Experimenting with Orton

Have you ever read a Photoshop technique in a magazine or online and been absolutely itching to give it a try? That's how I felt after reading about the Orton Effect over at the More Musing blog. Oh, I'd heard about it before, but never sat down at the computer to give it a serious workout. Until now.

And now I'm getting addicted. I've tried this effect on images of old cars, flowers, stone angels, photographs I've taken of other people, even self-portraits I snapped with my iPhone with the help of a bathroom mirror. The softening effect, almost mystical with some images, is very attractive. Have a look at the orange VW van I photographed in Cocoa Beach back in February. Below, you see this photograph with the Orton Effect applied. Roll your mouse over the image to see the "before" photo. No need to click, just slide your cursor over the photo below:



(Just in case that rollover trick doesn't work for you, you can see the before image HERE and the after image HERE. I do apologize if the rollover isn't happening for you -- this is a new trick for me and I'm not sure if it works on every browser.)

Best of all, the Orton Effect is easy-peasy. The full instructions for this nifty technique can be found at Muse University - Orton Effect. There are two methods presented; after my experimentation, I prefer Method One -- on the van above, I applied the Orton Effect using Method One, reducing the opacity of the top (blur) layer just a smidge. I also added a slight edge burn as well. I first tackled this effect on a photograph of an old red Chevy, then tried it on an iPhone photograph of yet another VW van. Click here and here to see those images.

So, why don't you give this a go yourself? If you do try it, please leave me a comment with a link to your blog or Flickr account so we can all see your creations. Happy Photoshopping!