The Orton effect introduces blur and glow. It can add some mystery and even mood. It can soften the scene. While I am not a great fan of this effect for too many images it has its place. The reason why I don't generally like the effect is because I take mostly landscape images and I want these images to be sharp - why would I deliberately hurt the sharpness of my image?

          Once in a while I look at a scene which just begs for some softness, some mystery and mood. This image called out to me asking me to apply the Orton effect:

This image has a lot of broken glass. Broken glass should be sharp; there is no way I am going to blur that. I also did not want to blur the floor, the ceiling, or the sand. However, the light entering the windows is where I felt I wanted mood, mystery, and softness. This is where I applied the Orton effect. In Luminar (software) they have a filter that does it for you. However, it will add the effect over the entire image, which clearly I did not want. Luckily, Luminar has the ability to paint it on just where you want it (masking).

          What do you think? Does it add something to this image?