The Brenizer Method - A medium format feel

[willbrawn]

I am not sure if this is on a thread buried somewhere deep within DPS. But thought I would share the Brenizer Method. Ryan Brenizer discovered this on his own (not saying anyone had not done it before him) on his honeymoon. You take a portrait image close up and make it a panorama. Then combine it in photoshop. Using this technique gives you a medium format image feel without the steep price tag. This is best used with a very shallow DOF lens too.

This image:
Canon XSi
50mm 1.4
31 stitched together photos.


www.brawnphotography.com], on Flickr">


When you make the file it is huge, and allows for a lot of cropping. Print quality is awesome.

[chauncey]

I'm not familiar with the Brenizer Method but this is nothing new.
I've been playing with it for several years, generally using a 300mm f/2.8 lens currently mounted on a canon 1Ds3.

Most folks will tell you that using a tripod in necessary...it's not, as CS4 does a marvelous job of
photomerging hand held images. You should however be shooting in manual mode to lock-in your settings.
And when developing you images, prior to merging them, always sync any exposure adjustments to the brightest image to avoid having the blown out whites that are present in your example.

Also, if you prefer using your 50mm, you might want to crop and use only the center of each image for the merge process.
A quick peek at page 210 of this site http://software.canon-europe.com/fil...Book_10_EN.pdf
will explain loss of quality at the edges of your original images.

Keep on shooting my friend.

[sybren]

Originally Posted by chauncey

A quick peek at page 210 of this site http://software.canon-europe.com/fil...Book_10_EN.pdf
will explain loss of quality at the edges of your original images.

The PDF you linked to has only 25 pages. Exactly what page/section are you referring to?

[MWerner]

Very cool! This could be a neat technique to try for some really stunning wedding photos.

[chauncey]

I can't explain your difficulity sybren as clicking on your copy of my link took me to "Optical Terminology" with 216 pages.

It starts here EF Lens Work III: The Eyes of EOS by Canon Review
Then click on "Canon EOS Lens Work III" to go here Canon Europe - EF LENS WORK III EN
Then near bottom clicking on "optical terminology and MFT characteristics".

[sybren]

Originally Posted by chauncey

I can't explain your difficulity sybren as clicking on your copy of my link took me to "Optical Terminology" with 216 pages.

I can. The link leads me to a 25-page PDF. However, it starts with a page numbered 192 and page number 210 is on the 19th page of the PDF. It's about page numbers and page numbers ;-)

It starts here EF Lens Work III: The Eyes of EOS by Canon Review

I'll keep that link, looks interesting

[FormElement]

Pardon a possibly dumb question, but how does one get a subject to hold still long enough to take a "panoramic" portrait?

I see that the above image is stitched from 31 frames... 31? Ummm.. that's a prime number...right? So your set of images is not x wide by x high?

If that image contains 31 individual frames, how many are used for the subject?

I mean, thanks, definitely. The effect is interesting. just want to know more about the actual technique.

[chauncey]

The subject wouldn't necessarily be in every shot and one generally shoots in AI Servo mode.

[FormElement]

Okay. I'm still not clear. You are stitching multiple shots containing a person, who has almost certainly moved at least a little in every single one...?

Oh...AND your focus distance has changed in every single one?

Does one capture not just two or three, but possibly two dozen images containing parts of a human, moving (even if only a little) subject? As fast as I could possibly pan and pull the trigger, that image would still take at least a full ten seconds to shoot. I imagine that it actually took much longer.

[PWhite214]

Since I really did not understand how this works, I asked Google to help me out. This is the best explanation I have found so far.

The Brenizer Method Explained With Directions | Bui Photography

I have to try this, just need to find the time .

Thanks for starting this thread, very interesting.

Phil