Final Image Preview
Step 1
First, search for a panoramic or skyline picture, I found this one. Try to use a big resolution and wide format picture. This is because when creating the planet view, you'll reduce the image's width a lot. Next make a new document with the same dimensions as your picture. Then paste your image into a new layer.
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Step 2
Details are the most important. Draw a horizontal guide to ensure the horizon is fine. In this case, the horizontal perspective it's a little up on the picture's right side. To fix this, go to Filter > Distort > Lens Correction. Then set the angle a tiny bit down on the right side (356,78ยบ it means less than one degree).
You can play with the Perspective angles when you're using a different picture. This is a crucial step. If you don't do it well, you'll have more to do on Step 4 by changing the Offset. Finally, crop the image deleting all the extra sky and sea that we don't need.
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Step 3
Using a soft Dodge tool (O), highlight the sky. Try to get almost white on both the left and right sides of the sky. Also, highlight the right side water a little bit.
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Step 4
To create the "planet" we need to change the Offset of our image. Go to Filter > Other > Offset. Then change the horizontal value to change the offset to the center of the image. I learned this effect a long time ago watching a video tut on the SXC blog (Create a Photo Planet).
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Step 5
Now using the Healing Brush tool (J), fix the hard offset line over both the sky and the water. Also, using a small Blur tool (R), blur the sharpen line of the building next to the offset.
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Step 6
Now go to Image > Image Size and resize the image. Try to keep the height of your original document to preserve the good quality. In this case, I'll make it a little bigger 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels.
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Step 7
Go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates and select Rectangular to Polar. This way you have a nice "planet" view, but its still needs a few more adjustments.
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Step 8
Using the Liquify Filter window, select the Bloat tool. Then use a large brush, like 600 pixels, and make a few clicks to inflate the center of the planet.
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Step 9
Apply a quick Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen More. Then you'll can see the building's windows glowing better.
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Step 10
Using the Lasso Tool (L), select the building's shapes. Leave some space between the selection and the buildings. Feather the selection (Ctrl + D) 30 pixels. Then hit Ctrl + Shift + I to invert the selection. Then delete it. Finally, add a new Solid Color Layer (#7F5E6F) below the "planet" layer.
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Step 11
Rotate the "planet" a few angles to put most of the buildings on the top.
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Step 12
Now we'll create a pattern background. For this I'll use some default shapes that come with Photoshop CS3. Create a new document 150 pixels by 150 pixels. Draw a shape in the middle of the document and apply a Drop Shadow to it.
Then draw more objects over the four corners using the same Drop Shadow effect. Use any color, I used #75455D, #572D41, and #8B5B71. Then delete the background. Go to Edit > Define Pattern and type some name for it.
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Step 13
Apply the pattern overlay to the background layer. Use the values shown below.
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Step 14
Duplicate the "Planet" layer. Then go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur and apply a Zoom Blur. Do it twice while pressing Ctrl + F. Finally, change the "Planet copy" Layer Blending Mode to Color Dodge and Opacity to 75%.
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Step 15
Render some Clouds (Filter > Render > Clouds) into a new layer above the "Background" layer. Use a Foreground color of #583144 and Background color of #C29CAB. Then change the Blending Mode to Hard Light and Opacity to 50%.
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Step 16
Create a new background layer (#583144) below the pattern background. Select the pattern background, and apply a Layer mask > Hide all, filled with a radial (black - white) gradient.
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Step 17
Apply an Outer Glow to the "Planet" layer using the values shown below.
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Step 18
Now draw Photoshop's default "Sun" shape. Below is the list of the effects applied to that shape to make it more impressive.
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Step 19
Duplicate the "Sun" layer. Make the copy smaller than the original. Rotate it a little bit. Then change the colors of the Gradient Overlay to make it lighter.
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Step 20
Duplicate the "Sun copy" layer, resize it, and place the copy above the "Planet copy" layer. Make it 60% smaller, and rasterize the copy including the effects. A quick way to do it is by creating a new blank layer above the shape, select both, and press Ctrl + E to merge them. Then change the "Sun rasterized copy" Blending Mode to Hard Light and Opacity to 75%. Make two more copies of it and put them somewhere around the planet.
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Step 21
Now let's add some text to our design. I found this old school font called Pacmania. Type the text, "PSDTUTS." Then apply all the Layer Styles in the image below to the text.
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Step 22
Finally, I decided to apply a Layer Mask > Hide All (filled with a white-black gradient) to the "Clouds" layer. You can skip this step if you want to. It's used to add a finishing touch, but at this point it's up to the eye of the designer.
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Conclusion
And that's it! A very quick way to get a glowing planet, try your own! Remember the higher quality the panoramic picture, the best the result. I hope you found this tutorial fun and useful.
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