How to Create a Small World: A Photoshop Tutorial
79Have you seen those "small world" photos in magazines or the internet? Most of them have people holding hands around a small world.
I've always wondered how these photos are made, and very recently, I learned how to do them. So I'm going to share with you this fun Photoshop trick. Then you can enter the world of the Little Prince where you can watch 44 sunsets everday!
Are you game?
How to Create a Small World in Photoshop
- Select a photo that you would like to convert to a "small world". The best photos to use are your seascapes and landscapes that have similar left and right sides. You can of course use other photos but they may be harder to work with. It's always better to start with something easy so you will feel a sense of accomplishment.
- Once you've chosen your photo, open it in Photoshop
- Check if the horizon of your photo is straight. If it's not straight, then straighten it first. I usually use Picasa to straighten my photos because I find it easier to use than Photoshop.
- Once you have finished your preliminary preparations, crop the photo in such a way that the width is about 1/3 times longer than the height.
- Check out the photo below.
- Resize
your photo to a square. You can do this by clicking on image > image size.
Uncheck the constraints box and copy the width numbers to the space for length.
Now you have a square photo. It should look like the photo below.
At this point, don't worry if your photo looks rather weird like you just used a funny mirror. This has a purpose of course.
- Click again on image > image rotation > 180 degrees
- Click on filter > distort > polar coordinates and viola, you have your small world!
- If the seams of your photo need some refining or cleaning up, you can use healing brush, or patch, or clone tools.
Now you have your photo ready to display. You can play around with it and maybe even change the color as what I did to the photo below.
So you got your small world now! Are you ready to join the world of the Little Prince in asteroid B 612?
I really wish I could because I'd love to be able to see and photograph 44 sunsets everyday!
More Small Worlds Created in Photoshop
"But on your tiny planet, my little prince, all you need to do is move your chair a few steps. You can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like."The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I hope you enjoyed and learned from this simple tutorial.
Why don't you start making your own small world? Make it the way you want it to be and color it with your favorite color. How about it?
My Other Photography Hubs
If you enjoyed this hub, you might also enjoy my other hubs on photography tips.
How-to-Improve-your-Photography-Frame-It
Lines-Lines-Lines-How-to-Use-Lines-in-Improving-Your-Photography
Just-Add-Water-A-Photo-Tip-When-You-Cant-Think-of-Anything-to-Shoot
Nature-Abstract-in-Photography
Photography-Painting-or-Drawing-with-Light
Wait-Dont-Delete-that-Photo-Turn-Your-Photo-Into-Art
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Hi Carol,
It's great to see you! Thanks for firing the opening salvo.
I so love your comment.
God bless!
Wonderfula nd impressive stuff :-)
Thank you for sharing Jill, I downloaded a trial photoshop and felt lost...a friend told me to down load Digital Image Suite 2006 and there were plenty of videos to assist in at least a clue of what to do...lol
Hi,
You did not leave a name, so I don't know how to call you. Anyway, thanks for dropping by and leaving an upbeat comment!
God bless!
Hi Fossillady,
It's nice to see you again!
Don't worry, it took me a while to get going in Photoshop. I also had to watch many tutorials and read many tips before I was able to get a grasps of things. There are still so many things I don't know. I just enjoy learning and sharing what I learned.
Thanks again!
God bless!
Hi Jill:
Thanks for the photoshop lesson. I'm going to try this sometime. I use photoshop to create those cute little breakers that I sometimes insert into my hubs.
Tammy
Hi Tammy,
You are most welcome! You should try it, it's really fun!
Yes, I remember your cute breakers in your hubs.
I'm happy that you decided to stop by. Thanks very much!
God bless!
Hi Jill! Another great hub! I love this effect. I saw a similar effect on another site and thought to give it a try. ... And then I saw your hub. Thanks!
Very cool - thanks for sharing this I love photoshop one more thing for me to try.....:)
This is totally cool. I love what you can do to the pictures. I'm not familiar with photoshop but hope to learn it one day...hopefully this summer, when the kids are off school. Thanks for sharing your wonderful talent and rated up.
Hi Taj,
You are most welcome! I love sharing what I learn as I go through my photography adventure. It's always fun to learn something new.
Thanks for dropping by. I'm glad you can make use of this.
God bless!
Hello Whidbeywriter,
That's great! I love discovering the many uses of Photoshop. Then I also love to share what I learn.
Thanks for your visit and wonderful comment!
Hi Anglnwu,
It's nice to see you my friend. I'm happy that you enjoyed this. I love learning and discovering the many things you can do with Photoshop. You should really try it one of this days.
Thanks for dropping by.
God bless!
Hi, your skills never cease to amaze me. Your love for photgraphy and your passion for your subjects shine through in all you do. Thank you.
Hi Dave,
Thank you very much for your kind words. You just made my day!
I will surely miss you, but we still have RG to get in touch with each other.
God bless!
Hi Jill
I love this article, I have now created my own small world, it's so much fun, I could play with this for hours. Many thanks.
Hello Movie Master,
That's great to know! I'm happy that you are having fun with this.
You are most welcome. The pleasure is mine!
God bless!
