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Posted in: digital creation, flickr, graphic design, howto
Kamome has made an excellent technique for making amazing circles. This is a more detailed description:
1. Open an image in Photoshop (screenshots are from Photoshop CS2 on Mac). Higher resolution and size will give better results. I have used a picture I took myself some time ago. If you want to use the same picture for this How to, you can find it here.
2. You need to make a selection that is squared. Use the selection tool, and set the aspect ratio to fixed:
3. Enter the same number in both fields. 1 and 1 works.
4. Make a selection.
5. Apply the filter Polar Coordinates:
6. In this step, use the bottom radio button, marked “Polar to Rectangular”:
7. Now your image will turn into something that may look interesting at best, but we're not yet there:
8. Rotate the selection 180 degrees. There are a few different ways to do this. One of them is to use the Edit menu, then Transform and Rotate 180 degrees.
9. Now apply the same filter we did in point 5. But do NOT just choose it from the top of the Filter menu. We are going to change one of the parameters so you have to choose it from Filters > Distort > Polar Coordinates… again.
This time, choose the upper radio button, labeled “Rectangular to Polar”:
10. Crop your picture to get rid of the stuff surrounding your new Amazing circle:
11. Voila!
Save and upload to Flickr.
12. I have created a group for Amazing circles. Please join!
You might want to have a look at all the other posts I have about Flickr!
Now 100 members on the Flickr group. Read about it here.
As of December 25, 2005, the Flickr group has over 400 members, and appproaching 3 500 amazing circles. Wow!
Flatfield at Flickr has posted instructions how to make Amazing Circles with GIMP.
If you’re lazy 
just use the new automatic Amazing circles tool at Dumpr.net.
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A great, simple yet so pleasing way to make the circles …Thank you !! dbuk2
by dbuck on 2005-12-14 at 22:37
Fabulous! Hope I can replicate….really, really nice technique.
by Jacquie on 2005-12-25 at 00:13
Thanks to Soeradjoen in Flickr for letting me know about this.
by Lynne on 2006-02-13 at 12:16
Looks like the exact same steps will work in AfterEffects for moving footage. You just have to nest your comps.
I’m off to try it!
by Mike on 2006-02-19 at 17:25
It ended up being cool
by Ivan Minic on 2006-02-19 at 18:01
Does anyone have the instructions for this action for PaintShop Pro ? (Any version ?)
Thanks
by -=Doug=- on 2006-02-24 at 03:53
[...] You make your own amazing circles, the full instructions are here. And do post them on the Amazing circles group at Flickr. [...]
by brilliantdays.com » Promax BDA newsletter on 2006-02-25 at 16:23
Hint: You can leave the selection tool in Normal mode - you don’t need to mess with the aspect ratio settings.
Just hold down the Shift key while making a rectangular selection. As long as the Shift key is down, the tool is locked in “square” mode.
(using Photoshop on a Mac)
by Keith on 2006-03-06 at 21:33
I’m hooked, brill and easy thanks Judy x
by Judy Scott on 2006-05-13 at 12:54
Thanks everybody!
@Keith: Yes, I know. Thanks! I use a script for my circles, and try lots of different spots in the picture before finding a good one. So setting the aspect ratio saves me some fingers on the keyboard.
by Oyvind on 2006-05-13 at 13:17
[...] Here’s a how-to on how to create quite realistic looking bubbles on your pictures, using Photoshop or GIMP. It’s based on the Amazing circles technique I have written about before. Join the Amazing circles group at Flickr if you make any, bubbles or not. Bookmark this article: [...]
by brilliantdays.com | How to create realistic bubbles on your pictures on 2006-06-23 at 09:21
[...] {How to make an Amazing Circle} [...]
by sugarfused.net » Photo Friday ~ “Circle” on 2006-08-25 at 10:46
Thank you for sharing…
very interesting…
Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka
by Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka on 2006-09-18 at 01:00
I hope im not asking the same thing you’ve heard a hundred times..
