Photography art for Sale Create Your Own Orton Effect|Photography Art Gallery Neare Me

Editors Note: This is a tutorial that I posted last year but which didn't get much traffic at the time. I decided to republish it now that my posts are being seen by a wider audience. My apologies to those for which this is a re-run. – Rad

The Orton Effect has been round since the mid 80's whilst Michael Orton discovered that by way of sandwiching two slides of the identical scene, he may want to create a gentle, almost glowing effect in his pix.

Wikipedia defines the Orton Effect like this:

Orton imagery, also referred to as an Orton slide sandwich or the Orton Effect, is a pictures approach which blends absolutely specific photos of the same scene, ensuing in a distinctive mix of excessive and coffee element areas within the same photograph.

There are a few iPhone apps, such asDynamic Light, Photo FX  and Enlight , that mimic the Orton Effect, but I like the control I have when I do a version of this technique manually. Doing it manually is not that much more difficult than using the apps, but I think the results make it worth the extra effort.

Here's an photo I currently created using this effect:

Autumn in Hendricks County

? Rad A. Drew

You can see how there may be a softness that makes the picture nearly glow.

To do the Orton Effect, you'll need these apps: Blur FX  and Image Blender . I also processed my image with SnapSeed and Distressed FX,  but those apps are not essential to getting the Orton Effect.

How you create the original image doesn't really matter. I like to select an image that has some light areas in visually pleasing locations in the image so that they will glow.

Compose and create your image following your usual workflow. I often take my image into SnapSeed where I apply selections from the Tune menu and the Details menu.

Next, do any other processing you intend, such asDistressed FX or Vintage Scene, etc.

Once you have your image the way you want it, take it into Blur FX . Select Gaussian Blur and move the slider to about midway on the continuum, as shown below.

Blur FX

This is somewhat arbitrary; you may want to experiment with different blur densities and even blur types and see which effect you like best.

Next, save the  blurred version and open Image Blender and load the two images. It doesn't really matter which one you put on which side.

Now, while in the Normal mode, move the slider to find the desired softness and save the image. I usually save at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 percent and then compare for the effect I like best. You can over due the blur and give your viewers a form of vertigo when they can't find anything to focus on in the image!

Image Blender

Image Blender in Normal Blend Mode

On this image, I also added a slight vignette using Photo FX, to pull the eye to the lighter areas in the image.

With all of the fall colour proper now, it's a fun approach to test with. I'd be inquisitive about seeing what you get!

Until next time, hold on capturing!

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