Creating Aqua Style Button using Photoshop- Part 3

Now click on the layer mask.

and fill the selection with 45% Gray [R: 161, G: 161, B:161]. Then deselect, and gaussion blur the layer mask about 18 points

Next, select the rectangular marquee tool, and create a selection like this:

which is 200 pixels wide and 20 pixels tall.

Then show channels and create a new channel. Now fill the selection (with white). Deselect, then distort the white area like this, and hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift for the effect to be equal on both sides.

Now apply a gaussion blur with settings [Radius: 10 pixels]. Now you will want to adjust levelswith the following settings.

Now load the selection from that alpha channel and show layers. Make a new layer, name it 'upper highlight'. Press D to reset the foreground and background colors, then select the gradient tool. Now select the linear gradient, and drag from the bottom of the selection to the top, like so.

Then change the 'upper highlight' layers blending mode to 'Screen' and the opacity to 75%.

Finally, click on the horizontal type tool and then click in the button where you want text. Type in your text, and make sure your foreground color is black.

Then you want to drag the type layer in between the 'upper hightlight' layer and the 'bottom highlight' layer. Now apply a drop shadow with the following settings.

Select the 'button back' layer and apply a drop shadow with the following settings. There you have a cool looking aqua/glass button.

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