Focus Shift Shooting + Tethering Problem - Product Photography (Help!!)

[Nikonian_Newbie]

Hi all,

I hope all are well.

I'm fairly new to photography and have just upgraded to the Nikon D850 mainly due to the fact it has the snazzy feature of focus shift shooting (photo stacking). I will be using the camera prominently for product photography but now I have such a beast I'm finding myself taking photos of everything

The reason for my cry for help is that I cannot use the feature whilst tethered to my laptop running Lightroom CC as you can only focus shift shoot when the camera is in live view mode and whilst tethered the camera won't allow this. Annoyingly I am having to disconnect the tether cable every time I take the stacked shots, Is there a way around this as I don't want to wear the camera connection point out?

Many thanks

Aaron

 

[Derrel]

Simple: shoot un-tethered when doing focus stacks. Take the training wheels off. Most likely in less than 1 month you will learn how to shoot your focus stacks like a pro. Once you cease relying so much on tethering, your skill as a photographer will grow, probably to the point where you are no longer in need of tethering.

 

[Strodav]

Have the D850 and use focus stacking (shifting) all the time for macro shots. It does not have to be in LV mode. This is from David Busch's D850 book: "If shooting using the optical viewfinder, press the focus mode button and rotate the main dial to choose AF-S (single focus) and the sub-command dial to choose Single Point AF. You can also us Focus Shift in Live View mode; select Normal Area AF instead." I've never tried it tethered, but I'll give it a try and let you know if I get it to work.

Update - I am pretty sure you can't focus shift when tethered using LrC as the D850's focus shifting menu is grayed out.

 

[Nikonian_Newbie]

Thank you for your help and for looking into my matter it is much appreciated.

I have been taking the focus stacked shots without any issue it was mainly the tethering issue, I'm taking the shots then having to check them over each time disconnecting and reconnecting the cable about 50 times per shoot. When I get the white balance right and get to know the settings then I should be able to take all the shots without checking each and every time.

I have upgraded from the Nikon D3300 so am not used to all these new features. I'm working my way through the Darrell Youngs Mastering the Nikon D850 book at the moment but there is so much information to take in.

I'm mainly taking Photos of Jewellery for a new jewellery website, do you guys think it's necessary to have the camera set on 46mp for this work as its making the workflow a lot slower stacking the images and whatnot? The images are only going to be used on the website.

Many thanks

 

[smoke665]

I don't shoot Nikon, but as I understand it focus shift automatically shifts the focus taking a series of shots. You still have to stack them in post, so to me it seems like a lot of hoopla to simplify something that isn't that difficult to begin with. I shoot focus stacks, both tethered and untethered, but I use a 4 way focus rail. Bought my years ago but B&H has one similar that isn't that expensive, Dot Line DL-0328 Dual Axis Macro Focusing Rail Like all things the more you spend the more stable it is. Simple to use, set up your first shot, then rotate the adjustment knob to change the camera distance to subject (forward/backward) thereby changing the focal point. You can shoot as many or as few as you want, then stack them in Lr, Ps or other software.

Not sure why you're changing WB and other settings between shots. Set up your first shot then leave the setting alone throughout the series. If any adjustments are needed on individual frames, do it post.

 

[Strodav]

Thank you for your help and for looking into my matter it is much appreciated.

I have been taking the focus stacked shots without any issue it was mainly the tethering issue, I'm taking the shots then having to check them over each time disconnecting and reconnecting the cable about 50 times per shoot. When I get the white balance right and get to know the settings then I should be able to take all the shots without checking each and every time.

I have upgraded from the Nikon D3300 so am not used to all these new features. I'm working my way through the Darrell Youngs Mastering the Nikon D850 book at the moment but there is so much information to take in.

I'm mainly taking Photos of Jewellery for a new jewellery website, do you guys think it's necessary to have the camera set on 46mp for this work as its making the workflow a lot slower stacking the images and whatnot? The images are only going to be used on the website.

