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Ever heard of The Orton Effect?
Well, neither had I until I jumped down this rabbit-hole to study some advanced post-production techniques.
In short, it’s that soft, dream-like quality you see in some photographs (apparently developed by a Canadian photographer who sandwiched transparency film together in the 1980’s). It’s a fairly simple six-step process in Photoshop that you can make as obvious or as subtle as you like.
For your interest, here’s the “before” and “after” of the Ethiopian mountain forest pic I ended up with after a 10 minute fiddle on the computer (bear in mind, it may be a bit difficult to recognise the effect on pics this size).
I think this technique has limited application in tourism photography but, as I wrote at the beginning of this excursion, I like the idea of having a broad repertoire of techniques to draw from in post-production.
That said – like capturing the actual photograph in the first place – the skill in using any of these “tricks of the trade” lies in knowing when to apply them (and – just as importantly – when to leave them out).
If you’re interested in learning the technique, subscribe to my blog and drop me an e-mail. I’ll send you the bookmarked links I’m using as reference.
Next up: Hmmmmm, maybe playing with light beams before I head off to Western Australia on assignment.
