How to Create the “Orton” Effect – Tractor Series Part VPosted by drfl on September 18th, 2009

For the last in the 5 part series, I will demonstrate a variation of the “Orton” technique that I occasionally use. The Orton technique was popularized a few years ago and has gained momentum. Many ethereal modifications to photographs have been using different techniques centered around one goal – giving an image a slight blurry, other-wordly look.

For this image, I loaded the RAW file into Adobe Photoshop and tweaked the temperature, contrast, etc. until I had the image processed to my liking.

I then copied the background layer by right-clicking and selecting “Duplicate” and naming the layer “Blurring Layer”. This new layer will be selected. I then chose “Gaussian Blur” under the “Blur” options and picked a radius of “30″.

Going back to my layers menu, I changed the opacity of this layer until I had the effect for which I was going, on this image it happened to be 51%. For a final touch, I created a curves adjustment to add a little more contrast to the photograph, being liberal with the curve.

To recap:

1. Load the RAW file into Adobe Photoshop and set the temperature, contrast, etc.
2. Copy the background layer.
3. Use the “Gaussian Blur” filter with a radius of “30″.
4. Change the opacity of this layer until desired effect is achieved.
5. Create a curves adjustment to add a little more contrast.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 70-200 f/4l @ 109mm, f/8, 1/500 second