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How to Make Photo Fisheye Effects

Using a fish-eye lens is a fun way to make photographs slightly distorted while adding an artistic flair to them. Unfortunately, fish-eye lenses can be very costly considering the very limited situations in which you will use them. One way around having to purchase an expensive lens is to make your photographs appear to have been taken with a fish-eye in post editing. Using photo editing software such as GIMP or Photoshop, you can give any photograph a fish-eye effect.

Things You'll Need

Photo editing software

Instructions

- 1
  Open the photograph you want to edit in your favorite photo editing software. With most software this is done by opening the program, selecting "File," clicking on "Open" and selecting the photograph you wish to open.
- 2
  Select the "Elliptical" selection tool. This is typically located in your software's "Tools" window and is represented by a circle of dotted lines. Click on the area of the photograph you want to turn into a fish-eye and drag the tool until a circle is surrounding it.
- 3
  Click on your software's "Select" or "Selection" menu. Scroll down to the "Inverse" option and click on it. Right click on top of your image and choose "Delete" from the pop-up menu that will appear. Go back to the "Select" or "Selection" menu and click on the "Reverse." With the exception of menus, do not click anywhere on or off of the image so that it remains selected.
- 4
  Move your mouse to the "Image" menu and click on "Crop." This will leave you with only a round cut-out of your original photograph.
- 5
  Click on your photo editor's "Filter" menu. Scroll down until you see a filter called "Sphere" or "Spherize" and select it. A pop-up menu will appear. Move the "Amount" slider to 100 percent and change the mode to "Normal" then press "OK" to finish your fish-eye effect.

Photography