What is the Orton effect, and how do you create it in film or digitally?

Asked 8/11/2011

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I’ve heard of the Orton effect in photography. What does it look like, where did it come from, and how can it be created with film or in digital editing software?

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Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

15y ago

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The Orton Effect is an image-processing technique resulting in a high-contrast look with a slightly "glowing" appearance. It started as an analogue technique made from two slide exposures of the same scene - one sharp and one soft - but nowadays it's more commonly done digitally. You can find plenty of examples on Flickr.

A basic recipe for doing this in Photoshop (or similar image-editing software) is as follows:

Create a duplicate layer (so you have two copies of the image, stacked one directly on top of the other).
Set the blend mode of the top layer to Overlay.
Apply a Gaussian blur to the top layer - the required amount will depend on the size and subject matter of the image, so experiment.
Tweak the opacity of the top layer to taste: somewhere around 50-80% should do it but again it'll depend on the image and how pronounced you want the effect to be.

Originally by user3644. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user3644

15y ago

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The Orton effect is a soft, glowing, high-contrast look created by combining a sharp image with a blurred or out-of-focus version of the same scene. It was originated by Michael Orton as a slide-film technique to give images a painterly, watercolor-like feel.

In its original film form, the effect was made by overlaying two transparencies/exposures of the same subject: one sharp and overexposed, and one soft or out of focus.

Digitally, it’s usually recreated in editing software by blending a duplicate of the image with a blurred version. Common methods include:

Duplicate the image layer.
Blur the top copy with Gaussian blur.
Use a blend mode such as Overlay, or combine Screen and Multiply approaches.
Adjust opacity to control how strong the glow is.

The exact blur amount and opacity depend on the image, so experimentation is important. In general, the sharp layer preserves detail while the blurred layer adds the luminous, dreamy halo. It’s often used on landscapes and scenes where a romantic or ethereal look is wanted.

What is the Orton effect, and how do you create it in film or digitally?

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