Thanks for the replies, you all.
I'm still a rookie at all of this and learning slowly. This particular effect may be something for me to revisit down the road.
I figured that this was an effect that the creator of the wallpaper did, maybe maybe not. Of course, this wallpaper is from the old days (mid-2000s). The creator used to make a ton of walls on celeb forums, so I'm figuring the guy is/was a professional at things. Probably a PS user. I don't PS nor do I own it. I really like PDN.