Orton (photography)

Orton imagery, also called an Orton slide sandwich or the Orton Effect, is a photography technique which blends two different photos of the same scene, resulting in a distinctive mix of high and low detail areas within the same photo.[1] It was originated by photographer Michael Orton in the mid 1980s.[2]

History

The original technique invented by Michael Orton was to overlay two or more images of an identical scene with very different exposures on slide film.[3] One image is sharply focused and the others are very out of focus. Orton has also experimented with similar techniques, substituting one of the images in the composition for one of a different subject, such as a texture layer, or combining a multi-colored image and a monotone one.[2]

Example

• 
  Photo from camera.
• 
  Lightened to produce "overexposed" image.
• 
  Overexposed image blurred out of focus.
• 
  The two overexposed images are combined to produce the final result.

Legacy

The technique can be replicated using photo editing software and a number now include a plug-in to achieve it automatically.[4][5]

References

1. Wiggett, Darwin (January 2006). "Creative Nature Photography - Orton Imagery". Nature Photographers. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
2. "67 – Orton Imagery – The Orton Effect – Interview with Michael Orton and Darwin Wiggett". Photography.ca. 2009-06-03. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
3. "Orton Effect in Slide Film". michaelortonphotography.com. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
4. Johnson, Dave (2011-01-03). "Apply the Orton Effect for Glowing, Vibrant Photos". PCWorld. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
5. Thoma, Jörg (2010-07-08). "Gimp 2.6: Plugin-Registry 3.5.1 mit FX Foundry". Golem.de. Retrieved 2013-04-03.

External links

• Official website
• (in English) Orton Effect with Gimp.
• Orton Effect with Adobe Photoshop