Creating Orbs..It's fun and easy!

Creating Photographic Orbs

This was a waterfall

"How to Create a Photo Orb”

An ORB is defined as a spherical body or globe. So, the goal is to turn a photo into a photographic globe...and it's easy.

I like creating photo orbs to use as backgrounds or to add texture to an existing image. Orbs can be used creatively for those pictures you have in your library that didn’t turn out quite the way you’d hoped so they’re just sitting there collecting digital dust.

So here's what an Orb looks like...The picture above was a pumpkin :-) 

The picture above wasn’t one of the worst photos I’ve taken and honestly, I could have spent a few minutes on this little green heron to brighten him up a bit in Photoshop or Lightroom. Also, the background is so busy, the bird tends to blend in with it and looks lost.

Turned into this...

Here's how it's done -

1.  Choose and image, select the area you want to orb and crop to a square or as close to one as possible.

2.  In Photoshop, go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates > Polar to rectangular; next

3.  Image > Rotate > Flip canvas vertically.

4.  Again, Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates > Rectangular to polar.

Viola! It's an ORB!!!

This is the quick and easy method of transform images into orbs. Here are a few more steps and I find this method useful when I want to use it to add texture or when replacing backgrounds.

This time I’m going to use a flower, the color flower you choose may depend on the main image. But this time I’m just going to pick one from my library.

We’re going to duplicate the layer (the main photo), Ctrl + J, then repeat steps 2, 3 & 4 above. By duplicating the layer first, if you don't like it you can delete the background copy and start over. The original image hasn't been altered as in the method above.

Then blur the image, Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. You want the angle to be 0° > Distance 780-900 pixels. You start to see horizontal lines.

Select a soft paint brush and paint with white, 30% opacity; you’ll want to paint the light areas of the orb with a large brush and the hardness should be zero (0).

Reduce the brush size and change the opacity of the brush to 10% and brush again lightly over entire image.

We going to blur the image again, , Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. You want the angle to be 0° > Distance 200-250 pixels. Brushing lightly any additional areas as desired. Merge all layers or flatten and save your work.

And there you have it – a new background, a new texture, a whole new image – a new creation!!!

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Happy orbing - try it on those pictures you don't want to share for one reason or another. Watch them become works of art!

God wants to do a New Thing! 2 Corinthians 5:17 God turns endings into new beginnings. What comes to mind when you think about God is what you really think about God. God is able to make new beginnings.