Also known as: Panoramic Stitching Bokeh Panorama Bokehrama Brenizer Method Also known as: Panoramic Stitching Bokeh Panorama Bokehrama

Panoramic Stitching Panoramic Photography dates back to 1843 Shortly after the invention of photography in 1839, the desire to show overviews of cities and landscapes prompted photographers to create panoramas. Early panoramas were made by placing two or more daguerreotype plates side-by-side. Daguerreotypes, the first commercially available photographic process, used silver- coated copper plates to produce highly detailed images. One of the first recorded patents for a panoramic camera was submitted by Joseph Puchberger in Austria in 1843 for a hand-cranked, 150° field of view, 8-inch focal length camera that exposed a relatively large Daguerreotype, up to 24 inches long! Panoramic Photography dates back to 1843 Some cameras used wide film or wide angle lenses on sliders

Large Format Photography A classic format Refers to any photo image size over 4X5 inches Used by photographers such as Ansel Adams and Richard Avedon Can create very large prints With a few notable exceptions, these cameras share the following characteristics: 1. Large image size: 4x5 inches (10x12cm), the most popular format by far, up to 20x24 inches (the Polaroid camera, which can be rented on-site for a reasonable fee). The film comes in separate sheets rather than rolls. 2. Flexible bellows connecting the front and back: they allow the use of a range of focal lengths (with different lenses. there is no zooming in such formats) and focussing distances. 3. Ground glass viewing: makes it possible to see the image with great accuracy before taking the exposure 4. Interchangeable lenses: you are not limited to a particular mount. 5. It is all analog film, it required a slow contemplative process for each image. This is why it is largely used for fine art photography.

Large Format Digital is expensive! This medium format digital camera is a new affordable option This model starts at $7000.00, others begin at $19,000.00 How can a new photographer mimic the style of this type of camera? Digital large and medium format camera are powerful, and expensive! Medium format digital camera begin at 4-7k, and higher end models begin at 19k or more. This puts the format out of the reach of most photographers. Additionally current DSLR or mirrorless cameras can already capture images big enough for billboards. So how can a young or new photographer mimic this unique photo style?

Bokeh Panorama Stitch AKA: The Brenizer Method The Brenizer Method, also known as a Bokeh Panorama Stitch, or “Bokehrama” is one method to get close to that large format look, which consists of a wide angle with a shallow depth of field. The image above was created with 20-30 exposures that were then combined in a program like Photoshop.

The Brenizer Method Popularized by Ryan Brenizer Used in wedding and portrait photography Consists of shooting in a grid pattern with overlap to combine images seamlessly into one large composite Ryan Brenizer refers to the technique as panoramic stitching. It is a recognised technique by many photographers that originated with panoramic film cameras. It is quite common for images of this sort to have an aspect ratio similar to that of an image produced via a traditional analog camera, either square (as often used in medium format cameras) or slightly wider (as used in large format cameras). This can be for several reasons: • The realignment and mosaic arrangement of images during the image stitching process removes any link between the format of the original images and the output image. The image stitching process generally introduces a great deal of distortion. To recover a square or rectangular shape, cropping generally needs to be applied • further distancing the output from the input. For aesthetic reasons, an image may be cropped to a ratio in an attempt to further mimic the style of images created through an analog process. Popularized by Ryan Brenizer Used in wedding and portrait photography Consists of shooting in a grid pattern with overlap to combine images seamlessly into one large composite

Brenizer Technique Wide open aperture Locked down exposure Frame subject in center Shoot grid areas expanding around middle with overlap The photo technique to create a Bokehrama image is simple: Use a wide open aperture (widest your lens will go) for the shallowest depth of field. If the light is too dark or bright in your test shots, adjust shutter speed or ISO, but not aperture Dial in your exposure with test shots, lock down exposure, focus, white balance and any other variable Frame your subject in the center, tightly but not too tight to allow for overlap and take their photo, take a few for best facial expression or pose Standing in same position, shoot overlapping images to the left, right, top and bottom. Don’t forget the corners, top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left, etc. Let the shots overlap. Ask your model to stand still during this process More overlapping shots are better then not enough. It isn’t unusual for 20-50 exposures to be used for 1 final image.

Photo Stitching Photomerge in Adobe Photoshop streamlines the stitching process Some distortion can occur Not enough overlap can cause poor results and may need to be re-shot The laborious photo stitching process is greatly streamlined with Adobe Photoshop’s Photomerge feature. When you are done shooting, collect your images into a single folder and follow the class hand out to create your own Panoramic Photo Stitches using this automated process. Successful creation of a square or mostly square portrait, that shows wide angle with a shallow depth of field must be create for full credit. If you don’t succeed the first time, research, problem solve and try again. The image above is shown before cropping, and not enough exposures for the full environment to be stitched.

The method can be used for many types of subjects, as the shallow depth of field brings emphasis to the subject.

Brenizer Tomatoes from flickr user 'Harry Pehkonen'

This is the first image in a photo stitch of over 40 images This is the first image in a photo stitch of over 40 images. Click to see the next. This is the image at 100% scale…

This is a photo stitched image of the Tilden Park Carousel visage in Oakland California. Image created by Photo instructor Seth Wilson in 2016. Over 40 exposures were stitched together manually in Adobe Photoshop. All images were shot with a 50mm lens on a Pentax K-50 dslr camera. The final image is over 4 Gigabytes in file size.

Create your own! Time to go out and make your own!