It is a viable option though and one which many photographers use. During each small movement, you take a photo, usually working from the front of a subject to the back, and then align and merge these photos in postproduction. Simply load the images that you want to stack, then select the option to stack images. The photoshop composite image is well assembled with no artifacts or anomalies. Helicon focus is a focus stacking software that allows to get almost unlimited depthoffiel. Helicon focus is a focus stacking software that allows you to create eyecatching images using multiple images taken at different focus distances and stacking them together. Short introduction into the focus stacking with helicon focus 5. In addition to better image quality, another benefit to using moderate apertures is that the depth of field is simply narrow and with several images, the exact point of. I like picolay and tufuse the most as free focus stacking tools. The toughest thing about focus stacking in the field is dealing with changing conditions such as wind, rain and light.
However, helicon focus does not tolerate misalignment of the image captures well. Focus stacking is a clever technique that lets you keep all aspects of your scene sharp. The art of photography is infinite with the right tools go beyond the limits. The book is 260 pages of methods for producing creative and artistic digital images, using photoshop, as well as helicon focus and other software. How to use focus stacking for landscape photography wex. The first is in taking landscapes, where the photographer wants to keep objects spanning a large range of distances in focus this is a traditional domain of the tiltshift lens. Focus stacking is an intermediate photography technique that combines the use of a camera and a postprocessing software such as adobe photoshop. It can even overcome the otherwise unavoidable sharpness loss from diffraction. These lenses are, however, expensive, meaning that using software is a much. Its actually two software apps helicon focus and helicon remote. I use stacking software zerene for the majority of my macro images, but never for landscaping. After getting copies of two different focus stacking programs zerene stacker and helicon focus i put both of them to the test to see how they compared with each other on the same image. Best focus stacking software helicon focus vs photoshop.
Focus stacking was used to achieve sharp focus in the spider and the web and allow a softer background rendition. All of my focus stacks are jpegs which goes to show that if you have decent lighting and get things ready beforehand, the file format is not as big. How to use focus stacking for landscape photography. See all videos in our landscape focusing minicourse. This is especially useful for macro photography, but can even be used in landscapes, nightscapes with. Focus stacking can be used for many different kinds of photography, including landscapes, lowlight, and most commonly macro. Sometimes this can also be an issue for landscape photography if you want both the foreground and the background to be in focus. Almost unlimited amount of photo effects and filters. Aug 02, 2015 focus stacking is like doing a panorama stitch but instead of blending images together on the sides we blend the images together by placing them on top of each other. Jun 29, 2018 focus stacking is an intermediate photography technique that combines the use of a camera and a postprocessing software such as adobe photoshop. Its not a problem to take a single photo, but focus stacking is essentially impossible the wave will move too much from frame to frame. Its spring, which means its wildflower season, and focusstacking season.
Focus stacking also lets the point of transition between in and out of focus to be precisely selected. Focus stacking is commonly used in various forms of. Feb 29, 2016 when working with landscapes, focus stacking is a powerful approach in creating sharp images from foreground to the background. While focus stacking works great for closeup and macro images, it also works for anything else that holds still. Before yo go on with stacking, you can align the loaded images if the images are out of alignment. The software is small in size with lots of amazing features installed in it. Helicon focus is a premium tool and comes in 3 versions. Intelligent software for photographers helicon soft helicon soft. Dof software camparison first light photo workshops. The stacking by a focus stacking software is carried out very smoothly. Photo by skye studios on unsplash choose the ideal aperture for focus stacking. Focus stacking performance comparision of photoshop and. One thing it can do is to control autofocus lenses so that you can shoot a focus stack very precisely through a graphical user interface on your computer. The idea behind focus stacking is to be able to create an image and expand your in focus spots beyond just the single point or plane that one image is capable of.
