Focus Stacking - How to accomplish?

[Overread36]

Macro is the commonly used area because there is no other method of increasing the depth of field without significant loss of quality from diffraction at smaller apertures.

For landscape it works well on very static scenes (eg buildings) but for a scene containing moving elements (even leaves in a very very light wind) you might find it a challenge as the leaves move between shots and the software might well throw up errors or problems with the stack. Some people do work with motion in macro work with this, but it generally involves a lot of clone and heal tool use to make each frame as similar as possible; with leaves in a scene however you'll be there for days at it.

You might well want to look up hyperfocal focusing as a method for generalist landscape work

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I'm not good with terminology

I am much more technical minded, sorry.

Wait. What?

 

[camz]

Just to add on here...Is it possible to do focus stacking free hand? I've been dabbling in macro lately and I find myself shooting without a tripod.

 

[480sparky68 67]

I'm sure it's possible, but not something I'd care to attempt.

 

[camz]

I guess the possiblity is very relevant to the size of the subject and my erratic hand movements .

Thanks Sparky.

 

[Overread36]

Fully possible to do free hand though there are a few thing you have to keep in mind: (ps mostly all focused around macro, though still good points for general use)

1) Its best done freehand with a short working distance since that often lets you lean onto the surface that the subject is on or pick up and move the surface itself.

2) You don't want to be standing upright - at least be leaning on something or be crouched/prone on the ground; a stick to support (ie monopod) helps a lot as well. In short you won't have much luck if you are freestanding as your bodies own motions will be too great

3) Burst of shots - this is one time when a quick series of shots whilst changing the focus/moving closer works very well; however if you are relying on flash consider the following:
a) using a battery pack (pixel make good quality affordable packs) to boost the flash units recharge rate - if your flash supports it of course)
b) using a slower burst of shots - eg canon 7D has a fast and slow burst mode; no point using the fast burst as the flash can't keep up for higher powered macro uses; so the slower rate of shots helps to keep flash in sync

Note if you are boosting flash output via battery packs remember to not overdo it and let the flash cool after use -even on lower powers a lot of shots one after the other can overheat a flash.


It's tricky but it can most certainly be done; just practice practice. Also its advisable (esp when working with something like an insect) to get a single keeper shot before starting the stacking series - so that you at least have one working shot from the event should things fail.

 

[Destin]

I would theoretically work in landscape photos, but if you have moving trees/water/animals/stars then you're not going to be able to do it without ghosting.

As a general rule, you can usually get a landscape completely in focus by learning about how to take advantage of your hyperfocal distance.

 

[889Media]

I would theoretically work in landscape photos, but if you have moving trees/water/animals/stars then you're not going to be able to do it without ghosting.

Depends a little bit how you shoot the landscape. It can be done perfectly, even if you have birds in flight, some animals etc. Usually you have a much wider field of focus when shooting landscape. Like, you can get away with lets say 3 or 4 shots to get all you need in focus. And if you are aware of the danger of ghosting beforehand, you can shoot and process everything so that you avoid ghosting.

Shoot to have foreground trees sharp, one picture of the rear mountains, one with the field where the animals are, one with the waterfall in focus and one great exposure of the sky... merge it all with Photoshop, and the ghosting can be eliminated. If some animals move very much, you can use two exposures of that same animal - but have it looking like you have just one more animal in the shot.

Ghosting could be a factor if only using auto stacking, though.