Don't know if this technique has been shown before - I learnt it from an online course - it is cool, so thought I'd share it with you. I love the swirling glass ball effect. There are a few more samples on my album page under Digital Swirling - if you want to take a look. They make great greeting cards or cd covers.
Have a go and show me results too. Have fun!
Before -
After -
Here is how you do it - lots of fun - and you can get some great effects - although it doesn't work with every photo.
Using - Photoshop Elements:
"Open" the image (very sharp images work the best)
"Crop" the image to a square (I use 4x4 to make card size, or cd cover size).
Go to "Filter",
"Distort",
"Polar Coordinates" and click the bottom button on the left; "Polar to Rectangular".
Click "Okay".
Go to "Image",
"Rotate",
"180",
Back to "Filter",
"Distort",
"Polar Coordinates" and click the top, left button; "Rectangular to Polar",
then "Okay" and you're done!