Open an image, any image and then go to the filters menu and blur and radial, apply that with an angle setting of 180. Move the origin point for the effect to an area of interest to create lovely circular gradient design.
Go to the selection tools such as the rectangular marquee tool and select an area of an interest. Make certain it is decent size. Drag with the move tool to the center of the image to avoid the edge. Go to the filters menu and apply the effect again but this time vary the setting, perhaps go for an angle setting of 30 say and also change the origin point. You want to create a visible but still heavily blurred artwork which has been extended beyond its original bounds.
Go to the filter menu and distort and deform. You can add pins / handles to the artwork and then drag the design in all kinds of ways (again, avoid going over the edge of the image). Place the handles outside as well as inside and push and pull the artwork to create a distorted shape.
You can, if you prefer, bring additional colors into this by combining this distortion with channels so apply the effect to the red channel with some handles and then apply it in s different manner in the green channel and so on and then apply it to the RGB shape.
With that, and it is a pixel layer, you can apply a style such as 3D etc via the fx button at the bottom of the layers panel (view menu and studio). Set the 3D to on and radius to 200 px (you can enter the value and extend beyond the slider). Also click the bevel and set that ON and then set type to pillow and change the radius as well as the direction. Close the panel Youtube video on subject
You now have a ghostly layer design but you can use this further to create backgrounds, landscapes, textures, designs by duplicating the artwork by holding down the alt / option key and dragging and filling the image with these layers. You can also deselect everything and then go to the layer menu and new adjustment layer and recolor etc to turn the image yellow or red or green etc.