Orton Video Effect

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Settings are written to the URL as you change them. Nothing differs from the defaults yet.

Add a soft, luminous glow to a clip while the edges and texture stay sharp. Michael Orton made the effect in the 1980s by sandwiching a sharp and an out-of-focus slide of the same scene. Here the sandwich is made on every frame.

Blur radius and glow amount

Blur Radius sets how far the soft layer spreads, as a percentage of the frame’s short edge. Around 1% it reads as a light haze over texture; past 4% the soft layer loses recognisable shapes and turns into colored light. Glow Amount is the blend weight: most footage settles between 50% and 75%.

Soft layer exposure

The soft copy is brightened before the blend, as Orton overexposed both slides. Raising Soft Layer Exposure while lowering Glow Amount gives a tight, bright bloom. The reverse gives a broad, even wash.

Footage that glows

Backlit scenes, foliage with sun coming through, water, and skin in window light carry the effect best. Saturation compensates for the washed look the screen blend gives colors. Because the glow is recomputed each frame, moving highlights such as glints on water bloom as they travel.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the Orton effect work?

Each frame is blurred, brightened by Soft Layer Exposure, and screen-blended back over the sharp original. Glow Amount sets how much of that blend is kept. Screen blending can only lighten, so the result glows without losing edges.

Why do the shadows turn gray?

Dark pixels have the most room to brighten, so screen blending lifts them furthest. Shadow Protection scales the blend down where the frame is already dark. Raise it for night scenes.

Is the blur the same at every resolution?

Yes. Blur Radius is a percentage of the frame's short edge, so a 720p preview and a 1080p export glow the same way.

What happens to the audio?

It is copied into the export unchanged when the container can hold its codec, and re-encoded when it cannot. A note under the export button says which happened.

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Orton Effect

Screen a blurred copy over the sharp original with controls for blur radius, glow amount, soft layer exposure, saturation, and shadow protection.

Black Mist Video Filter

Add the look of a black pro-mist diffusion filter to a video: light sources bloom into a soft veil and blacks lift slightly. Set diffusion strength, veil spread, black lift, highlight bias, and warmth. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

HDR Video Effect

Give every frame of a video the tone-mapped HDR look: lifted shadows, compressed highlights, and boosted local contrast. Set local detail, shadow recovery, highlight compression, and saturation. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Holographic Video Effect

Lay an iridescent, angle-driven spectrum over every frame of a video for a holographic foil look, with a foil texture that stays fixed like a real sheet. Set iridescence, foil angle, spectral bands, and foil texture. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Neon Outline Video Effect

Trace the edges in every frame of a video as glowing neon tubes over a darkened picture. Set neon color, glow radius, intensity, and background dim; the glow scales with the output size. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Blur Video

Blur every frame of a video with a Gaussian blur, and mix the blurred frame back over the sharp one to soften rather than erase detail. The blur scales with the output size, so the preview matches the export. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Dispersion Video Effect

Break the edges in every frame of a video into particles that drift left, right, up, or down, with a new particle layout on every frame. Set particle amount, travel distance, edge threshold, and direction. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Engraving Video Effect

Turn every frame of a video into an antique engraving: hatch lines that follow the form, crosshatching in the shadows, and etched edges that move slightly on every frame. Set ink and paper colors, exposure, and line density. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Frosted Glass Video Effect

Put every frame of a video behind frosted glass: soft diffusion, fine etched grain that stays fixed like a real pane, and an optional tint. Set frost depth, roughness, tint strength, and tint color. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Redscale Video Effect

Remap every frame of a video to the redscale film palette: deep red shadows, orange midtones, and yellow highlights. Set redscale amount, yellow highlights, blue retention, exposure, and contrast. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Watercolor Video Effect

Paint every frame of a video in watercolor: flat washes of color with sharp edges, raised saturation, and a fixed paper texture. Set brush scale, vibrance, and paper texture. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.

Aerochrome Video Effect

Give a video the false-color infrared look of Kodak Aerochrome: green foliage turns red or magenta while skies stay blue, with film grain that moves on every frame. Set profile, intensity, foliage, and red bloom. Exports MP4 or WebM with the original soundtrack.