Use the Brenizer Technique to Shoot Wide-Angle Photos With Shallow Depth of Field
If you’re trying to achieve a unique look in your photos without applying a bunch of unnecessary filters, here’s an advanced technique that can give you an extremely wide shot with a seemingly impossible depth of field. This is how it works.
In this video from Practical Photography Magazine, photographer James Abbott shows how he uses the Brenizer technique to achieve this unique look. The amazing result seems to be filmed with a wide-angle camera. For reference: Abbott uses a 35mm f / 1.4 lens (equivalent to 50mm f / 1.8 on a full frame camera).
Basically, it works like this: Abbott takes a series of photographs next to the main subject – in this case, the car – and fixes the plane of focus on the car. He then shoots the entire surrounding area while standing still. It’s like taking a series of photos that you later stitch together to create a panorama, but you’ll also want to shoot above and below your subject. It’s almost like taking a picture of a spherical shot.
Consistency is the key to success. After setting focus on the car, it switches to manual mode so that the camera’s focus and exposure never change for a burst of 40 or 50 photos. After processing the photos with identical color grading, Abbott then uses Photoshop’s Photomerge feature to stitch all the images together. If you don’t have Photoshop, you can try the free options .
This is basically all there is to it. Watch the video for a more detailed explanation and demonstration of how to use the Brenizer technique for a unique and exciting look.
Discover the Brenizer Technique | Practical photography magazine