A little while ago, I promised a tutorial on how to make orbs in Photoshop.
If you arrived at my blog from Toad Hollow’s 88 Amazing Photography Links… on Lightstalking, WELCOME! I’m very glad to have you. I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Feel free to stay awhile and check out some of my other posts on photography. If you like what you see, you may want to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss any posts.
And without further ado, the tutorial…
Start by selecting an image and cropping it to a square. Say, like this.
Now, make sure your image is in 8 bits per channel, not 16, or the rest won’t work. You can check this by going into Image > Mode.
The next step is to go into Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates.
Click on Polar to Rectangular and OK.
The result.
Then you’ll want to flip your image vertically by going Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Vertical.
The result.
Then go back to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates…
Only, this time, click on Rectangular to Polar and OK.
And there you have it! Easy peasy, right?
Now you can apply whatever other effects or textures you want to tweak the image or you can frame the image…
Play to your heart’s content.
Have fun with this technique, and if you feel like it, share your images with me in the comments, and I’ll post some on my blog.
Bokeh ball
Sherrygaley.com 
I think you can do it in Elements from what I’ve heard. It doesn’t take long, really, and you can make some amazing looking designs. Thanks for coming over…
Do give it a try, Cheryl! It is very easy and the results are always surprising…
Such a great post Sherry. Thanks for sharing this. I would love to try this,
Thank you for doing a tutorial on this Sherry. I’m actually going to see if I can do this with PSElements 8. I really love working in PS but it hurts so much that I do it very seldom these days, but this looks so darn intriguing I have to give it a try!! Thanks bunches.
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I had no idea this was how it was done. Thanks for your step by step tutorial. I’m pretty certain I can figure it out from this in GIMP. 🙂
Fun! I’m going to try that in a few days. I have PSE but I know I have all those options. It’s very similar to the making your own planet thing.
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So amazing. I have never done this.. So this is how its done. Loved this blog
Thanks a lot for liking my post and bringing me to your blog. I love this post and I tried it out with one of my photos. Amazing and so easy!
This looks like so much fun Sherry. Wonder if I could try this with a piece of jewelry?? I’ll have to play around with is.
I put my favorites in one of my posts a short time ago https://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/dp-challenge-gift-word-a-week-challenge-face/ . I think it’s a really fun exercise and enjoyed playing to see which photos made the best orbs. Terrific that you posted the directions Sherry – love your orbs also!
Love this! I don’t have Photoshop 😦
Way cool. Thanks Sherry
I learned to do these several weeks ago and have had so much fun with them. Sometimes it’s interesting to apply some artistic techniques – blend modes, textures, etc. – both before and after. There’s a lot you can do with these.
I love the two soft ones at the bottom of the post the best. Thanks for sharing your beautiful work.
This looks like so much fun….I’m going to try this as soon as I have a free minute…thanks so much for sharing…
I haven’t done this in SO long…totally forgot how…sigh. Thanks for sharing Sherry. Happy weekend to you.
Thanks Sherry for the tutorial I’ll give it a go….
Thanks so much for sharing this… I have wondered how to do these and thanks to your post, I am about to give it a go…. thank you thank you thank you…. Debbie (Australia)
Such fun images, Sherry. I see you do them on Photoshop which I don’t have! However, I enjoy looking at the effects you achieve through editing.