Adobe Photoshop Dreamy Glow Effect Tutorial For Beginners,
Therefore, that classic, ethereal glow—often called the Orton Effect—is incredibly easy to create in Photoshop. It works by blending a blurry, high-contrast version of your image back over the original sharp version, allowing the bright areas to bleed into the shadows softly.
In other words, here is the most efficient, non-destructive way to do it using smart filters so you can adjust the intensity later.
Adobe Photoshop Dreamy Glow Effect Tutorial For Beginners,
The Glow Method:
1. Therefore, Duplicate and Convert: Under 1 min.
In other words, select your image layer and press Ctrl + J (Windows) or Cmd + J (Mac) to duplicate it. Right-click this new layer and select Convert to Smart Object. This ensures you can change your blur settings at any time.
2. Apply Gaussian Blur:1-2 min.
Therefore, with the new layer selected, go to the top menu and select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Move the radius slider until the details look soft and fuzzy, but you can still make out the general shapes. For high-resolution images, anywhere between 20 and 50 pixels usually hits the sweet spot. Click OK.
Adobe Photoshop Dreamy Glow Effect Tutorial For Beginners,
3 . Change the Blend Mode:30 seconds.
In other words, look at the top of your Layers panel for the drop-down menu that says “Normal”. Change it to Screen if your image is dark and you want a bright, glowing look. Alternatively, try Soft Light or Overlay if you want deep, dramatic contrast alongside the glow.
4. Dial in the Opacity:30 seconds.
In other words, the effect will likely look way too intense at first. Lower the layer’s Opacity slider (right next to the blend mode) down to somewhere between 20% and 40% to let the sharp details of the original base layer bleed back through.
Adobe Photoshop Dreamy Glow Effect Tutorial For Beginners,
💡 Pro-Tips for Fine-Tuning
Keep the eyes sharp: If the glow is overpowering, click the white Layer Mask box on your glow layer to reveal crucial details like a person’s eyes or lips. Grab a soft black Brush (B) set to about 30% opacity, and gently paint over the eyes to mask out the blur.
Control the highlights: If the glow is making the shadows look too washed out, double-click the right side of your glow layer to open the Layer Style panel. Under Blend If, hold Alt/Option and drag the left slider of the Underlying Layer bar to the right. This splits the slider and smoothly prevents the glow from affecting your darkest shadows.
