My first ever (focus) bracket shot attempt (that kinda worked)

[wobe]

So spent a while this evening getting to grips with focus stacking, specifically on the Sony A7RV.

Still don't really know what the 3 single digit numbers are you enter (0-9), will have to do some manual reading tonight with my cocoa - anyway, it's not going to win any awards but I'm just happy to have finally managed a shot where it's (mostly) all in focus, after many attempts - 1st the front only in focus, then the back.... Grrrrrr.... Still the PC got a good workout !

Will read up some more and practice further.

P.S. - The Venus Fly Trap is a gift to my wife from a friend, looks as though it has already captured a critter.

Sony A7RV / Sony ZA 35mm f1.4

 

[Digger...]

Looks good Mr, it's the effort that matters.

The laptop here is way over 15 years old and still running on Windows, dont have any good editing software either to do stacking. Just free stuff with apps on the tablet.

Would be nice for the mushroom photography.

 

[Jeff15]

It looks good to me ...

 

[denum]

So spent a while this evening getting to grips with focus stacking, specifically on the Sony A7RV.

Still don't really know what the 3 single digit numbers are you enter (0-9), will have to do some manual reading tonight with my cocoa - anyway, it's not going to win any awards but I'm just happy to have finally managed a shot where it's (mostly) all in focus, after many attempts - 1st the front only in focus, then the back.... Grrrrrr.... Still the PC got a good workout !

Will read up some more and practice further.

P.S. - The Venus Fly Trap is a gift to my wife from a friend, looks as though it has already captured a critter.

Sony A7RV / Sony ZA 35mm f1.4


View attachment 277347

Lookin good Wobe. Look forward to seeing more of your efforts in focus stacking. As I understand it your camera has in-body focus stacking built in. I wish my camera did. I'd like to see/hear a comparison between focus stacking done with in-camera stacking vs doing it manually via third party software i.e. Photoshop, Helicon etc.

 

[wobe]

Looks good Mr, it's the effort that matters.

The laptop here is way over 15 years old and still running on Windows, dont have any good editing software either to do stacking. Just free stuff with apps on the tablet.

Would be nice for the mushroom photography.

Thanks Digger

You may want to look at this - GitHub - PetteriAimonen/focus-stack: Fast and easy focus stacking
A review of the project is here - An Excellent Free and Open Source focus-stacking solution

Runs on Windows and will run on your laptop I am sure - just go prepare the evening meal or a nice coffee while it's working

It looks good to me ...

Thanks Jeff!

Lookin good Wobe. Look forward to seeing more of your efforts in focus stacking. As I understand it your camera has in-body focus stacking built in. I wish my camera did. I'd like to see/hear a comparison between focus stacking done with in-camera stacking vs doing it manually via third party software i.e. Photoshop, Helicon etc.

Unfortunately the Sony does not have in body bracket processing, this has to be done externally but does have a bracketing option so you focus, hit the shutter button once and after acouple of seconds it shoots as many as it thinks you will need for the image - I then import into LR and then process in PS for merging.

I was tempted originally to go with the OM1 which does do full in body bracket processing but there is a catch to that I think - it uses a lot of CPU and I imagine it will eat your battery, especially out in the field when you may be doing several - I am not sure about this but suppose so especially as the Sony is 61mp and this stack was 36 shots, maybe in body processing is just not practical for processing time, heat & battery reasons?

 

[denum]

Thanks Digger

You may want to look at this - GitHub - PetteriAimonen/focus-stack: Fast and easy focus stacking
A review of the project is here - An Excellent Free and Open Source focus-stacking solution

Runs on Windows and will run on your laptop I am sure - just go prepare the evening meal or a nice coffee while it's working


Thanks Jeff!


Unfortunately the Sony does not have in body bracket processing, this has to be done externally but does have a bracketing option so you focus, hit the shutter button once and after acouple of seconds it shoots as many as it thinks you will need for the image - I then import into LR and then process in PS for merging.

I was tempted originally to go with the OM1 which does do full in body bracket processing but there is a catch to that I think - it uses a lot of CPU and I imagine it will eat your battery, especially out in the field when you may be doing several - I am not sure about this but suppose so especially as the Sony is 61mp and this stack was 36 shots, maybe in body processing is just not practical for processing time, heat & battery reasons?

I guess I should have made myself clearer. I understood your camera doesn't actually process the stack images. I still think it might be beneficial to see a comparison between an image processed from the images your camera takes, and one created manually taking maybe 12 or so shots. Would a person doing a manual stack takes 36 images? Seems like a lot to me. I guess it depends on how deep your subject is. Perhap using a camera that takes the shots for you is a real asset.

 

[wobe]

I guess I should have made myself clearer. I understood your camera doesn't actually process the stack images. I still think it might be beneficial to see a comparison between an image processed from the images your camera takes, and one created manually taking maybe 12 or so shots. Would a person doing a manual stack takes 36 images? Seems like a lot to me. I guess it depends on how deep your subject is. Perhap using a camera that takes the shots for you is a real asset.

Understood, this was literally my very first focus stack shot so i am very much getting used to the mechanics of it as well as how my particular camera handles them and the settings involved.
The Sony does give you some control where the FB can be set as 'Narrow', 'Standard' or 'Wide' - these I imagine will have some impact on the number of shots. You may also specify the maximum number (I think) in three columns, the camera will then 'try' not to go over that but as you may have worked out I still have some homework to do.

 

[407370]

I regularly use Focus Stacking from images generated by Z8. Helicon focus is my preferred software for processing the stack.

It is not unusual to generate 100 images for a very small object longitudinal to the camera.

Is is heavy on processing power but I love it when the stack generates a completely tack sharp image from front to back.

I can see from the image you posted that the first focus point was set too far back. Maybe try the same shot again but put the first focus point at the front of the lip of the plant pot.

CHEERS
JBO

 

[smoke665]

welcome to a new world, great start. It's something you can take as far as your patience will allow, as noted above an image stack can grow quite large. If you decide to pursue it further you should think about a focus rail, makes it a lot easier with large stacks. Also read up on "cross polarized" lighting.

 

[wobe]

I regularly use Focus Stacking from images generated by Z8. Helicon focus is my preferred software for processing the stack.

It is not unusual to generate 100 images for a very small object longitudinal to the camera.

Is is heavy on processing power but I love it when the stack generates a completely tack sharp image from front to back.

I can see from the image you posted that the first focus point was set too far back. Maybe try the same shot again but put the first focus point at the front of the lip of the plant pot.

CHEERS
JBO

Correct, thanks, I read later about choosing the front focal point, although there is a setting in camera also that default to 'front to back' but can be changed to middle - front - back - I'll experiment further when I have time.

welcome to a new world, great start. It's something you can take as far as your patience will allow, as noted above an image stack can grow quite large. If you decide to pursue it further you should think about a focus rail, makes it a lot easier with large stacks. Also read up on "cross polarized" lighting.

Thanks for the info, will look these up