I was reading and article by Marc Adamus from NPN about creating his own Orton Effect on his images. He mentioned that he usually only applies this effect over a "certain area" and not the whole image. For you PS savy people, can you help me understand the process of creating this effect only on certain areas of a image while maintiaing a level of sharpness on other areas of the image?
Posted by Jim Bullard on April 12, 2009 at 9:19 PM
Effects that are applied to only portions of an image are done on a separate layer and the the areas you don't want it applied to are masked off by a layer mask.
Posted by Nathan Buck on April 12, 2009 at 10:19 PM
This does not completely address your question Daniel, but my Nikon dSLR allows me to shoot multiple exposures into one shot. I use this method to get an Orton effect. I shoot one shot sharp (and possibly at f22 -f29) and then another shot defocsued and shot wide open. This does not apply the effect to only portions of the image, but is an easy way to get the Orton effect without using Photoshop.
Nathan
Posted by Lon Overacker on April 12, 2009 at 11:59 PM
Daniel,
Assuming some version of PhotoShop, it's all done with layers. Say you have a duplicate layer with some blur applied - consider Marc's technique. Maybe the blending mode has been changed to "soft light" and the opacity turned down to 50%. If you want to exclude those changes to the layers below, you "mask" them out. There are a number of ways to accomplish the same thing, but what I do is this: On the layer that contains the changes - say the duplicate, blurred layer, I use a broad paint brush and paint black over the areas that I don't want the effect. Remember, "black conceals," "white reveals." Using a broad, feathered brush set to a low opacity, you can paint freely and the changes will be gradual as you decrease opacity and continue painting until you get the desired result.
I use this all the time with levels, curves and hue/sat adjustment layers. It's a great technique to address problem areas in an image without making changes to everything.
Discussion
3 repliesNathan
Assuming some version of PhotoShop, it's all done with layers. Say you have a duplicate layer with some blur applied - consider Marc's technique. Maybe the blending mode has been changed to "soft light" and the opacity turned down to 50%. If you want to exclude those changes to the layers below, you "mask" them out. There are a number of ways to accomplish the same thing, but what I do is this: On the layer that contains the changes - say the duplicate, blurred layer, I use a broad paint brush and paint black over the areas that I don't want the effect. Remember, "black conceals," "white reveals." Using a broad, feathered brush set to a low opacity, you can paint freely and the changes will be gradual as you decrease opacity and continue painting until you get the desired result.
I use this all the time with levels, curves and hue/sat adjustment layers. It's a great technique to address problem areas in an image without making changes to everything.
Hope this helps,
Lon