Easily Make a Glass Texture Effect in Photoshop
Photoshop Photo Effects
The glass effect has been used by many designers and photographers to add depth and dimension to their compositions with a touch of modern elegance. There are, of course, many different ways to apply a glass effect in Photoshop, but today I will show you how easy it is to make your own glass texture and apply realistic distortion to any of your images using nothing but the default Photoshop tools.
Step 1
Open Photoshop and make a new file at any size you want your glass texture to be. In this case, I will make mine at 4800 x 3200 px.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/01.jpg?mtime=20240217174900)
Step 2
Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and make a selection from top to bottom of your canvas with any width you want for your glass effect. Here I will make a selection of aprox. 130 px.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/02.jpg?mtime=20240217174901)
Step 3
With the selection active, click on the "Create new fill or adjustment layer" icon in the Layers Panel, and from the dropdown menu select "Gradient".
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/03.jpg?mtime=20240217174902)
Step 4
Select the Black to White default gradient, set the angle to 180º and click OK.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/04.jpg?mtime=20240217174903)
Step 5
Duplicate the Gradient layer and move it to the right until is side by side with the first one as shown.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/05.jpg?mtime=20240217174904)
Step 6
Repeat this step until you complete the whole width of the artboard.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/06.jpg?mtime=20240217174905)
Step 7
Save the file on your computer as "Glass Distortion.psd" and close it.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/07.jpg?mtime=20240217174906)
Step 8
Open the image you want to use to apply the glass effect.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/08.jpg?mtime=20240217174907)
Step 9
With the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) make a selection on the area you want to apply the glass effect.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/09.jpg?mtime=20240217174909)
Step 10
Go to Filter > Filter Gallery. Open the "Distort" effects and select the "Glass" effect.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/10.jpg?mtime=20240217174910)
Step 11
Click on the "Load Texture" icon and select "Load Texture".
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/11.jpg?mtime=20240217174911)
Step 12
Locate the saved "Glass Distortion.psd" file on your computer and click the "Open" button.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/12.jpg?mtime=20240217174913)
Step 13
Lastly, apply the following settings on the Glass effect and click OK.
Note: You may use any values you want for the Distortion, Smoothness and Scale.
![](https://s3.medialoot.com/blog-images/Easily-Make-a-Glass-Texture-Effect-in-Photoshop/13.jpg?mtime=20240217174915)