My first focus stack (C&C)

Snakeguy101 · Mar 19, 2012

Composed from 13 images and combined in CS5. Let me know what you think.

Macroclemys temminckii

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WesternGuy · Mar 19, 2012

Ugly looking critter, but it looks like you have captured its essence - assuming it has one. Looks good for a first try at focus stacking.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

cgipson1 · Mar 19, 2012

A focus stack should be razor sharp over the entire range... and this one looks a little soft on his legs and farther back. Not bad for a first try though! Beautiful specimen!

Snakeguy101 · Mar 20, 2012

Yeah, he scooted a bit while I was taking the images to stack so I didn't get to focus on everything that I wanted. What is the best way to deal with a moving subject when trying to stack?

Overread · Mar 20, 2012

FAST! Shoot fast and if needed repeat the series.

Generally though shooting a subject that moves during a stack kills the stack. If you can replace the moved frame with other frames or if you are prepared to work with photoshop and the clone/heal tools you can sometimes fix things. But in general if something moves you start the stack all over again. And if it moves way to much you abort the stack.

This is why a lot of the biggest stacks of say 30-50 shots of insects are done on dead subjects. Most stacks of living insects are often only a handful of shots (though if you get them early in the morning you can do more - I have seen 30 shot stacks of live subjects when they were too torpid to move.

Snakeguy101 · Mar 20, 2012

Okay. I was shooting as fast as my flashes would recycle. I will keep that in mind though. Thanks for the early morning tip.

Overread · Mar 20, 2012

If you're flash supports it try getting an external battery pack (I use a PIXEL one myself). That will greatly improve the recycling rate of the flash (I actually use it all the time on my twinflash from canon - really helps!). Though of course you've got to be careful not to use the flash too many times in a fast succession otherwise the heat buildup will cause damage (even at low powers, fast recycling for long enough will build up a lot of heat)