With that picture update, I still suggest using masks and blurring, dilating/eroding.
And for example:
b93.psd.zip (Size: 378.15 KB / Downloads: 228)
And I wouldn't use a neon glow or anything like that, but rather I would duplicate the water texture layer and run a Colors->Hue,Saturation,Lightness adjustment, and then make it brighter.
This is a super fast example that could be better, but still the concepts are the same. I recommend looking at each layer turned on and off to see how I did this. And this isn't of course the only way to do it.
--edit
Sorry about that, but 2.8 doesn't have layer group masks, so that file may not work on 2.8
And for example:
b93.psd.zip (Size: 378.15 KB / Downloads: 228)
And I wouldn't use a neon glow or anything like that, but rather I would duplicate the water texture layer and run a Colors->Hue,Saturation,Lightness adjustment, and then make it brighter.
This is a super fast example that could be better, but still the concepts are the same. I recommend looking at each layer turned on and off to see how I did this. And this isn't of course the only way to do it.
--edit
Sorry about that, but 2.8 doesn't have layer group masks, so that file may not work on 2.8