Turn Your Digital Photograph into a Kaleidoscope With Free Photoshop Filter

No doubt you played with a kaleidoscope when you were a child. They are mesmerizing as you watch the various little shapes reflecting the the light inside a tube of mirrors. The tumbling colorful objects create beautiful shades and pretty patterns. Now with modern technology, you can take your photographs and create stunning kaleidoscope patterns with them. The Kaleidoscope filter in Photoshop can be used to create unique artwork. Here are a few I created in Photoshop.

In Hawaii, we have many different kinds of flowers from which we make leis. I took a few pictures of the beautiful leis (they usually do not last very long) and tried the kaleidoscope filter on them. I was quite pleased with the results of the filter on the leis. They make very beautiful and interesting pictures, as you can see. I love the mixture of colors.

There are many free kaleidoscope filters that not only work with Photoshop, but also other imaging editing software like Paint Shop Pro or Sumo Paint. After Effects also has a great kaleidoscope feature to make movies.

The picture below was a picture of a bonsai tree (small tree grown in Asia). You can actually take a picture of most anything and try it in Photoshop with the kaleidoscope filter.

The picture to the right was a shot of some fireworks from the 4th of July celebration. I thought it made a pretty amazing picture in kaleidoscope.

The picture below was a digital photograph of a tropical plant called an anthurium. The flower often looks fake because it has a plastic appearance. It was fun to see it in kaleidoscope also.

Below is a picture of lily pad in a pond that I took and which I then played around with in Photoshop using the kaleidoscope filter. You have many options to choose from, and I like how this one turned out.