Many thanks

You can check lighting and exposure (use the D850s histograms) by taking single test images while tethered. Once you've got your settings right, then remove the USB cable then go to the focus shift menu, take your series of shots then reconnect the tether to import the series. That way you will only have to remove the tether once for each setup. BTW, on white point, I'd shoot raw, 14 bit, lossless compression, but take a picture of an 18% gray card with your lighting setup and use that to adjust your white point in the LrC Develop module. Much faster and easier than trying to do it in camera. You can adjust highlights and shadows as well and play with texture, clarity, dehaze and sharpening as well as compensate for lens distortion and chromatic aberration.

As far as resolution goes, when posting on social media I export my final images srgb and sharpened for display at 2000 x 1333 for horizontal orientation, or 1333 x 2000 for vertical orientation. Typical displays go from 1280x720 for HD (921,600 bytes) up to 3140 x 2160 (6,782,400 bytes) for 4k monitors, so 45.7mp is overkill, even for a 4k monitor. Go to Menu -> camera (2nd icon down the left column) -> image size and do some tests at large, medium, and small image sizes and compare the results on your monitor to see if there is any loss of quality. My guess is, small will work fine for your application.

The D850 is an excellent camera for your application if teamed up with the right lens. Good luck!

 

[Space Face]

I have never tried tethered shooting so not much help but interested to see the benefits.

 

[Original katomi]

I tried photo stacking, my kit is older so I had to do it the hard way with a focus rail and a prog called starstax
I played with it for a time but found that it was not my thing. Good luck

 

[Strodav]

I have never tried tethered shooting so not much help but interested to see the benefits.

Tethering is usually used in studio situations allowing the photographer, and the client, to see their photos on a much larger monitor during the shoot. For the photographer, it allows one to see composition, lighting, exposure, DOF, ... , and make both technical and artistic corrections before the end of the shoot. It is mainly used in portrait, beauty, and fashion photography, but you see the OP is using it for commercial product photography.

I have used it out in the field during portrait shoots connecting my D850 to a 15" MacBook Pro with Adobe Creative Cloud including LrC. After setup, I let the client see a few shots and make suggestions on how to pose, especially working on facial expressions and hands. This helps avoid client disappointment at the final showing and perhaps a re shoot.

 

[Space Face]

I kinda thought was what it was all about but thank you for clarifying

 

[Original katomi]

I shoot tethered a lot when doing my table top shoots; for the uv shoot it meant that I could sit and adjust the settings without having to look at the light or the reflected light. Other times the bigger screen of the lap top makes it easier to compose the shoot. Never tried tethered in the field..... just stopped and thought about it... for my style of photography it would make life just to complicated ....
an image of me with camera on a tripod, tethered to a laptop, balanced on my knees trying to do ...
Street photography..... just not going to work

 

[Nikonian_Newbie]

I was going to post a new thread regarding the white balance as all my shots have been coming out with either a blueish or yellowish tinge. I think Stodav has answered my question so thank you, and I should be getting my 18% grey card today .

I am shooting Jewellery under a Glowpad 450s LED panel GLOWPAD 450S Slim-Profiled Daylight Balanced LED Panel
I set my camera to Manual mode with white balance colour temp set to 5,600 and I still have the same issue. I am finding it impossible to get the steely grey colour of white gold and silver, that other photographers are getting as they look good from adjusting through Lrc by the eye. Then when I compare them with another photo, mine always look Blueish. Sorry for my ramble but this has been bugging me for some time now and I'm very glad I've found this forum. So fingers crossed the 18% grey card will solve all my problems.

Also is it possible to add images to thread posts?

 

[Overread]

You can add photos to posts - this thread should give you the instructions you need How to Post Photos to the Forums

The 18% grey card should resolve your colour temperature issues, however you can use any general grey surface to get in the ballpark area. So long as your lighting remains the same between shots once you've got one shot taken and setup you can just keep the settings the same and shoot over and over.
Note do keep a mind to other light sources. Try taking a shot without the LED panel being on, but keeping all other settings the same. If you get a mostly to totally black photo (underexposed) then the panel is providing most/all of the light. If, however, you get a fairly decent exposure then it means the ambient light around you is also contributing. This doesn't have to be a problem, but it is something to keep in mind, esp if its natural light from the windows since its colour temperature can vary through the day. Some artificial light sources (florescent tubes) can also change their colour temperature over time (florescent tubes do it constantly, we see a constant colour, but a camera can catch it between shifts and show variation).