Patman
Established
Here is a tutorial on achieving the Orton effect for those of you that are interested.
There are many ways to simulate an Orton slide sandwich (a technique created by the Vancouver Island photographer, Michael Orton). You can do it using a technique for slides by overexposing two separate images and then, in the computer, stacking the images together in software and blending them. Personally, I prefer to take my existing digitized photos (either from film scans or digital camera files) and running them through the process below to see if they work as “Orton Images.” Here is the step-by-step recipe for making Orton images in Photoshop:
1. Open any image you wish to try the technique on. Make a duplicate of the image (“Image” > “Duplicate”). Close the original image.
2. Lighten the image as follows: “Image” > “Apply Image” Then, in the dialog box that comes up, change the bending mode to “Screen” and the Opacity to 100%. This will give you an appropriately overexposed image.
3. Duplicate this overexposed image (“Image” > “Duplicate”).
4. Blur this second image (“Filter” > “Blur” > “Gaussian Blur”) and in the dialog box use a Radius setting of 15 to 50 pixels – the higher the pixel setting the blurrier the photo and the more ‘painterly’ the image (but you can go too far!). Experiment with different settings, for my tastes and for the size of my digital files, a radius of about 25 pixels works perfect.
5. Now select the move tool from the Photoshop tool bar (or just press “v” on your keyboard for quicker access to the move tool). Hold down the “shift” key and use your mouse to drag and drop the blurry image onto the sharp one (don’t let go of the shift key until after you release the mouse button or the images won’t be in perfect alignment).
6. Bring up the layers palette in Photoshop (“F7” is the keyboard shortcut). Under the word “Layers” in the layers palette will be a menu box of blending modes. Change the blending mode from “normal” to “multiply”.
7. Now ‘flatten’ the two layers by pressing “CTRL+E” or by clicking on the sideways triangle in the layers palette to select “flatten image”.
Click on image to see full picture (313kb) There, you now have an Orton image - if you like your new masterpiece, save the file!
Related Links
There are many ways to simulate an Orton slide sandwich (a technique created by the Vancouver Island photographer, Michael Orton). You can do it using a technique for slides by overexposing two separate images and then, in the computer, stacking the images together in software and blending them. Personally, I prefer to take my existing digitized photos (either from film scans or digital camera files) and running them through the process below to see if they work as “Orton Images.” Here is the step-by-step recipe for making Orton images in Photoshop:
1. Open any image you wish to try the technique on. Make a duplicate of the image (“Image” > “Duplicate”). Close the original image.
2. Lighten the image as follows: “Image” > “Apply Image” Then, in the dialog box that comes up, change the bending mode to “Screen” and the Opacity to 100%. This will give you an appropriately overexposed image.
3. Duplicate this overexposed image (“Image” > “Duplicate”).
4. Blur this second image (“Filter” > “Blur” > “Gaussian Blur”) and in the dialog box use a Radius setting of 15 to 50 pixels – the higher the pixel setting the blurrier the photo and the more ‘painterly’ the image (but you can go too far!). Experiment with different settings, for my tastes and for the size of my digital files, a radius of about 25 pixels works perfect.
5. Now select the move tool from the Photoshop tool bar (or just press “v” on your keyboard for quicker access to the move tool). Hold down the “shift” key and use your mouse to drag and drop the blurry image onto the sharp one (don’t let go of the shift key until after you release the mouse button or the images won’t be in perfect alignment).
6. Bring up the layers palette in Photoshop (“F7” is the keyboard shortcut). Under the word “Layers” in the layers palette will be a menu box of blending modes. Change the blending mode from “normal” to “multiply”.
7. Now ‘flatten’ the two layers by pressing “CTRL+E” or by clicking on the sideways triangle in the layers palette to select “flatten image”.
Click on image to see full picture (313kb)
Related Links
Rogwp
Member
Using Orton Effect with Aperture and CS2 on a Mac
Using Orton Effect with Aperture and CS2 on a Mac
Hi Patman
Great image - really works with this technique. I use Aperture and Photoshop CS2 on a Mac. You may be interested in my slight modifications to your recipe. To make it easier to understand, I have quoted your recipe and modified it to suit Aperture, and to make it into an "action" in CS2:
1. Click on any image you wish to try the technique on in Aperture, and open "external editor" to go to CS2. The image that goes to Photoshop is a duplicate of the original, so you work on it directly. When you save and close, your modified image goes back to Aperture, next to your "original". Makes comparing easy. If you want to make it into an action in Photoshop, simply click on "new action" icon at the bottom of the "action palette" before you do anything. Now change the layer to a "duplicate layer" with the sideways arrow on the "layers palette". This unlocks the layer and allows you to continue.
