Step 1:  Create a blank 200px by 200px document and fill the background with anything you like (white may be best at first).   Create a new transparent layer on top and, using the Elliptical Marquee Tool, draw a circle whilst holding down the shift key (this will give you a classic circle with equal proportions).   Now make sure you have the top layer active and choose Edit > Fill from the menu.  Fill the circle with 50% grey.  You can now deselect if you want.

Step 2:  With the circle layer still selected in the layers palette, click on Layer > Layer Style > Bevel and Emboss in the menu and duplicate the settings on the left.   You can alter the direction & height of the shine highlight by altering the angle and altitude accordingly.   Likewise, if its a little too bright for you, or you want to go for a more 'rubbery' effect, drop the highlight opacity a little.  Don't exit the layer effects dialog just yet though...

Step 3: Now progress onto the inner shadow subsection and enter the settings shown here.  This will just add a little black shadowing into the bottom-right of the sphere, and make the whole shape appear more rounded.

Step 3b: As an optional step, you can go into the gradient overlay and add a little more shading to the surface.  If you don't want a sphere that 'pops out at you' though, you may consider omitting this stage. Now leave the layer effects dialog by clicking on the OK button.

Step 4: And here is the result of all your hard work!   Of course, its all a bit grey as yet, but a quick visit to Layer > Layer Style > Colour Overlay should sort that out sharpish.

Step 5: You shouldn't stop there of course - feel free to add other layer effects to your spheres for some truly unique effects.   The sphere on the left, for example, is the same as the one above, but with a colour overlay, drop shadow, radial gradient, and pattern overlay defined.  It really is simple to add these things using the layer effects dialogs, and no expert knowledge is required.  So, go on, be a devil and experiment a little.  You'll be shocked what you can conjure up in a few minutes...

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Very helpful, thanks! After following the steps twice, my gradients, highlights, shadows, et al look great. But the sphere edges are jaggy. Dunno what I'm doing or not doing. Using PSCS3, used the oval marquee and the 50% fill. Any ideas?

Tnx again!

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Can anyone help...I have created a nice shiny sphere, however first of all it doesn't appear clear at all (even when I mess with opacity it just looks foggy not crisp and clear) and when I try to use it with a different background by using the move tool, the whole look changes???? It's all wrong...

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This was a huge help. Thanks!
Very easy to follow.

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Wow! It looks just like a blown glass paperweight. How cool is that. Thanks again.

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Wow I actully did it thanks. this is how it turned out I added a drop shadow.

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