Here’s a quick and easy tutorial on making an amber ball around insects for that preserved forever look
Open an image of an insect and create a copy of the Background layer. Use the Elliptical Marquee to create a circle (hold Shift, drag) around the insect.
Go the Filter menu and to Distort>Spherize. Set Mode to Normal, Amount to 100% and hit OK. The insect should look blown up inside the circle.
Go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare. A glass sphere effect will need at least two, so pick the Movie Prime option and position at the top of the circle. Set Brightness to 200% and hit OK. Repeat this using a 35mm Prime at 135% Brightness; placed opposite the first flare at the bottom of the circle.
Add a new Solid Color Fill layer (Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color). Set the colour of the fill to an orange (we used c78505, entered into the # field). Change the blend mode of the Fill layer to Color.
Select the Dodge tool and set this to 200px, soft edge, Highlights and 40% Exposure in the Options bar. Paint around both flares, keeping it subtle around the 35mm Prime. Use the Burn tool set to 50% Exposure and Midtones to darken areas. This will increase the contrast of the finished amber bubble.
