The Brenizer Method, sometimes referred to as Bokeh Panorama or Bokehrama, is a photographic technique characterized by the creation of a digital image exhibiting a shallow
depth of field in tandem with a wide
angle of view. Created by use of
panoramic stitching techniques applied to
portraiture
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...
, it was popularized by photographer Ryan Brenizer.
The combination of these characteristics enables a photographer to mimic the look of
large format film photography with a digital camera. Large format cameras use a negative that is at least 4×5 inches (102×127 mm) and are known for their very shallow depth of field when using a wide aperture and their unique high level of clarity, contrast and control.
Image sensor formats of common digital cameras, in comparison, are much smaller, ranging down to the tiny sensors in
camera phones.
The Brenizer method increases the effective sensor size of the camera, simulating the characteristics of large format photography.
While the aesthetics of this form of imaging most closely resemble large format analog photography, its look has also led it to being compared to
tilt shift photography. Both techniques create images that exhibit an unusually shallow depth of field.
History, method and usage
Ryan Brenizer initially referred to the technique as a ''bokeh panorama''. It uses
panoramic stitching, for the purpose of applying the shallow depth-of-field associated with wide-aperture telephoto lenses to a wider-frame-of-view composition.
Shallow depth of field panoramic stitching photographs are sometimes referred to as the ''Brenizer Method'' as he's popularized it in recent years through his work, with an image produced by this method sometimes referred to as ''Bokeh Panorama''
(or the
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[bokeh
In photography, bokeh ( or ; ) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image. Bokeh has also been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light". Differences in lens aberrations and ...](_blank)
photography.
The process requires taking multiple shots of a scene in a manner that allows for later
image stitching using a
fast lens, generally of a
focal length of 50 mm or longer.
It is also beneficial to use
manual focus
In the field of photography, a manual focus camera is one in which the user has to adjust the focus of the lens by hand. Before the advent of autofocus, all cameras had manually adjusted focusing; thus, the term is a retronym.
The focus itself ...
, manual
white balance
In photography and image processing, color balance is the global adjustment of the intensities of the colors (typically red, green, and blue primary colors). An important goal of this adjustment is to render specific colors – particularly neu ...
and manual
shutter and
aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.
An ...
controls to maintain a uniform
exposure across the entire set of images.
This method is of interest because:
* It allows for the cheap and relatively easy creation of aesthetics usually only available through the use of expensive, complicated and bulky equipment.
* It provides a way of imitating a generally traditional film-based process with digital equipment.
* It creates very high
resolution
Resolution(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate
* Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body
* New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
images.
It is generally used for
portrait photography
Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Frequentl ...
(especially
wedding photography
Wedding photography is a specialty in photography that is primarily focused on the photography of events and activities relating to weddings. It may include other types of portrait photography of the couple before the official wedding day, suc ...
) and, increasingly, automobile photography.
Aspect ratio
It is quite common for images of this sort to be of an
aspect ratio similar to that of an image produced via a traditional analog camera, either
square
In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...
(as often used in
medium format cameras) or slightly wider (as used in
large format
Large format refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the frame ...
cameras). This can be for several reasons:
# The realignment and
mosaicing of images during the
image stitching process removes any link between the format of the original images and the output image.
# The
image stitching process generally introduces a great deal of
distortion
In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signa ...
. To recover a square or rectangular shape,
cropping generally needs to be applied – further distancing the output from the input.
# For
aesthetic reasons, an image may be cropped to a ratio in an attempt to further mimic the style of images created through an analog process.
Examples
File:Pomegranate bokehrama portrait.jpg
File:Example of the Brenizer Method by miggslives.jpg
File:Brenizer Tomatoes.jpg
File:Bokehrama portrait by river.jpg
References
External links
Method instructions from Ryan BrenizerBrenizer Method on YouTubeGuide by Edward NobleThe best lenses for brenizer / bokehpanoramasBrenizer Method Calculation by Brett Maxwell*Examples at
Flickr
Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and profession ...
grou
The Brenizer Methodan
Bokeh Panoramas
{{photography subject
Photographic techniques
Digital photography