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This is a nifty effect that we’re seeing more and more of these days. Here’s a simple tutorial for placing an object inside a glass orb.

Step one is to first create your glass orb. Start off with a new document 500 x 500 px.

Next, create a circle using the elliptical shape tool (U) by holding shift while dragging your shape. This assures you the circle will be symmetrical. Double click the color palette next to your shape and change the circle’s color to #0f7cd8. Now rasterize the layer by right clicking the layer in the layer palette and selecting rasterize.

It’s a good idea to give this circle a light gradient so double click the layer to bring up the layer style palette and apply a gradient overlay using #0f7cd8 on one end and #1867aa on the other.

Your next step is to create a smaller circle (an oval works well too) about 25% of the original circle’s size with color #4d9fe5. Place this at the bottom of the circle. You’ll want to rasterize this one as well.

Click Filter | Blur | Gaussian Blur and set the radius to approximately 22. Set the opacity to about 55%

Next, create another oval about half the size of your original circle and place it at the very top. Rasterize this layer as well, set the fill to 0 and the opacity to about 45%. Again, we’ll apply a gradient overlay in the layer style menu using #FFFFFF on one end and transparent on the other.

Great! Now we have our orb. Next we’ll put our image or icon inside. This part is easy, simply place your image behind the two oval layers in the layers pallete. Now, go back to your original Circle layer. Press (V) to grab your Move Tool. Then hit CTRL-A to select the entire screen. Now, press up on your keypad once followed by down on your keypad once. You should now have a selection the same size as your circle. Next, hit CTRL-I to invert your selection.

Move to your layer containing the image you just brought in by selecting it in the layers palette and pressing delete. And there you have it!

This tutorial was written by Brett Adams, web developer and new venture blogger.

This one is pretty simple, and the effect can be applied to just about any image you have. Start with a new document 500 px by 500 px. Now open your picture, we will be using just one for this example. Go ahead and drag it into your new document and set it to invisible by clicking the eye on the layers palette, we will get back to those in a bit.

Create a new layer (ctrl+N) and then grab your shape tool (U). We are going to make a rectangle with a fill color of #f8f8f8. Dimensions aren’t too critical, but just make sure it resembles the shape we are going after. This will become the frame for your Polaroid.

Go ahead and Rasterize the layer by right clicking in the layers palette and selecting rasterize. Grab your selection tool (M) and make a rectangle in the interior and press delete, this is where your photo will be going.

Next we will apply some layer styles by double clicking your layer. Apply the following styles.

Let’s revisit our photo we imported earlier. Select and restore its’ visibility. Move the layer directly below your Polaroid layer in the layers palette and position it into the Polaroid “window”.

Now select your Polaroid layer and grab the wand tool (W). Now pay attention, because this may be a bit advanced for some users. Make a selection INSIDE the Polaroid window. Now select your photo layer and click the Add Vector Mask button in the layer palette. Hey now, its starting too look like a Polaroid now isn’t it!

Just a few more steps and you’ll have a clever stack of Polaroid’s. In the layers palette, click the group button. Now move your photo and Polaroid layers into your newly created group. Still with me? Great, because we’re almost done! Right click the group and click Duplicate. Now, press CTRL-T to bring up the transform tool, and give the box a little rotation. You should have something that looks like this.

And there you have it, a nice stack of Polaroid’s. Feel free to repeat the process to increase the size of the stack. You can also experiment with the drop shadow sizes to help create the effect you are after.

This tutorial was written by Brett Adams, web developer and new venture blogger.