The Orton Glow effect is popular among landscape photographers for giving images a dreamy, ethereal look that really stands out from the crowd. There are a number of ways to get the job done—some more complicated than others.
The tutorial below from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel demonstrates a straightforward method that works wonders whether you’re a beginners or a seasoned pro. You may want to download the demonstration image using the link in the description beneath the video so you can make the adjustments yourself as they are explained.
Instructor Christian Mohrle explains that this eye-catching effect “involves blending two images together—each with different levels of sharpness and brightness.” The result is a soft-focus look that enhances colors while providing an attractive glow.
Mohrle walks you through the simple step-by-step process in barely 15 minutes, and once you understand the method it takes even less time to accomplish. For this episode he shoots two images of the scene—one with his finger blocking the sun. As you’ll see, these are later merged in Photoshop.
The edit begins with a few basic adjustments so the base photo looks as good as possible for the enhancements that follow. Mohrle first changes the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Standard, which immediately lessons contrast.
He then opens Photoshop’s Basic panel for further global adjustments that include modifying color temperature for warmer tones, increasing exposure to bring out detail in the dark foreground, and significantly dropping highlights. He also raises the blacks and further opens up the shadows.
Now that the image is looking much better, it’s time for selective local adjustments that create the Orton Glow effect. These require simple masking to various portions of the scene. He uses a Range Mask to make blue areas in the sky a bit more dramatic, and adds a Linear Gradient to adjust bright areas in the clouds.
A second liner gradient is used to improve the dark foreground. The final steps include color grading, sharpening, the aforementioned image stacking, and adding the glow. Now the transformation is complete, with a unique and very appealing look.
You can find more helpful tips and tricks on Mohrle’s instructional YouTube channel, so be sure to pay a visit. We also encourage you to watch another video tutorial we posted recently, explaining what another pro says is the “best effects plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop.”
You’ve probably seen dramatic waterdrop images like this one and sensibly assumed that it took years of experience and thousands of dollars in equipment to get similar results. Frequent Shutterbug Photo of the Day contributor and long-time photography professional Jeff Van Scoyk introduced us to the Miops Splash, the $150 photo accessory for controllable waterdrop photography.
The Miops Splash Kit looks more like a plumbing repair kit from Home Depot than a precision scientific instrument, but Jeff’s images convinced us otherwise. (Sidenote to you English majors out there, “waterdrop” is one word but the name of the product is Water Drop Kit, hence the inconsistency of our spelling.)
The Miops Splash Water Drop Kit releases one or two drops of liquid onto a container of liquid below it in a precisely controlled manner. You photograph the splash that results when the waterdrop impacts the surface of that liquid. The Miops kit enables you to control the size of the droplets and the interval between them, and fire your camera via Bluetooth on your smartphone. The Miops app also lets you precisely control the timing of your camera’s shutter release and trigger the flash(s). You should be able to shoot images rivaling these in less time than you think.
The basic kit hardware consists of the Splash Holder that holds and dispenses the liquid and an articulated arm that attaches the Splash Holder to a suitable support—a tripod or light stand for example. The kit comes with very complete instructions. Jeff used a camera copy stand, truly a relic of the past, to hold the apparatus, but you can improvise.
Lighting is provided by one or more electronic flash units. You can use a shoe-mounted flash or, as Jeff did, studio strobes and a shoe-mounted on-camera flash controller. Depending on the types and brands of equipment you own you need the appropriate cables to make the necessary connections.
Download the free Miops Android or iOS app to manage everything. With it you can fine-tune the delay for triggering the camera and flash. When you elect to release two drops, you can control the delay between them. It takes practice and patience, but soon you’ll be coordinating the drop size, release interval settings and triggering exposures from your smartphone.
“Be careful about the mounting height above the liquid,” Jeff said. “Mounting height determines all subsequent settings.” Jeff also recommends that you begin using the settings recommended by Miops and setting the Splash Holder 25cm (9.9 inches) above the surface of the liquid. Also, check the camera specifications to ascertain the Flash Synch Speed and, if possible, the shutter trip delay.
BTW, Jeff also captures waterdrops using a baggie and a CorningWare casserole dish. Although we don’t to cover that today, some of the images herein were done using that method. As you can imagine, doing everything manually requires abundant trial are error and can end in total failure. Leave a comment if you’d like to read more about this au naturel approach.
