Digital Scrapbooking:Learn How to Make a Snow Globe

Snow Globes are a nice accent to have on your digital scrapbook layouts. The following snow globe was created using Photoshop CS3 and windows. If you use another program or platform, read along you will probably be able to create similar steps in your photo editing program.

1) Open a new document. The size can be what you want. I used 6 inches x 6 inches at a resolution of 300 pixels/inch. Fill the background with grey.

2) Using the Ellipse Tool, draw out a circle the size you want your globe to be. The color does not matter as only the style effects are going to be used. On the Layers Palette, CHANGE THE FILL to 0%.

3) Add a Inner Glow Layer Style. Adjust the options to obtain a look you like. I used:
Blend Mode:Screen.
Opacity: 60%
Size:200

4) Add a Drop Shadow.
Opacity: 30%
Distance: 30%
Size: 150%

5) Now to make some reflections. Open a picture with high light and dark contrast in a new file. Crop a section of the picture to a 4 inch x 4 inch square. (You might want a bigger square if your globe is a lot bigger than the one shown.) To end up with the desired size, type 4in x 4in in the height and width of the crop options bar. Draw out a square and the resulting crop will be 4 inches x 4 inches.

6) Next apply the following steps to the cropped picture.
Filter > Distort > >Polar Coordinates. Select Polar to Rectangular.
Edit>Transform>>Flip Vertical.
Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates. Select Rectangular to Polar.
Your picture should look something like this:

7) Choose Image>Threshold. Move the sliders until you think the white area would make a good reflection.

8) Select the white out of the picture using the magic wand. Make sure Contiguous is not checked in the Options Bar and click on the white area. Press CTRL C to copy the selection.

9) Go back to the Globe file. Make sure the top layer is active. Press CTRL V to paste the reflections.

10) Press CTRL T to position the reflections as desired. Delete the reflections that hang over the edge of the globe by holding the CTRL key while clicking on the picture of the globe to get a selection. Select>Inverse. Make sure the reflection layer is active, hit the DEL Key. Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light and lower the opacity of the reflection layer to around 10%.

11) Make the snow layer. Create a new layer. Get a selection by holding the CTRL key while clicking on the globe layer. Fill the selection with Black. Apply the following filters.
Filter>Noise>>Add Noise. Amount 200%, Gaussian with the Monochromatic box checked.
Filter>Artistic>>Sponge. Brush size:1, Definition:15, Smoothness:5.

12) Select the white from the snow layer using the Magic Wand tool. Put Snow on a new layer by pressing CTRL J. Make sure the snow is white by changing the foreground color chip to white and filling the snow layer with white by pressing CTRL SHIFT Bk-Sp. Hide or delete the black and white layer.

13) Now make the base. Create a new layer. Draw out a shape using the pen tool or Polygonal Lasso Tool. For a bronze base change the foreground chip to # 6c7003 and the background chip to # c4db02. Apply a gradient to the selection. Choose Foreground to Background, Radial. If you are not happy with the gradient, press CTRL Z and try again.

14) Add realism to your base. Apply the following filters.
Filter>Noise>>Add Noise. Amount 10%. Gaussian. Monchromatic
Filter>Blur>>Motion Blur. Angle: 0. Distance 20

15) Now you are ready to build the inside. Add pictures under all the layers, just above layer 1. Adjust the reflection and snow layers to suit your pictures and background. Link all the layers together to move around or to move onto another scrapbook page.
GOOD LUCK!