Are these instructions for the amazing circles good for Photoshop 7 or
Paintshop Pro 7 ? thanks !
by Linda Krautner on 2006-11-14 at 01:11
Yes, Linda. They work perfectly with Photoshop 7. I’m not sure about Paintshop Pro 7. If you have a polar filter it would work. Anyone who does know for sure?
by Oyvind on 2006-11-14 at 07:55
Thank you much Oyvind. Looking foward to exploring this
amazing 0OooooooO0 circles.
by Linda Krautner on 2006-11-16 at 18:27
Well I made my first one using Photoshop7. Not bad, just need to know how
to round it from oblong.Also whats the easiest way to remove the
background edges ; the lasso tools are very difficult because of a disability
which affects my hands(steadiness/accuracy)
by Linda on 2006-11-18 at 21:07
Here’s a look at it on Flickr
by Linda on 2006-11-18 at 21:12
[...] Amazing circles is theme of the week in the Flickr “Theme of the week” group. From January 7th - 14th 2007. [...]
by Theme of the week | brilliantdays.com on 2007-01-09 at 14:31
[...] make your own “amazing circle.” [...]
by Organization Monkey » Blog Archive » this is how i get into trouble on 2007-01-21 at 21:03
LOL, Marie. Love your blog’s tagline:
“This blog is about organization, medical librarianship, and sometimes monkeys and/or bananas.”
Wish I had thought of something as clever as that…
by Oyvind on 2007-01-22 at 15:49
I made a spin-off from amazing circles on Flickr; maybe you’d like to take a look?
http://www.flickr.com/groups/amazingdroplets/
by Adam on 2007-02-06 at 00:54
[...] Read More… [...]
by Tutorial: How To Create Amazing Circles in Photoshop at Imaging Insider on 2007-02-13 at 06:18
The tutorial works great! thanks!
by birdtoes on 2007-02-23 at 19:27
I found this tutorial from a link in the Amazing Circles group on Flickr. This is handy and easy to duplicate in Paint Shop Pro 9. The results are much better than Dumpr as the site outputs at 500×500. I’ll use the manual method for any circles that give spectacular results. Thanks for outlining it for us!
by abbydonkrafts on 2007-07-28 at 01:29
Thanks birdtoes and abbydonkrafts!
Adam: Cool group. Lots of nice Photoshop magic!
by Oyvind on 2007-07-28 at 12:41
[...] Jul 29th, 2007 by thisgirlremembers So today’s my first Creative Challenge day, and I decided to do some playing with Photoshop, since I didn’t get to that yesterday. I recently learned a fabulous - and very easy - new technique for manipulating photos into incredible spheres called Amazing Circles. [...]
by This Girl Remembers on 2007-07-29 at 23:39
I really love the techniques u did…I also got this project to do and it’s all about circles
by Luv Circles on 2007-09-09 at 12:38
Hey this was amazing, thank you lots for posting this… keep em coming!!!
by Edgar Q on 2007-10-23 at 18:26
[...] November 16, 2007 by thisgirlremembers This week’s theme for Photohunters is “I Love ____” and I decided that it was a great opportunity to share a technique I love, but which wouldn’t normally be admissible for photography memes/communities, since though they’re produced from photographs they aren’t photoreal: amazing circles! [...]
by Photohunt: I Love Amazing Circles « This Girl Remembers on 2007-11-16 at 19:50
[...] I saw the most amazing photo a few days ago, though I cannot remember where it was. It looked like a stained glass window inside a cathedral or museum. Imagine my surprise when the photographer noted that he had created the image, and provided a link to a web site with instructions! [...]
by digital art « retinal perspectives on 2008-01-24 at 02:14
[...] to Polar. If you’ve done everything correctly so far you should have what is called an “amazing circle” that looks something like [...]
by Angel Wings Photoshop Tutorial on 2008-03-20 at 12:10
[...] How to create Amazing circles (tags: blog flickr photoshop tutorial) [...]
by » Blog Archive » links for 2008-06-17 on 2008-08-25 at 21:55