny ripples.

[Paul G Elson]

Jason,

I couldn't get the displace filter to work properly; I'll look for a tutorial so I'll know if that's because of my lack of experience with it, or if it's not the best solution. But thanks again---for your solution with the inverted colors a few posts back, and now this.

Doug and John,

I greatly appreciate your considered and detailed suggestions. Check back here tomorrow; I'll let you know if I can get this where I want it.

Paul

[Paul G Elson]

John--

The "Blend if" sliders were the best solution for transferring the ripples.

Doug--

Match color wasn't too effective, but a Hue/Sat adj layer with a lot of feathering on the mask worked. I liked the Wave filter best for the reflection in the water.

Thanks again.

Paul