Skill Level Required
“Any intermediate or above level photographer should have no problem mastering the Miops system,” Jeff told me. “Beginners who are comfortable with smartphone features and who can handle the Miops app will get great results, too,” he added.
Jeff Van Scoyk’s Gear List
Jeff used one of the Sony Alpha 7-series mirrorless cameras from his arsenal and initially a Sony 90mm macro lens. He later switched to a Sony 55mm f/1.8 lens to get greater depth-of-field and then cropped the images for more attractive composition. This is a good starting point, but clearly other equipment combinations will work.
To light the waterdrops, Jeff used a pair of Godox electronic studio strobes and a shoe-mounted on-camera flash controller. Proper exposure depends on flash output and power adjustment. In Jeff’s case he varied between 1/16 and 1/32 power to reduce flash duration and an aperture between f/11 and f/16 (more toward f/16) at ISOs ranging between 800 to 1200. Flash synch speed depends on your camera specifications, and the actual exposure time is determined by the duration of the flash.
How to Focus
To focus on the texture-free surface of the water, something virtually no autofocus system can do, Jeff set a long woodscrew in the bottom of the catch basin at the exact spot where a test waterdrop landed, as shown above, and focused on the knurls of the screw.
To add color to the splash photos, Jeff used colored filters over the flash tubes. He recommends combinations of blue and red, and red and green. You can buy a set of 12 or so different colored gels to fit your flash units for as low as $15 and they practically last forever.
Using the above equipment with the Miops Splash Kit, Jeff got good results within about an hour or so. This took a bit longer because he frequently stopped the process to check the results on a computer monitor—and he strongly recommends that you do the same.
Which Liquids?
Jeff used only water in the Miops Splash Holder although you could use other liquids (at your own risk). In the catch basin below the Splash Holder, where the real action happens, he used water and later milk. Milk has a higher viscosity and reflects light differently. He tells us that in the future instead of milk he plans to try other liquids like motor oil, molasses and perhaps thick water, a commonly available beverage for people who have difficulties swallowing (dysphagia).
Visit the Miops website for more information, and download the instruction manual before you get started. Read the FAQs and Troubleshooting sections on their website, too.
Price and Availability
The Miops Splash Water Drop Kit is Available from Amazon for $179. It’s also been seen at B&H Photo priced around $150. Make sure you specify the right connection cables when ordering bundles, and get a long synch cord for more comfortable operation.
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There’s a vast array of plugins from third-party vendors for augmenting the capabilities of whatever image-editing software you use. In the tutorial below you’ll discover what one expert calls “the best” choice for both Lightroom and Photoshop.
Anthony Morganti is a post–processing impresario, and in this episode he explains why ON1 Effects is his favorite, and he demos how to use it for faster, more effective editing. There are two links you should check out in the description beneath the video; one for more details and purchasing options on the ON1 site, and another with a 20% discount code courtesy of Morganti.
Some of you know that ON1 Effects is a component of ON1 2023, and it’s been a part of Photo Raw from the beginning. What Morganti discusses today is that you also can purchase ON1 Effects, all by itself, as an affordable standalone application—and when you do it will also work as a plugin for Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
In today’s 14-minute lesson Morganti demonstrates how to use this powerful plugin in Lightroom Classic to quickly and effectively enhance two different images that need a bit of work. One is a wildlife image of a majestic hawk, and the other is a somewhat dark and uninspiring seascape shot.
He begins with his photo of the Red Tail raptor perched upon a sign, and gets to work. His goal is to use plugin “to make the bird stand out a little more.” As soon as he opens ON1 Effects, a dialogue box pops up suggesting he create a copy of the photo. That’s because he’s working with a Raw file and the plug-in requires that the image be a JPEG, PSD, or a TIFF.
Once the copied image opens you’re presented with a huge choice of interesting effects. Hovering over each of the effects provides a brief description and thumbnail representation of what it does. That way you’ll know if it meets your needs and have a pretty good idea of what to expect.
There are also a bunch of thumbnails for presets and filters on the left of the screen. After describing all the details Morganti then demonstrate how to greatly enhance the hawk photo with a few of the options. He then does the same with his seascape photograph.
Morganti’s popular YouTube channel contains many more helpful lessons like this one, so be sure to take a look.
And don’t miss the tutorial we posted recently from another post-processing expert, explaining an easy way to create your own timesaving Lightroom presets for a more efficient workflow.