Fun info. Thanks for sharing!
Hello Dukeny,
Thanks very much! I'm happy that you enjoyed this.
God bless!
Just a cool and awesome hub on Photoshop, my favorite art software in the whole world! :)
Hi Cheeky Girl,
Thanks very much! I'm happy that you enjoyed this!
God bless!
Photoshop is an amazing piece of software and you have done well to demonstrate a small portion of what photoshop has to offer.
I have tried this technique on many occasions in the past and have had some good results.
good work, well done.
Hello Paul,
Thank you very much!
You are right, I am just discovering the many functions of Photoshop and I enjoy sharing what I discover. I'm afraid though that I haven't even scratched the surface yet.
Thanks once again! See you around!
God bless!
It's Amazing what we learn when we visit one another...Thank you for teaching and sharing your views on "Photoshop" Jill.
Hello b.Malin,
It's nice to see you!
Welcome! It's my pleasure! I love sharing what I learn.
Thanks for the visit and wonderful comment!
God bless!
Jill of alltrades, Amazing! You are truly gifted! Thank you for sharing your professional expertise and knowledge of "photoshop" editing! In His Love, Grace, Joy, Peace & Blessings! God Bless You!
Hi DeBorrah,
I'm so happy to see you again!
I just enjoy playing around with Photoshop and then sharing what I learn. I guess it is the teacher in me. I'm not a professional at all but I profess what I love to do. Hahaha!
Your comments always make me happy and this one is no exception. Thank you very much!
God bless!
Awesome tutorial I'm going to try this with some of my photographs
Hello Cashbackshopper,
Thanks very much for your wonderful comment! I'm looking forward to seeing your small world creations! Go, try it, it's fun!
God bless!
I wish I had photoshop! This is a very cool tutorial. Love it! Thank you.
Hello Cashbackshopper,
Yes, do try it, it's fun and easy.
Thanks very much for your visit and lovely comment.
God bless!
Hi Susie,
I am very happy that you think this is a cool tutorial. Thank you very much.
I am not familiar with other photo editing software, so I don't know if you can also use them to make this small world. I suppose you can if it has a "distort", "polar coordinate" program in it. Resizing is of course found in all photo editing programs.
Anyway, I hope you can really try it. It's fun and easy.
God bless!
Great blog informative and useful.thanks.
This is an awesome article!!!! I can't wait to try all the steps and set up a photo of my own...thanks so much for writing this article.
Hi Molometer,
Thank you very much for visiting and leaving a wonderful comment! I am happy that you found this useful and useful.
God bless!
Hello Kim,
Thank you for your beautiful comment! I can't wait to see your small world creations. Please tell once you have made them.
I am always happy to share what I know and what I enjoy doing.
God bless!
Amazing...can't wait to share it with 2 of my sons...I bet they would love the "small world"...thanks again for the sharing jill...blessings...
Hello Injured lamb,
Wow, I'm as excited as you about your sharing this with your sons. Please tell me how it went and if they enjoyed doing their small world.
Thank you so much for dropping by and leaving this inspiring comment. I always love sharing what I enjoy doing.
God bless!
Another great hub. Wish I could be as good as you in photography. Thanks for sharing.
Hello Masmasika,
Thanks once again for your visit and wonderful comment! You can be as good or even better, that's for sure! Just keep on taking photos!
You are most welcome! It's my pleasure!
God bless!
As always, I have come away having enjoyed myself immensely while learning something new in the process.
I have rated you up and hit the useful, interesting and beautiful buttons and if there had have been a button for inspirational I would have hit that as I have gone away inspired by your hub to try this out.
I will be back I love your hubs, Redbubble and RedGage thanks for sharing. :)
Hi Maggs,
It's so nice to see you!
I'm really happy if you learned something new from this hub especially since you are such an accomplished photographer already.
I'm happy too that we share several venues like RG and RB, HP and Twitter. It's so much more fun this way.
Thanks so much Maggs!
God bless!
OK -- COOL!!! I saw this a month ago, and didn't stop to read the hub, that was a mistake. I love this technique, and will definitely try it. THANKS!
Hi Robin,
Thank you very much for your visit and wonderful comment. I really hope you will try this. I'm eager to see your small world creations!
You are most welcome. It's really my pleasure! I'm just happy to share what I love to do with my photography.
God bless!
Nice tutorial. Thanks fos sharing
Hello Marititina,
You are most welcome! It's my pleasure really! I enjoy sharing what I love doing!
Thanks for dropping by. I hope you will be able to use this!
God bless!
Nice!
Hello Doru,
Thanks very much!
Neat trick!
Hi tiltshift,
Thanks! It's really fun to do. You should try it!
God bless!
greetings from pinterest ! i love your pictures, absolutely gorgeous !
fantastic hub ! my husband loves photography so i will share this with him many thanks voted up & useful !
Hello Jamila,
Thank you so much for your inspiring comment!
I'm happy to know that your husband loves photography! He is a kindred spirit! Maybe he should also share his pictures here.
Hope to see you again!
God bless!
coffeesnob Level 1 Commenter 13 months ago
You are soooo good at what you do. I loved this. thanks for sharing it!
CS