Mud Ranch's Real Dirt » Photoshop

Orton’d Scenes

mudranch — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:02:51 +0000

We’re all feeling a bit down in the dumps around here — Hubby has been fighting the flu for two days and though Annie is okay we’re trying out best not to over do it and keep her as quiet and as loaded up on Vitamin C and other immune boosters as possible. I’m feeling a bit tired, so am taking it easy too. I know the best way to contract the flu or a cold is to tire yourself out… so, I’ve been on Photoshop again. Here’s some scenes from our trip that I’ve used the Orton effect on.

The view from my “other mom’s” house in Idaho. That’s her neighbor’s place across the way, and he grows a large patch of blueberries.

This house I took from behind the glass of my passenger side window, north of John Day, Oregon. There are some really neat places out there, if you like old buildings and pretty scenery.

These next two were of places as we just pulled in to Lakeview, Oregon. Hubby and I both like it there, actually in a valley just north of Lakeview. Very pretty, and I love agricultural towns. All the cows and hay fields…

New Logo!

mudranch — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:26:25 +0000

I have finally made myself a new logo for Mud Ranch Jacobs. I had tried this technique before for a friend who was training in the Extreme Mustang Makeover and decided to do it again. I had originally thought to take a photo of a very spotted lamb so you could see the spots well but then ran across this photo of our very handsome lilac ram, Dub. I thought, well I can play with this to see how I like it. So I did, and there was a bit of distraction behind his face on the left, and from his horns out to the border because our other ram at the time, Dudley, was behind him. So I tweaked with the levels getting this affect then took my paintbrush and brushed out Dudley’s spotted pattern leaving Dub on a plain white background. Anyway, just wanted to share!

My Orton’ed Horses

mudranch — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:37:19 +0000

Now that was some fun evening light, and blended well with the Orton effect.

The Orton Effect

mudranch — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 06:48:45 +0000

The Orton effect actually became a step or process by Micheal Orton first, with slide film. It consisted of two shots, the first being sharp but overexposed by two f-stops and the second being out of focus and over exposed by one f-stop. The two shots were then sandwiched together to create a beautiful, impressionistic picture.

I took this photo in May of ’08 in a forest not to far from my house on a very scenic drive to the Big Town. The blooming tree is a Dogwood and the afternoon light filtered through the trees just as I wanted them to. I recently remembered the Orton effect and applied it to this picture, only using Photoshop. I think that the Orton effect works wonders on trees, flowers, and nature scenes but in some cases can look marvelous in other settings. You can play around with it to see how you like it…

In Photoshop (any kind):

Open your image.
Duplicate your layer by hitting CTRL-J.
Name your duplcated layer “Sharp.”
Duplicate your “Sharp” layer, now called “Sharp copy.”
Change “Sharp copy’s” blending mode to Screen.
With the “Sharp copy” layer selected, right click and choose Merge Down.
Duplicate your “Sharp” layer once more (CTRL-J).
Name your new layer, “Out of Focus.”
With “Out of Focus” selected, go up to Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur. Choose a blur amount that blurs the whole picture where shapes are still visible but no detail. I did a 15.9.
Change the blending mode of “Out of Focus” to Multiply.

Voila! You now have the Orton effect applied to your photograph. As always, you may want to play with the opacity of your layers and/or the contrast and sharpness of your Sharp layer. I didn’t think I needed to tweak my Sharp layer but put on some added sharpness and it looked even better so play around with it and enjoy!

Snowy Days + Photoshop =

mudranch — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:45:32 +0000

I’ve just stepped into a new territory, borders on Photoshop. I’m not talented enough to really figure out how to do it myself, but I do think I’ve got an eye for application. That counts right? Anyway, I went to this place today and downloaded their ”Simplicity Borders.” Let me tell you, this has opened up a whole new can of worms for me. I can tell right away that I’m going to take this border thing to an extreme degree… If you get tired of seeing them on my pictures, then I don’t know what to suggest. Just learn to enjoy them I guess! I will!