Today is a late fall day. Leaves had been falling for weeks, morning mists were beginning to appear, skies were a patchy blue. If I’m lucky this time of year lasts a few weeks. I love working when there are spaces in the trees and the branches contrast with the interspersed leaves. I set out to walk the edge of a river not far away. There are a variety of trees, bushes and growth, with logs, large and small stones lining the shoreline. (And the salmon are running ) I made many more than the four images shown, but these I selected because they were made standing in almost the same spot.

“A Good Day” — Image 1 by Michael Orton

Image one is the light reflected off of the leaves of a small bush , which I rendered into hundreds of shards of light with a fast camera movement and short shutter speed. When viewed at full size this image has remarkable complexity and blending . The bush was a short distance to my left.

“A Good Day” — Image 2 by Michael Orton

Image two is simply fallen leaves on a spread of medium sized round stones with the sand washed from between them. They are in the shade , and the blue comes from the reflected blue of the sky. The sky had some clouds which occasionally gave me overcast light. - 1/2 second with what I refer to as medium camera movement speed , using a somewhat oblique line and changing focal length during exposure. When I move my camera most often I do not swivel from a fixed point but move it in a similar fashion to a movie camera on a track. These stones and leaves where just to my right.

“A Good Day” — Image 3 by Michael Orton

Image three is looking across the river . You can see the sandy embankment rendered as a softened wash while the trees and their reflection remain somewhat recognizable. I used an extended oval motion at 2 seconds to retain the vertical lines.

“A Good Day” — Image 4 by Michael Orton

Image four is, yes wait for it, a photograph, and was taken standing in exactly the same spot as # 3 . Sometimes you just take what you are given and make the best of it. I took the polarizer and ND filter off, kneeled down and scooped this image from the surface of the river.The intricate, jagged lines of the reflected trees and a hint blue from the sky were to good to pass up. Handheld at 1/125.

So yes it was a good day. One that I wish every photographer could experience, because when you do, it will fuel your passion . This is what keeps us looking.

The video ” A Walk In The Palm Grove ” on our website is another good example of what can be created at one location.

There is no substitute for seeing… Michael

The preceding article is copyrighted and written by Canadian fine art landscape photographer Michael Orton. You can see more of his work at michaelortonphotography.com

Heavenly by Michael Orton

Michael has now added many brand new ICM photographs to his galleries and his new work continues to inspire me personally and professionally. What blows me away to the Nth degree is the craftsmanship of these photographs and Michael’s ability to See. Michael has inspired me to such a degree that last year upon his suggestion I started my own project called Impressionistic Cities at Night. Now I’m so addicted that I troll the streets of Montreal hunting for light. But this post is not about me, I only included the last few sentences because I can now personally attest to how difficult it is to get great results using ICM — and  it’s a bloody difficult technique to get good at.

I have been researching and checking out the work of other photographers using ICM and there are many talented artists out there. But to my eye, nobody’s work compares to Michael Orton’s ICM work in terms of impact, colour, consistency and craftsmanship.

Beginning by Michael Orton

I chose 2 photographs of Michael’s to feature in this post and Michael graciously sent me the following information about each of these photographs. Many thanks as always Michael and please keep on shooting!

Beginning by Michael Orton — “Beginning  is a small path thru the woods just below where we live . These are Alder trees and the path is paved and dry with some fallen needles on it . The light was overcast and partial polarizer was applied. I applied what I would describe as a tipping motion with one side of the camera moving less than the other. I followed the line of the dominant tree trunks leaning over the path. Too much motion and the image becomes unrecognizable ( which you know I love to do) and too little and it becomes lets say predictable.”

Heavenly by Michael Orton — “Heavenly is a grove of Almond trees in Southern California. The title pretty much says it  all, literally clouds of blossoms. The trees were laden and the ground was nearly covered. The sky was blue and clear and I knew that the camera sensor would see this blue to a certain degree in the shadows beneath the trees. This  “moment”  was amazing, I felt literally enveloped, as I walked deeper into the orchard. And the scent was, well, heavenly. I used many approaches, and as is often the case I thought of several I didn’t use when we got home and I had time to look at the images. Sometimes if I am overwhelmed by the subject this can happen. I don’t let the feeling of  “a lost image ” persist  though. It becomes “next time it will happen”. So far this has helped me to expand and tune my mindset and develop almost ever-changing responses to the subject matter I encounter. In the grove I used many”.

Photography podcast #101 features an interview with one of my favorite photographers, fine art photographer Michael Orton. In this podcast we talk about deliberately moving your camera during the exposure. Normally, this is FORBIDDEN and you do everything in your power to keep the camera as still as possible while shooting. But Michael has a very unique way of seeing and has again broken the rules. He has created a unique and fabulous new portfolio of one-of-a-kind abstract landscape images, by way of intentional camera movement. This podcast discusses intentional camera movements for creative effect.

Michael Orton is a fine art photography pioneer. First he created Orton Imagery, AKA the Orton effect some 30ish years ago.  This technique has been used by tens of thousands of photographers and has become so popular that Adobe Elements 10 now features an action called the Orton Effect. I’d bet hard that Michael’s technique involving compound camera movements also develops a cult-like following in the years to come. Thanks so much Michael!

Links /resources mentioned in this podcast:
– Michael Orton Photography
- Michael Orton’s feature on Photography.ca
– 67 – Orton Imagery – The Orton Effect – Interview with Michael Orton and Darwin Wiggett — Podcast #67
– Photographing Creative Landscapes by Michael Orton: Simple Tools for Artistic Images and Enhanced Creativity

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