Creative Effects Challenge No. 174 - Kaleidoscope Effect

[Tom]

Here is the video tutorial which was the inspiration for this Creative Effects Challenge: How to Make a Photoshop Elements Kaleidoscope Effect

For those that don't like video tutorials I have written out the basic steps (though they do not exactly match the video.

I recommend viewing the video at least once just to see what he is getting at.

1. Duplicate your image (Ctrl-J) and then turn off the Background layer (click the "eye" on the layer)
   
2. Make the image square: select the Crop Tool (C) and choose 5x5 (Note: the video uses a different method to do this)
   
3. Duplicate the layer (Ctrl-J) and rotate it 180 degrees (Image | Rotate | Rotate Layer 180 degrees)
   
4. Choose a blend mode that works well for your image (one from the lighten group or one from the darken group)
   
5. Merge the two layers (right-click the top layer and choose Merge Layer, or Ctrl-E)
   
6. Duplicate the merged layers (Ctrl-J) and rotate it 60 degrees (Image | Rotate | Free Rotate Layer)
   
7. Choose a blend mode from the group you didn't use the first time (but really, choose the one that pleases you most)
   
8. Duplicate the rotated layer and rotate it another 60 degrees, which should give you an image with 6-fold symmetry
9. Merge all the layers: Ctrl-Shift-Alt-E
   
10. You can now tweak your image to increase the vibrancy and contrast using adjustment layers (Levels, Hue/Saturation, etc)
    
11. Crop the image to your liking

Variation ideas:

Instead of rotate 180 degrees, flip layer vertical, merge, duplicate, flip horizontal

Instead of two rotations of 60 degrees, rotate by 90 degrees and 45 degrees to get an eight-fold symmetry

After step 9, Choose Image | Resize | Reveal All, add a layer below and fill with a solid color, use effects such as a drop-shadow or bevel

I'm looking forward to seeing what Creative Effects you come up with!

Original image	flip horizontal & vertical then 60 degree rotations

Original image	No special variations