BRENIZER METHOD: STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL [OR HOW TO GET EASY PANORAMAS WITH HEART-STOPPING BOKEH]

Have you ever dreamed of heart-stopping bokeh in a wide-angle lens shot? Or do you want to make an enlargement of a photo of yourself to put a mural in the living room and the pixels of your camera do not work? I bring you the solution in a tutorial of those that you like so much with editing tricks. If you liked the Multiexposure tutorial , or the Adamski effect tutorial, I'm sure you'll love the Brenizer Method .

Now, if what you are looking for is how to take a panoramic view of a lifetime, but one that looks spectacular on you, here I will tell you how to achieve it step by step, with a lot of tips, tricks and inspiration.

WHAT IS THE BRENIZER METHOD?

It is a method that allows a blur typical of a bright or telephoto lens with a frame worthy of a wide angle. That is to say, it allows you to expand the frame as far as you want and with a background blur of those that drive you crazy. Something that no objective is capable of achieving.

It is also known as bokehrama, because it is like a panorama with a lot of blur or bokeh . We know about this effect thanks to photographer Ryan Brenizer.

An image is worth a thousand words, so I will leave you with an example of what it is, although I will leave you a gallery with more images below. Doesn't it produce an unusual and very attractive effect?

WHAT IS THE BRENIZER METHOD USED FOR?

It is a photographic technique (more techniques in the link) that has different applications, that is, you can use it to:

Get high resolution files (the higher the resolution, the higher the magnification can be).
Achieve a minimum depth of field.
Achieving a photograph covering much more of the scene, which has been a panorama, but not necessarily the horizontal panoramic format to which we are accustomed. Rather, you can zoom in on the scene in all directions from the subject.
Achieve an unusual visual effect that impacts the public.

TIPS FOR PERFORMING THE BRENIZER METHOD

Before going to the step by step, I would like to share with you some tips that will help you achieve a better result.

My first piece of advice is not to get frustrated, if you don't get it right the first time, insist.
Choose locations with interesting backgrounds, a plain background will not have an impact and the effect will not look the same.
Photography in Manual Mode. If you do not control Manual Mode, it is because you have not read our guide in which we explain it to you in detail and in the clearest way possible.
Try to make the light as homogeneous as possible, with little contrast, for the same reason as before. If this is not possible, measure in the brightest area to avoid overexposure.
Keep an eye on the white balance, especially if you shoot in JPG, if it is in RAW you can adjust it in editing.
Use as wide an aperture as possible to shoot, eg f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.8.
You can do it on a tripod with a panoramic ball head but it is not essential. Freehand you can also get good results.
It is important that you do not skip any takes, to do this, plan well what you want, divide the scene you have in mind for the final photo into rows and columns (imaginary, of course) and, to avoid mistakes and maintain an order logical, always do it from left to right and from top to bottom, just as we write or read.
Try to have at least an overlap of approximately 20% so that the fusion of the images can be done well.
Focus on the person or your protagonist in automatic and then switch to manual focus.
The more you take, the larger the final image will be, obviously, but keep in mind that the process will also be slower. You can do the first tests with a slightly smaller scene and with about 8 photos. With 12-16 photos you can already get very impressive panoramas. And from there you can extend as much as you want depending on what you want to achieve. It will also depend on the objective used, it is not the same if you use a 35mm as an 85mm.
Practice or the first contact is one thing, but this method is not a guarantee of success by itself. Take care of the composition and lighting to obtain a photograph that is worthwhile. This technique will enhance the results and improve them, but it does not work miracles, if you start from an uninteresting photograph, the result will be an uninteresting panorama. 0x10=0, right? Well that.

HOW TO PERFORM THE BRENIZER METHOD: STEP BY STEP

I'm going to tell you how to do it in Lightroom and Photoshop, although you can do it with any other program that allows you to mount panoramas. This first step is common:

Take the photos following the advice above, remember: Manual mode, wide aperture, overlap the images by 20%. It is important that you do not change the plane of the camera, that is, do not move it forward or backward, only left-right and up-down. Start with a photo of the subject to focus on it automatically and have a photo that doesn't come out shaken; go to manual focus and go to the upper right corner, photograph going through the entire scene in order, from left to right and from top to bottom, so as not to skip anything. Because if you do it in a different order, as in my case that I share below, it also comes out, but you may miss a photo. This capture will help you to see what I have captured around the subject (the selected photo is how it looks at the end). But don't look at the order ?

HOW TO GET THE BRENIZER EFFECT IN LIGHTROOM STEP BY STEP

Import the images into Lightroom, make any adjustments you want on the first image, and sync the rest. Select them all and follow the path Photo > Combination of photos > Panorama

The following dialog will open. I have chosen "Perspective", but you can choose the projection that best suits your image, nothing like doing tests. And wait a bit until all the photos are combined.

This is how the combination turned out. You can click on combine and then crop and the result would be what you see below the dialog box. Or you can go to the option of point 5.

Look at the difference in the result with the Brenizer effect (left) compared to the scene that we could have captured with a normal shot (right).

With Brenizer Method (left) and without Brenizer Method (right)

In the event that you do not want to cut, you have the option of "Limit deformation" and the program does it for you, as you can see in the following images. There is the "Fill edges" option, but for it to work well you would need smoother backgrounds that we have already said are not successful here, or a lot of dedication in retouching ?. You give it to combine and that's it.

Without applying Limit Deformation

Applying limit strain

And here is the result of this other example.

Of course, these are two examples whose only function is to explain the method to you step by step. These are images taken in the haste of an assistant model who no longer wants her face to be seen, that she had just left school and she was tired and hungry. She put up with it too much ???, my poor thing, I don't deserve it ?.

In your case, you can find a good location, choose the time to have the best light, study the composition in more detail and finish off with a good edition. But I hope that at least these examples will help you learn how to apply this curious effect.

HOW TO GET THE BRENIZER EFFECT IN PHOTOSHOP

Now I'll tell you quickly how to do it if you prefer to use Photoshop (remember that point 1 was common ;P I have not skipped it).

Once the editing settings are synced and the images are exported, open Photoshop and follow the path File > Automate > Photomage .

Select the photos from the corresponding file via “Browse” and click on “Merge Images”. Give it time, it's not that you've been left hanging, it's that it takes a little bit to assemble all the photographs into one and the more images there are, the longer it takes. You will get an image with all the mounted shots.

Once you hit OK in the dialog above, the program merges the images and gives you a result similar to this:

Cut where you see fit and make the adjustments you want, and you've got it! I only made the cutout because I only wanted you to see the example.

As you can see, it's very simple, the biggest complexity lies in finding the right place and achieving an interesting composition. From there, a couple of clicks and the program does it all for you.

BRENIZER IMAGE GALLERY

Nothing better than seeing a series of images to get ideas and inspire you, here I leave you with a good dose.

Have you seen how easy it is and what result remains? I'm sure you'll try it right now. You will see how much fun you have! We'd love for you to share your results in the comments and you know, if you found it useful, share it!