Brenizer Method

[Jenningsmca]

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I was looking through a photog magazine and came across a photo which immediately caught my eye due to such a DOF and the photo was wide angle. In the remarks it was identified the photo was made using the "Brenizer Method"  so i followed the link to get more information. see https://photographylife.com/advanced-photography-techniques-brenizer-method-panorama for details.

 

In a nutshell he uses a long portrait lens at widest aperture and makes a stitched image using several photo in photoshop. Apparently this produces a photo inherently close to a medium format look with lots of details.

 

Now, If say you wanted a similar effect but without all the photo shop work, can the Leica 21mm Summilux-M @f/1.4 produce a similar photo ? There are plenty of photos on net where the individual was shooting an object at f/1.4 and the isolation from that lens is fairly spectacular.

 

My question then is how much diff is there between the Brenizer method and the 21 lux. I dont have a 21 lux to compare but I was going to try with a 35mm lux later today to see what I get.

 

Thx

 

MJ

[EoinC]

I used to shoot this way with various mid-tele's (85mm f/1.2, 135mm f/2.0 etc), and it works in some instances where you seek that level of shallow DOF. It works less well with wider angles. Generally i would prefer using a native prime single shot for the desired focal length.

[steppenw0lf]

Thanks for posting this. It is always interesting to learn a new method.

But do you really find the results attractive ? Currently my impressions are mixed. Shallow depth in a wide angle (Brenizer or real) adds only a lot of garbage to a (small) central scene of interest. Not really the type of scene I'd like to publish. (or as a (wedding) customer would like to buy).

I still hope to find a topic where this is mainly to its advantage and less to its marginalization.

Any ideas ?

 

I could imagine that using 3 shots to compose a portrait (top, middle, bottom) could be very impressive. (made up of 2/90 or 2/135) But for this the method is too slow (or needs a lot of luck to find three selected images that fit together well enough). (If the model is alive and kicking). Already difficult with the portrait of a single person, but almost impossible to achieve with a newly wed couple.

I tried it with painted portraits, or sculptures - then it works really great. (Or a poster-size (A0) portrait of your child's favorite cuddly toy    ).

 

A different idea: I think the 1.4/28 is the much better lens choice for this sort of object (than the 1.4/21 you have in mind). There is still enough distance to the object, so that the distortions are not too bad - especially for portraits that should appeal to the buyer.. Usually 28mm is for me the limit of what is acceptable.

[EoinC]

It has (IMHO) limited uses. This was with an EF 85mm (caution - non-Leica image - Mods remove at will), but similar could have been achieved with a single shot wider angle...

b024 by Eoin Christie, on Flickr

[FlashGordonPhotography]

There are subtle differences between shooting with a wide angle on a small sensor and a longer focal length on a larger sensor. The Brenizer method simulates using a larger sensor than the one you have. Sometimes there's little visual difference but sometimes there is. Anyone who's shot larger than 35mm formats will know that. It's just another nice arrow to have in the quiver.

 

Gordon