How to Make Bubbles Using Photoshop

Create an image of bubbles in this Photoshop tutorial

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer running Photoshop, this Photoshop tutorial uses Photoshop CS2

1. 
   Prepare to create a new Photoshop document

   Launch Photoshop on your computer. From the File menu, choose New.

2. 
   Setup you new Photoshop document

   In the New dialogue box, web the Photoshop document width to 500 pixels, the height to 500 pixels, resolution to 96 pixels/inch and the Background Contents to Transparent.

3. 
   Create a new layer in the Photoshop document

   Create a new layer by clicking on the Create a New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers Palette

4. 
   Rename the Photoshop layer, Bubble

   Change the name of the new layer, Layer 2, to the new name of Bubble by double clicking on the name in the Layers Palette and then typing the word, Bubble.

5. 
   Prepare to fill the new Photoshop layer

   With the new Bubble layer selected, click on Fill from the Edit pull down menu.

6. 
   Fill the new Bubble layer with 50% Gray

   In the Fill dialogue box, choose 50% Gray from the drop down menu. Click OK to close the dialogue box.

7. 
   Open the Lens Flare dialogue box

   Open the Lens Flare dialogue box by choosing Render/Lens Flare from the Filter drop down menu.

8. 
   Lens Flare dialogue box in the Photoshop document

   In the Lens Flare dialogue box, set the Brightness at 100% and the Lens Type to 50-300mm Zoom. Click OK.

9. 
   Open the Polar Coordinates dialogue box

   With the Bubble layer still selected, choose Distort/Polar Coordinates from the Filter drop down menu.

10. 
    Polar Coordinates settings

    In the Polar Coordinates dialogue box, select Polar to Rectangular.

11. 
    Flip the Photoshop document vertically

    Choose Rotate Canvas/Flip Vertical from the Image drop down menu.

12. 
    Open the Polar Coordinates dialogue box

    With the Bubble layer still selected, choose Distort/Polar Coordinates from the Filter drop down menu.

13. 
    Polar Coordinates settings

    In the Polar Coordinates dialogue box, select Rectangular to Polar.

14. 
    Turn on the Photoshop Rulers

    If the Photoshop rulers do not appear on your Photoshop document, select Rulers from the View drop down menu.

15. 
    Pull guides to the 250 pixel mark

    Pull horizontal and vertical guides to the 250 pixel mark from the Rulers.

16. 
    Photoshop document with guides

    The Photoshop document with vertical and horizontal guides at the 250 pixel mark.

17. 
    Select the Elliptical Marquee tool

    Select the Elliptical Marquee tool from the Tools palette.

18. 
    Select the bubble using the Elliptical Marquee tool

    With the Elliptical Marquee tool, draw around the bubble by placing the cursor at the center of the bubble/circle. Holding down the alt and the shift keys, drag a circle from the center to the edges of the bubble.

19. 
    Duplicate the selected Bubble onto its own layer

    Press the Ctrl key and the J key at the same time to duplicate the selected bubble onto its own layer.

20. 
    Change the layer blend mode to Hard Light

    In the Layers Palette, change the blend mode from Normal to Hard Light.

21. 
    The Layers Pallette at this point in this Photoshop Tutorial

    This is a picture of the Layers Palette at this point.

22. 
    Bubbles Photoshop tutorial

    You can duplicate the bubble, resize it and add a background color. This picture is the result. Enjoy!