Joe Cavazos stretches the limits of his compositions with a technique he calls “circular pixel stretch.” See how he creates this look using selections and Polar Coordinates in Adobe Photoshop.
This sample file is an Adobe Stock asset you can use to practice what you learn in this tutorial. If you want to use the sample file beyond this tutorial, you can purchase a license on Adobe Stock. Check out the ReadMe file in the folder for the terms that apply to your use of this sample file.
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1
Jump into the scene
Add a photo of a model as a new layer to a Photoshop document. Then, add a blank layer above the Background layer, right-click and convert it to a smart object.
2 Make it interesting
Cavazos selected the Jump layer and used the Single Row Marquee tool to click an interesting spot in the image. Then he copied the selection.
3 Stretch it out
To apply the stretch effect, Cavazos double-clicked the smart object layer to open it, and pasted the selection. Next, he used the Move tool, with Show Transform Controls enabled, and rotated the selection 90 degrees. He used Shift+Alt (Windows), Shift+option (macOS), and dragged to stretch the selection, moved it to the top, and saved the effect before closing the Smart Object window.
4 Circle it
With the Smart Object layer selected, Cavazos applied the default Polar Coordinates (Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates) to transform the horizontal stretch effect into a circular one.
5 Add streaks of light
Cavazos spends much of his time adding streaks of color to the stretch effect. He used a Marquee tool to select a portion of the model and added the selection to the Smart Object. In the example below, he chose a portion of the shirt, stretched it, then used the Eraser (set to a soft brush) to blend the effect. He repeated these steps to add more color to the stretch transformation.
6 Hide the rest
To complete the composition, Cavazos added a layer mask to the smart object layer and painted on the mask with a black brush to hide portions of the stretched effect.
Wrap it up
Now that you know how to spin your images into entirely new works of art, apply your own finishing touches with drop shadows, adjustments layers, and color grading.
Note: Project files included with this tutorial are for practice purposes only.
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