July 18, 2008

Orton Effect

The Orton Effect (developed way back in the day for slide photography by Michael Orton) gives photos a dreamy, watercolor-like, glowy, soft focus appearance. I guess it used to be quite tricky and labor intensive to create. Fast forward a couple decades, enter the digital darkroom, and now it's just a simple one-click-action in Photoshop. Various Orton actions are available free as downloads. I like this one.

water park1


For those who don't have Photoshop, I know this effect can be replicated in Gimp (free online photoshop-like program). Just Google to find a work around. I know they exist.

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7 comments:

Teri said...

I LOVE that effect! Very cool.

Heidi said...

Okay, that is just too cool! Love the effect on that photo especially.

I'm *this* close to ordering the Rad Action packages. Have a little spending money burning a hole in my pocket. :)

Skeller said...

Thanks Teri :-)

Heidi - I had no restraint. I did buy the Rad (#1) package. I shot family photos for friends and I used a TRA action on every single photo I processed for them. It's an amazing set of actions.

Rhea said...

I've never heard of this before, but I really like it. what a cool, cool look! Thanks, Susan!

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

I like that. And I like free. And now I must know...what is the Rad Action package? Although...I suppose I could google it...

Skeller said...

Kat -
It's the same guy who put together P-dub's actions.
www.gettotallyrad.com

carrie said...

I found an Orton Effect for elements at coffee tea photography (or something like that) and I love it for shots that would be really cool if they weren't slightly blurred. It doesn't always work, but I've been really pleased at being able to "fix" some photos I thought were a lost cause.