Monthly Archives: May 2012

Orton Derivative

Ponderosa

I am always looking for new ways to express my artist vision. Recently I decided to create a selective blend of an Orton style image with the original. An Orton image is typically a blend of a “straight” image with an out of focus version. The out of focus version can either be created using Photoshop (by applying a Gaussian blur) or in the field. I typically create the out of focus image in the field. When you do that you need to remember to open up the f-stop to minimize the depth of field, overexpose 1-2 stops and switch to manual focus so you can defocus the image. For more examples of the Orton Effect search my blog for “Orton”.

Note that while the technique adds a nice look, the image works well because of the nice morning light.

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Above is another example of an image applying this technique. Below are the two source images along with the Photoshop layer stack.

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This is the straight capture: f18 at 1/8sec.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Here is the out of focus capture: f2.8 at 1/125sec.If you don’t have this second image, you can create it in Photoshop by duplicating the original image, adding a Gaussian blur and applying a “Screen” using the “Apply image…” in the “Image” pull-down menu.

 

 

 

Photoshop Layers

Notice a couple of things about the layer stack. First, the out of focus image is placed on top of the straight image and blended using normal mode – 89% in this case. Second, a mask layer was added and the tree trunks were masked using a brush whose density is less toward the edges (to better blend the images). Third a curve adjustment layer was added to improve the blacks, whites and the overall contrast.

Have fun.

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Around the Yard

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One thing I love to do in spring is get up early on a Saturday morning and just roam around the yard and look at all the emerging life. Sometimes I walk around with my camera and just see what beautiful art can be found. Here are a few of the images I captured on a couple mornings.

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