Orbs

Haven't entered anything here for a long time, but discovered how to create orbs today! (thanks to Crow on Flickr)

Whatever program you're using, start with a square-cropped image. Some will work nicely, others may not work as well. Under Effects, select "Distortion," and then select "Polar Coordinates."

1) Convert Polar to Rectangle.
2) Flip the image
3) Convert Rectangle to Polar.