Have you ever dreamed of 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? I bring you the solution that you will like so much with Brenizer Method editing tricks.
Table of Contents
WHAT IS THE BRENIZER METHOD?
It is a method that allows a defocus typical of a bright or telephoto lens with a frame worthy of a wide angle. In other words, it allows you to extend the frame as far as you want and with a blur of the background that drives you crazy. Something that no goal is capable of achieving.
Also known as bokehrama, because it is like a panorama with a lot of blur or bokeh . We know this effect thanks to the photographer Ryan Brenizer.
An image is worth a thousand words so I’ll leave you with an example of what it is, although below I’ll leave you a gallery with more images. What produces an unusual and very attractive effect?
WHAT IS THE BRENIZER METHOD 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 enlargement can be).
- Get a shallow depth of field.
- Achieve a photograph covering much more of the scene, which has been a panorama, but not necessarily the horizontal panoramic format that we are used to. 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 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 it doesn’t work out the first time, insist.
- Choose locations with interesting backgrounds, a plain background will have no impact and the effect will not look the same.
- Photography in Manual Mode. If you do not control the Manual Mode, it is because you have not read our guide in which we explain it to you in detail and as clearly as 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.
- Watch 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 take your shots, eg f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.8.
- You can do it on a tripod with a panoramic head but it is not essential. Freehand can also get good results.
- Yes, it is important that you do not skip any shot, for 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 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 images can be merged well.
- Focus on the person or your subject in automatic and then switch to manual focus.
- The more shots you take, the bigger 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 somewhat 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 that you use a 35mm than an 85mm.
- One thing is the practice or the first contact, 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 a photograph without interest, the result will be a panorama without interest. 0x10=0, right? Well that.
HOW TO PERFORM THE BRENIZER METHOD: STEP BY STEP
I am going to tell you how to do it in Lightroom and in 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 tips above, remember: Manual mode, wide aperture, overlap images by 20%. It is important that you do not change the plane of the camera, that is, do not move it forwards or backwards, only left-right and up-down. Start with a photo of the subject to focus on it automatically and have a photo in which it is not moved; switch to manual focus and go to the upper right corner, shoot through the entire scene in order, from left to right and from top to bottom, so you don’t miss anything. Because if you do it with another order like in my case that I share with you below, it also comes out, but you can miss a photo. This capture will help you to see what I have captured around the subject (the selected photo is how it turns out at the end). But don’t look at the order 😆
HOW TO GET THE BRENIZER EFFECT IN LIGTHROOM STEP BY STEP
- Import the images into Lightroom, make any adjustments you want to the first image, and sync the rest. Select them all and follow the path Photo > Photo Combination > Panorama
- The following dialog will open. I have chosen “Perspective”, but you can choose the projection that best suits your image, nothing like testing. 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. Or you can go to the option in point 5.
Look how different the result with the Brenizer effect (left) compared to the scene that we could have captured with a normal shot (right).
- In the event that you do not want to cut, you have the option of «Limit deformation» and the program already does it for you, as you can see in the following images. There is the option «Fill edges», but for it to work well you would need smoother backgrounds that we have already said are not great here, or a lot of dedication in retouching 😅. You give him to combine and that’s it.
And here 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 rush 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 endured too much 😅🙏🏻, my poor thing, I don’t deserve her 🤪.
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 with a good edition. But I hope that at least these examples will help you learn how to apply this curious effect.
Here’s a video explains how to make benizer effect in lightroom
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 didn’t skip it).
- Once the editing settings are synced and the images are exported, open Photoshop and go to File > Automate > Photomage .
- Select the photos from the corresponding file via “Browse” and click “Merge Images”. Give it time, it’s not that you’ve been left hanging, it’s that it takes a little while 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 shots assembled.
- Once you hit OK in the dialog above, the program merges the images and gives you a result similar to this:
- Cut where you think convenient and make the adjustments you want, and you’ve got it! I only made the clipping because I only wanted you to see the example.
As you can see, it is very simple, the greatest complexity lies in finding the right place and achieving an interesting composition. From there, a couple of clicks and the program does everything 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 a result it is? I’m sure you’re going to try it right now. You will see how much fun you have! We’d love it if you share your results in the comments and you know, if you found it useful, share it!
