8. MOVE TILES INTO EYE SHAPE
Reset the Rectangular Marquee tool to 3"× 3".
Imagine your rows of tiles numbered 1–7, top to
bottom, and columns of tiles numbered 1–7, left
to right. In column 1, select and delete single tiles
in rows 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7. In column 2, select and
delete tiles 1 and 7. In column 7, select and delete 1, A
2, 6, and 7. Then select and Ctrl-drag (Windows) or
Command-drag (Mac) the remaining tiles into the
configuration in Figure D.
B
9. CHANGE INTO CIRCLES
Choose the Elliptical Marquee tool. Retain the fixed
size of 3"× 3". Click at the top-left corner of the first C
tile, shift-click the top-left corner of the next tile, and
repeat on every tile until you’ve selected circles in all
37 of them. Then go to Select → Inverse, and delete
everything except the circles.
10. SPHERIZE THE CIRCLES
Reselect the first circle and apply Filter → Distort →
Spherize at 75%. Click to select the second circle D
and press Ctrl-F in Windows (Command-F, Mac) to
repeat the same filter. After you do this to all the
circles they should look like Figure E.
11. ADJUST CIRCLE POSITIONS
Use the Rectangular Marquee tool, set to 21"× 3", to
select row 3 of circular tiles. Drag them down until
they just touch the tiles in row 4. Drag row 2 to touch E
row 3, then row 1 to touch row 2. Follow the opposite
sequence in the lower half of the document.
For best results, use a
photo with a lot of blank
space around the face.
12. SPHERIZE ENTIRE ARRAY
Turn off the grid. Increase the canvas size to
23"× 23", then choose the Elliptical Marquee tool,
hold down Shift, and stretch a circular selection area
that just includes all the tiles. Apply the Spherize
filter at 100% to the whole array.
GOING FURTHER
There you have it! I think 37 circles (as in the
example here) is about the minimum number to get
a good insect-eye effect. Naturally, if you have the
patience, you can divide an image into many more.
For instance, keeping the same grid spacing as
in the example above, you could begin with a
photograph 7"× 7" in size, pasted onto a canvas
measuring 27"× 27". In Step 4, your fixed size
rectangular marquee would be 7"× 3", and in Step
7, your marquee would be 3"× 27". The rest of the
procedure would remain basically the same, except
that you’ll need a little more patience to complete
the project.
Charles Platt is the Upload section editor for MAKE.
Make: 99
