Flag orbs are the state flag in the glass sphere (orb). This is very useful for changing the language on multilanguage pages as wallpaper, and much more.

Step 1: Download state flag whose flag orb you want to do (I chose the flag of Croatia).
Open in Photoshop and over Image -> Image Size reduce height of flag to 250px.



Step 2: Make a circular selection from the top to the bottom, Elliptical Marquee tool



Press Right klick->Select inverese,then Delete. You will get this:



Step 3: Create a square selection big exactly so the circle of flag fits inside,Rectangular Marquee tool




Then go to Image -> Crop. (If you're draw good a circle, now you should have an image size of 250x250px)

Step 4: Select the gaps (hidden parts),Magic wand tool (deselect option contiguos-up on toolbar)then left klick on any white space outside the flag orb(flag circle)




Again, Right klick->select inverse, and the flag will again be selected. Then go to Select -> Modify -> Contract, and enter 3px.




You can also do this with just selecting Eliptical marquee Tool and draw a little bit smaller circle inside of this flag orb

Step 5: Now take the Eliptical marquee Tool and select Intersect with selection option



Make this selection:



Now drag the white-foreground to transparent gradient from the top toward the middle.Gradient tool->foreground to transparent(up left on toolbar)->choose white color(right)



Klick back on Eliptical marquee Tool and then right klick on picture and deselect

Result:



I made some more,hope you recognize your flag: