The Brenizer Method

I don't really like to post technical stuff in here, since I mostly suck at being technical. But I just discovered this method called Bokeh Panorama, or as many people know: the Brenizer method. And since I have short-term memory loss or something, I figure that I have to post this somewhere since this is just so super cool and awesome. I've only attempted this twice in like 3 days, so bare with me, I'm not perfect at this whatsoever. First to notice is the curving. There will be some of you (perfectionist out there) who will think that the wrapping is a huge problem. In some cases, yes. But I find it quite okay, and I do like it, especially because it gives it a kind of fish-eye lens effect. And since most of the spaces I shoot in were indoors, and very tight, I really do not mind it.

If you really want to find out in detail about the Brenizer method, you can check it out here: Ryan Brenizer 

As you can see, I mess up a lot on this one. This was an image sewn out of 40 images. There were lines that didn't match, an extra leg probably somewhere. But this was really the first time I went: omg! this is super cool! So yeah, made many mental notes (like how not to shoot in RAW while using this method). And you really do need to overlap your images. I think the most important thing is not to move your axis (where you shoot from). Like really, stay still, don't move around, just move your camera around. For this shot I used my 24-70mm lens at 24mm. I opened up the aperture to f/2.8 (you have to open up your aperture to the widest). Make sure that the exposures are correct, pick up a point of focus, and just shoot! Very, very important is not to shift your point of focus. Mine was the pen on top of the tablet. So I focused on that throughout the 40 frames that I shoot. It doesn't matter if you're pointing at the window and the pen is out of frame, do NOT focus at the window! The point is for you to have a really beautiful depth of field in your image (hence, bokeh panorama). And I always start at the point of focus (the main subject), then shoot around it in a methodological (circular) manner. But yeah, I messed this one up. Lols. 

It took me about 15-20 minutes to render all the files using Photoshop's Photomerge. And that was at 16mb RAM, so I really suggest using smaller images to shoot. The end result for me was a 6 GB file. 

This was my second attempt. I was shooting Fréj's profile video the other day, and they willingly became my test bunny for this. The space that we were at was quite small & cramped. I used a 50mm lens (on a full frame camera) and I opened up the aperture to f/2.8 (yeah I know I should've opened it up to f/1.8 instead... but I forgot lols. Next time definitely!). This was a photomerge of 90 images. They had to be still for about a minute or so. Like my previous attempt, I set my point of focus to the main subject (the humans), then work my way around them, making sure I have overlapping images. I'm sure you can do this with less images, but I was a bit anal about it.
I also still shot this in RAW, but I converted it to a smaller jpeg in photoshop. It took me less than 5 minutes to do it because I automate everything, so it wasn't a big deal. But if you have a slower computer, I really do suggest shooting it in a smaller jpeg to start. But, you have to make sure that all your exposures and white balance is correct from the get-go. The photomerging part in total took about 30 minutes with a final file size of 2.2 GB (and that with a high-res jpegs). Once I flatten the images, it came down to about a 200mb file. Not bad. With cropping and adjustments, it came down more to 100mb. I may say that I am quite pleased with the results. Maybe I should do it outdoors so that I don't get the warping (wrapping? warping? curving? @___@). Another challenge will be to shoot this at night time, and with flash too. hmmm.....