Think Spring with this Cool Photoshop Technique

A few years ago, I came across a really clever Photoshop technique to convert an ordinary image into what is commonly called an “orbital.” Though quite simple, the end result can be fascinating. Follow along as I describe the technique and show you a few examples.

Step 1 – Choose your starting image (you never know how it’s going to come out until you get to the end). I used this run-of-the-mill shot of an onion seed head.

Step 2 – Crop the image to a square. This is actually the trickiest part, and it may take several attempts before you crop to a size and center point that gives you a good result.

Step 3 – Flatten the image.

Step 4 – If your image is 16 bits/channel, change it to 8 bits/channel using Image –> Mode

Step 5 – Click Filter –> Distort –> Polar Coordinates. Choose “Polar to Rectangular”

Step 6 – Click Image –> Rotation –> 180 Degrees

Step 7 – Click Filter –> Distort –> Polar Coordinates. Choose “Rectangular to Polar”

Now you should have something that looks like this:

If you’re unhappy with with your result, just go back to the beginning and try a different image, a different crop, or a different center point. Enjoy the experiment!

I was pleasantly surprised by the end result of this one (I’m no botanist, but I think this is a knautia):

Speaking of surprises, look what you can do with a marigold and a swallowtail:

More examples here. Thanks for looking!