Apply Orton effect to your photos

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In photography, the Orton effect is a merger between two identical images: one with a sharp focus and the other with a development focus. This effect is traditionally obtained with a tripod, taking a first shot with sharp focus and overexposed by two diaphragms and then taking a second picture with the same blurry overexposed development of a diaphragm. The two images were then stacked on each other in a slide, which produced an impressive record as straight out of a dream.

With a simple photo and editing software like the free Gimp, it is easy to apply this effect to your photos.

Download and install The Gimp:

GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

• Download The Gimp and save it anywhere on your hard drive.
• Once the download is complete, click the Run button.
• Click Run again.
  
• In the wizard that opens, click Next twice.
  
• Click the Install button now.
  
• Once the file copy is complete, click Finish.

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Reproduce the Orton effect in The Gimp:

Gimp will allow you to reproduce the Orton effect working on a simple picture.

• Open The Gimp double click the shortcut on the desktop.
  
• Click the File menu and then click Open.
  
• Select your hard disk image to use then click the Open button.
  
• In the Layers window, click on your image background with the right mouse button and click on Duplicate Layer.
  
• Click again on the background layer with the right button and click again on Duplicate Layer.
  
• Click on the layer on top of the list.
  
• Scroll Mode and click Display.
  
• Click the right mouse button on the layer on top of the list and click Merge Down.
  
• Click again on the layer with the right mouse button and click on Duplicate Layer.
  
• Make sure the first layer (top of the list) is selected and click the Filter menu, then click on Blur Gaussian Blur.
  
• Adjust the blur radius to make it strong enough so that the outlines of objects are still visible, but not the details. Click OK.
  
• In the Layers window, select the first layer, scroll down the list and click Mode to Multiply.
  
• You have reproduced the effect Orton on your photo!
  
• To adjust the opacity of the layer and the intensity of colors, click on the Colors menu and then click Levels.
  
• Then adjust the input levels and output until a satisfactory result. Click OK.

Save the result:

Once you are satisfied with the effect, you can save the result as a new image.

1. In Gimp, click the File menu then Save As.
   
2. Add a new name to the image.
   
3. Change the extension if needed in the Select the file type (by extension).
   
4. Click Export to merge the layers.
   
5. Set quality to 100 (best) and click Save.