Create a Soft Dreamy Effect (the Orton Effect)

The Orton Effect is a simple technique you can use to add a soft, dreamy look to your photos. I love this effect because it has a way of making a photo magically soft and sharp at the same time.

In this video, I’ll show you how to create the Orton Effect using Photoshop, Lightroom, or Luminar.

Click here to watch the video larger on YouTube.

One thing to watch out for is adding this glow-y effect to things that don’t generally glow. Like rocks. It works great for waterfalls, seascapes, scenes with a lot of sky, and transparent subjects like flowers. It can work for wildlife too, just watch where you apply it.

I like the results using Photoshop the most. There you have ultimate control over the type of glow (using either the overlay or soft light blend mode), the amount using the opacity slider, and then you can further use a layer mask to define exactly where you want to apply the effect. It’s really quite easy to do.

But if you want an even easier option, Luminar is the super easy way to do it and the results are almost as good.

Lightroom is neither the easiest nor has the best results, but it is do-able if you only have Lightroom or Camera Raw to work with.

More Examples

Here are some examples of photos I processed with the Orton Effect. Keep in mind my examples here are quite subtle. You could keep the opacity slider higher on your Orton layer for a more dramatic effect.

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For the image of the grizzly bear cubs above, I removed the effect on the darker areas of the bears’ lower legs and their faces in order to retain detail in the fur. Same goes for the rock in the seascape and the eye on the Mexican Jay.

Give this technique a try!