A starry bottle is a bottle hollowed out and filled with night sky. Select the inside of the glass, feather the selection so the edge isn't harsh, delete what's there, then bring in a star field and line it up with Free Transform. A few steps in Online PS and the glass reads convincingly.
Before you start: source images
- A transparent PNG of a glass bottle (or a bottle photo you shot yourself)
- A starry-sky background image (a wide, colourful night sky works best)
Step 1: Select the inside of the bottle
1️⃣ Open Online PS and load the bottle image with File → Open.
2️⃣ In the toolbar on the left, choose the Polygonal Lasso tool (L).
3️⃣ Click a few times around the inside of the bottle (the transparent area from the neck down to the base) to close a polygon.
If the bottle is already a transparent PNG, just click the bottle layer directly — no lasso needed.
Step 2: Feather the selection
Right-click → Feather on the selection (or press Shift+F6), set Feather Radius ≈ 30px and confirm.
Feathering makes the inner edge more natural and stops the star field from cutting hard into the glass wall.
Step 3: Delete what's inside the bottle
With the selection still active, press Delete to remove the inside.
Then press Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on Mac) to deselect.
The inside of the bottle is now transparent — it reads as hollowed out.
Step 4: Place the starry sky
1️⃣ Drag the star image into the Online PS window, or use File → Open and then drag the layer across.
2️⃣ In the Layers panel, drag the star layer below the bottle layer (make sure the sky sits underneath the bottle).
If the star layer is bigger than the bottle, the bottle still covers it — only the sky showing through the bottle stays visible.
Step 5: Free Transform (position and scale)
Select the star layer and press Ctrl+T (Cmd+T) to open Free Transform.
Drag the corner handles or type values so the sky covers the transparent area inside the bottle; fine-tune position and size until you're happy.
Press Enter when you're done.
If the sky doesn't line up with the neck, nudge it first with V (Move tool).
Optional extras
- For more depth in the sky, add a Gradient Map or Color Balance to the star layer.
- Add a little glow (Outer Glow) around the outside of the bottle so the glass reads better.
- To make the stars twinkle inside the bottle, duplicate the star layer, set it to Soft Light and lower the opacity a little.
References
- Online PS
- Adobe Photoshop official documentation