PATCHWORK PORTRAITS

Mike Harris uses the Brenizer method to shoot and edit a bokeh panorama with a super-shallow depth of field

The Brenizer method is the brainchild of renowned wedding photographer Ryan Brenizer. It’s sometimes referred to as the bokeh panorama, owing to the wide frame and super-shallow depth of field that characterizes the style of these images.

Bokeh panoramas boast shallower depths of field than are achievable with a wide-angle lens, and give APS-C and full-frame users the ability to produce portraits with a large-format aesthetic. The key to this technique is to use a fast telephoto lens to achieve the characteristic portrait depth of field, and constant camera settings that won’t change between frames to create a seamless blend.

Once you’ve settled on a white balance preset, locked your exposure, and used AF to focus on your subject, you need to switch to manual focus so as not to change your point of focus as you begin to shoot your panorama sequence. Exactly how many photos you take is down to personal preference, but we recommend overlapping each frame by around 30% to ensure you don’t leave any gaps.

Photoshop makes it easy to blend your sequence by automatically merging your images together. You then simply need to check the blend for any inconsistencies, and crop as desired. If you like the idea of creating a wide portrait with a super-shallow depth of field, here’s how to shoot and edit your own bokeh panorama…

HOW TO SHOOT A BRENIZER

1 FAST LENS 

A fast lens is essential for achieving a shallow depth of field: we used an 85mm f/1.4, but a 50mm f/1.8 would also work well. You're not limited to just prime lenses though - a fast telephoto zoom, like a 70-200mm f/2.8, will still produce a suitably blurry background.

2 CONSISTENCY IS KEY