• Share

It may come the time you will want to create your own wallpapers, and what is easier to create than the abstract ones? Most of the times the abstract wallpapers have a twirl effect, which seems difficult to create, but it's actually a very simple process taking no more than 5 minutes in Photoshop as you get used to the steps.

Step1

First, you will have to create a new document. Let's say it will be a 1024 x 768 which will fit your screen. Click Ctrl + N or go to File -> New and set the new documents' resolution. Do not modify anything else. 

Step 2

Set the foreground color as black, and leave the background as white. You will eventually want to change the colours after you will learn how to do it. That's not a problem at all, you will actually change the colours of the twirl, nothing else. Then go to Filter -> Render -> Clouds. Now you have a black & white cloud effect on your image.

Step 3

Then go to Filter -> Pixelate -> Mezzotint and choose Short Strokes

Step 4

Go to Filter -> Blur -> Radial Blur. The amount should be 100, while the blur method should be "zoom". The quality remains "good", as by default.

Step 5

Press Ctrl + F three times to smooth the picture. Now you should have a picture that looks similar to this one:

Step 6

If the picture is similar, then we move on. Otherwise check the steps again. Duplicate the "background" layer and change its exposure level to "Lighten". With the new layer selected, go to Filter -> Distort -> Twirl, adjust the angle at 100 and then hit enter.

Step 7

Duplicate the layer you've just created and do the same process as above. When setting the angle, type -200 instead of 100 as first time. This new twirl will be created in the other anglebecause now you have a negative number, while first time you had a positive one.

Step 8

Repeat the process above. Duplicate the third layer you have and adjust the angle from the Twirl effect at 800.

Step 9

Now merge all the layers down by selecting all of them from the Layers menu. Right click on them and select "Merge Layers". I've seen many completing this tutorial by applying another effect too, but this is optional. Go to Filter -> Render -> Lens Flare, select the center point of the picture with the mouse and select the brightness you wish. I recommend a value between 120 and 140 with the 50-300mm zoom. You can, anyway, play with the options here and do it however you want.

Now you have your final image, a cool twirl effect. The black & white combination may not be too spectaculous, but I assure you that if you will play with the colours a little bit more, you will get a delightfull background effect for your picture.