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June 28, 2022: The Orton Effect and Focus Stacking with Horace Hamilton | Technical Webinar



Join us for the June Technical Webinar: The Orton Effect and Focus Stacking with Horace Hamilton!


The June Technical Webinar speaker will be Horace Hamilton and the topic will be “The Orton Effect and Focus Stacking”. The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, June 28, 2022 at 6:30 pm.


The Orton Effect

The Orton Effect was named after Canadian photographer, Michael Orton, who developed the process in the 1980’s to impart a soft glow in the darkroom to his landscape photos. Now with digital photography, the same impressive results can be achieved much more easily.

In this session you will learn how to achieve the Orton Effect through an understanding of:

  • subject selection

  • capture

  • the basics of creating the Orton Effect

  • ways to manipulate your images to apply Orton selectively to specific areas of your image.


Focus Stacking

Being able to control which parts of your photos are in focus is an important skill to learn. Sometimes you want the entire image to be in focus from front to back, and sometimes you want only the main subject to be in focus and everything else blurred out. Depending on your lens and the aperture you use, your camera may pose limitations that you want to work around. Focus stacking can give you that control.


In this session we will learn how to capture several images at multiple focus points and merge them in photoshop to create a final result with pinpoint sharpness, exactly where you want it to be.


About Horace Hamilton

Horace Hamilton has been an active amateur photographer for more than 40 years. In the early 2000’s he made the switch to digital and then in 2013, after retirement, he became much more active as a student of photography and a serious nature photographer. He started what is now one of the largest chapters of the Georgia Nature Photographers Association (GNPA) in Lawrenceville and shortly after became the President of GNPA. He has also juried many photographic competitions in and around Georgia.


Horace’s primary photography interest continues to be the beautiful photo opportunities of the Smoky Mountains, leading groups annually to shoot elk, sunrises/sunsets, and many other of his favorite locations in this beautiful National Park. To see some examples of his work, check this link to his website: http://www.horacehamiltonphotography.com/.


As an avid hobbyist photographer, I spend a lot of time looking at images created by others. I look for locations that I might enjoy, compositional techniques that I might try to recreate and special ‘looks’ I that I find attractive. I discovered both the “Orton Effect” and “Focus Stacking” during some of these searches. I have long admired the soft focus glow I see in some landscape photos. Conversely, I am thrilled by photos with a tack sharp subject that seems to jump off the page because of the soft bokeh of everything else in the image. So a few years ago I started searching for techniques to achieve these effects in my own photography. During my search I discovered “The Orton Effect” and “Focus Stacking”. I think you might enjoy utilizing these techniques in your photography.


Check out examples below of “The Orton Effect” and “Focus Stacking”

Example of Orton Effect

Example of Focus Stacking

Technical Webinars

The Technical Webinars are hosted monthly by skilled club members as well as guest speakers who are subject-matter experts on the various topics. Our presenters share expertise, tips, and knowledge about various photography and post-production techniques. Our aim is to increase your skill level and confidence with your photography and post-production.


For members, the link is under the Member Portal page, Zoom Links, and will be provided by email too!



Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, June 28th for the Monthly Technical Webinar!
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