2. Lighten the image as follows: “Image” > “Apply Image” Then, in the dialog box that comes up, change the bending mode to “Screen” and the Opacity to 100%. This will give you an appropriately overexposed image.
3. Duplicate this overexposed image (“Image” > “Duplicate”).
4. Blur this second image (“Filter” > “Blur” > “Gaussian Blur”) and in the dialog box use a Radius setting of 15 to 50 pixels – I used 25 pixels.
5. Click on the blurred image to activate it and click Cmd A to "select all" and then Cmd C to "copy". Next, click on the other image to activate it, and click Cmd V to "paste". The images are aligned.
6. Bring up the layers palette in Photoshop (“F7” is the keyboard shortcut). Under the word “Layers” in the layers palette will be a menu box of blending modes. Change the blending mode from “normal” to “multiply”.
7. Now ‘flatten’ the two layers by pressing “CTRL+E” or by clicking on the sideways triangle in the layers palette to select “flatten image”.
To continue with the action, close the flattened image and "save". Close the remaining image and do NOT save. Finally, stop the action by clicking the icon on the "action palette"., and the final image goes back to Aperture.
Using an action allows me to use this technique on numerous images quickly. I have attached a couple below.
Again, many thanks Patman, Roger
Using Orton Effect with Aperture and CS2 on a Mac
Hi Patman
Great image - really works with this technique. I use Aperture and Photoshop CS2 on a Mac. You may be interested in my slight modifications to your recipe. To make it easier to understand, I have quoted your recipe and modified it to suit Aperture, and to make it into an "action" in CS2:
1. Click on any image you wish to try the technique on in Aperture, and open "external editor" to go to CS2. The image that goes to Photoshop is a duplicate of the original, so you work on it directly. When you save and close, your modified image goes back to Aperture, next to your "original". Makes comparing easy. If you want to make it into an action in Photoshop, simply click on "new action" icon at the bottom of the "action palette" before you do anything. Now change the layer to a "duplicate layer" with the sideways arrow on the "layers palette". This unlocks the layer and allows you to continue.
2. Lighten the image as follows: “Image” > “Apply Image” Then, in the dialog box that comes up, change the bending mode to “Screen” and the Opacity to 100%. This will give you an appropriately overexposed image.
3. Duplicate this overexposed image (“Image” > “Duplicate”).
4. Blur this second image (“Filter” > “Blur” > “Gaussian Blur”) and in the dialog box use a Radius setting of 15 to 50 pixels – I used 25 pixels.
5. Click on the blurred image to activate it and click Cmd A to "select all" and then Cmd C to "copy". Next, click on the other image to activate it, and click Cmd V to "paste". The images are aligned.
6. Bring up the layers palette in Photoshop (“F7” is the keyboard shortcut). Under the word “Layers” in the layers palette will be a menu box of blending modes. Change the blending mode from “normal” to “multiply”.
7. Now ‘flatten’ the two layers by pressing “CTRL+E” or by clicking on the sideways triangle in the layers palette to select “flatten image”.
To continue with the action, close the flattened image and "save". Close the remaining image and do NOT save. Finally, stop the action by clicking the icon on the "action palette"., and the final image goes back to Aperture.
Using an action allows me to use this technique on numerous images quickly. I have attached a couple below.
Again, many thanks Patman, Roger
Attachments
Patman
Established
Well done Roger, looks good!, Patman
dan denmark
No Get Well cards please
this is a very functional technique. when i shot glamour some ten years ago we did this very technique in very early photoshop (v. 5.5?) with sharp and blurred layers of sandwiched images to create a faux "soft focus" effect to disguise facial and skin blemishes and tonal variations, such as tan lines. and the client loved it while never really changing what they looked like. and it also worked to even out exposure anomolies in shadows. in the blur layer you can set the eraser tool to say 5 and reduce the blur effect over eyes to create an intensity in the expressions. likewise in landscapes. can also layer combined BW and colourised layers with a gaussian blur layer between each set at 9 or so to reduce saturation without reducing contrast. interesting effect you have achieved in this landscape. well done.
-dd
-dd