How to Mirror any Image in Photoshop

Classic Photoshop Effect

If you have read the “Elements and Principles of Design” post, you may remember that one of the Design Principles is the Balance. And a way to achieve balance in a design is Symmetry. It occurs when the weight of a composition is evenly distributed around a central vertical or horizontal axis to create a whole.

Probably, you have seen the mirror effect on many different designs, in album covers, movie posters, advertisings, patterns, etc. and just like the most classical and popular Photoshop effects it's very easy to create it. Of course there are many ways to mirror an image in Photoshop but today you will learn a simple way to do it.

Before you begin
If you want to use the same image to follow this quick tip, you can download it here.
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Step 1

Open you image in Photoshop.

Step 2

Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer. Name this new layer as “Mirror” and click OK.

Step 3

With the Mirror layer selected go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal.

Step 4

Go to Image > Canvas Size. From the Width dropdown menu choose “Percent”.

Step 5

Set the Width to 200 and click on the top right arrow on the Anchor grid. This will set the anchor point for our canvas size change to the top right side of our image.

Step 6

With the “Mirror” Layer selected, hold the Shift key on your keyboard and click on the Background layer to select both layers, then in the top menu click on the “Align Left Edges” icon.

Final Notes

Although this effect is very easy to make, if you plan to use it very often, a good idea is to make a Photoshop Action of it to be used an unlimited number of times just by clicking a button. To do that, first open your image and then just click on the Create New Action icon in the Actions Panel to record the steps starting at Step 2.