In this tutorial I will teach you how to create some realistic rain/water drops.

  1. First of all, you’ll need an image on which you will add the drops. You can start with this image, with a leaf. Save it in your PC – Right click – Save… and then open it in Photoshop.

  2. Create a new layer, select Elliptical Marquee Tool and select a circle similar to a drop, just like in the following image:

  3. Now you need to apply a gradient inside of this circle, from black to white. Press D to reset the colors (main color black, background color white), select Gradient Tool, be sure that you will have a linear gradient (settings must be like in the following image – they are the default settings) and by clicking, pull, from the left of the circle to the right, a gradient.
     

  4. Keeping the new layer selected, change its Blend Mode in Overlay, like this: Right click on the layer – Blending Options – from Blend Mode, set Overlay.

  5. Keep on with applying some effects from Blending Options:
    Check Drop Shadow with the following settings:
    Opacity: 50%
    Angle: 160
    Distance: 7
    Spread: 0
    Size: 5

  6. Check Inner Shadow with the following settings:
    Opacity: 75%
    Angle: 160
    Distance: 5
    Spread: 0
    Size: 5

  7. Now the drop is almost ready. To make it look more realistic, select the layer with the drop and go to the top menu: Filter – Liquify.
    From here, you can change the shape, by dragging the cursor over the edges of the circle. After you get the desired shape, press OK.

  8. You can add some other drops, by using the same method. Here is how the result should look like: