What is the Orton Effect?

The Orton Effect is a photographic technique that blends two different photos of the same scene to achieve a mix of high and low detail areas. It essentially adds a gentle blur and glow to give a dreamlike quality to landscapes and portraits. It was originally conceived by Michael Orton in the 1980s.

The benefits of bracketing

Do you ever get a location and the object of your obsession is badly lit? Blown out highlights and crushed black shadows? Sure, you can wing it and hope for the best. But a bit of planning can go a long way to making a great shot.