When it comes to portrait photography, medium format remains king for showcasing subjects in glorious in detail, especially if you intend to print big. It’s paramount in the studio, but even more when you’re doing environmental portraits, where context from the setting is just as important as the subject. If that sounds like something you plan to do, today’s featured video is right up your alley.

Understandably, digital medium format cameras sit more on the pricey side. So if a dedicated digital medium format camera is not accessible to you, you can still achieve the look without it. In the video above, Sean Tucker shares his tips for getting the medium format look in your photos using the camera that you already have.

But first, why would you want to do this for environmental portraits? As Tucker explains in the first part, the point of the genre is to tell a story with the help of the context provided by the setting. But you also don’t want the background to be messy or distracting. What you want is to have a three-dimensional look with a prominent subject-background separation. That’s where medium format cameras come in, and why he wanted one for a long time.

Tucker described this look that medium format cameras give as the “wide + shallow” look, but you don’t need a medium format camera to achieve it. Using a bit of theory on sensor sizes and the images they create, he shows a hack you can do to replicate the look with multiple shots of the scene. Of course, he also puts this theory to practice with an actual outdoor portrait session. It should work whether you have a full frame or APS-C camera, but take care not to overdo it.

Have you tried the technique Tucker described to get the medium format look? Share your results in the comments below!