In this video i try to explain the whole concept in under 5 minutes here is. The resulting photos, however, can be striking and unique. The two key steps in the process include 1 taking multiple photos of the same scene, but with each snap of the shutter you are using a different. Picolay lets you easily carry out photo stacking even if you have multiple images to stack, and they are out of. The interface of this focus stacking software is pretty slick and easy to use. The second is in closeup photography, where we want to keep an entire object in focus. With focus stacking software you can make your usual camera render results that. Tony shows you how to get both the foreground and background sharp when using a high fstop isnt enough. Landscape focus stacking if youre not afraid of spending some time in photoshop, you can create landscape photos with infinite depthoffield. Last week my wife claudia and i spent an afternoon photographing flowers in the merced river canyon, just west of yosemite.
Focus stacking is useful any time you want a depth of field in your images that you cant get optically. Nov 05, 2016 focus stacking is foolproof, is often faster than calculating hyper focal distance even when using your smartphone app, and gives you an image where every inch is tack sharp. Once back at your computer, it is time to process the files. The hardest part of focus staking photography, taking the series of incrementally focused images, can be easily accomplished if you own a nikon, canon, or sony camera and a smartphone, ipad, android or laptop, using the free hardwired software, digicam, or the more sophisticated helicon software. It was a little past the peak of the wildflower season there, but we still found some nice patches of poppies mixed with other flowers. Above is a focus stack of a diatom where i combined 10 images in photoshop 400x.
However, with focus stacking, images are captured with different focus points, and later combined in photoshop, to create an image with more dof than would be possible with a single exposure. Focus stacking is a technique that can be beneficial when a photographer wants to extend the apparent depthoffield of an image, and also wants to avoid the loss of image sharpness that can result from the effects of diffraction when using an increased fstop. Take multiple shots of a scene, each shot focused at a different distance, and then load those shots into specialist focus stacking software. Here you see a crop of the top of the frame above before implementing focus stacking. Focus stacking landscape scenes home zerene stacker. A focus stack is a photograph that is made up of a combination of two or more images that were focused at different points and then after combining the stacks the final image has a much greater depth of field. Beginners guide to focus stacking for macro photography. I then received lots of requests to show my photo editing skillz, init. Intelligent software for photographers helicon soft. Plus, not all landscapes even work for focus stacking. Correct distortion, reduce noise, adjust white balance, contrast, saturation, etc. Helicon focus lite unlimited license extended focus software gt. This is followed by the use postprocessing software like adobe photoshop cs4 to align the focused portion of each image into one finalandfocused image. So exactly how does focus stacking work you may ask.
Focus stacking is a technique used to increase how much detail appears in focus in an image. Zerene stacker is focus stacking software designed specifically for challenging macro subjects and discerning photographers. Focusing stacking is a technique that has been around for a long time. Extended focus images with helicon focus software by robin d. Focus stacking is a technique typically used in macro shots to achieve a large depth of field. Well, focus stacking simply means taking multiple photos of the same subject, each with a different focused spot. For example, with my camera, even with a 200mm lens for tight landscapes, at f11, dof goes from 96m to infinity. The two key steps in the process include 1 taking multiple photos of the same scene, but with each snap of the shutter you are using a different focus point and 2 combining.
Experienced users can achieve endless techniques and effects in. Aug 12, 2017 in looking for software to stack images i found that adobe photoshop cs6 to cc2017, helicon focus and zerene stacker appear to be popular programs for image stacking all of these are commercial products, but the nice thing is that they all offer 30 free trial where you can test the software. In my last photography video, i took you on location as i shot an image. In macro, dof is razor thin, which is why one needs to use stacking for some images. For the test, i did no processing work to any of the files either before processing or after creating the composite. Apr 11, 2016 its spring, which means its wildflower season, and focus stacking season. Claudia and i spent the afternoon up there on wednesday, and had a great. To use this technique, you take several images of the same scene, focusing your lens on a different part of the object for each shot.
Other software packages exist to do the same thing, such as zerene stacker, but helicon focus is what im familiar with. Focus stacking is foolproof, is often faster than calculating hyper focal distance even when using your smartphone app, and gives you an image where every inch is tack sharp. With focus stacking, we can have the best of both worlds. The ultimate focus stacking guide for landscape photographers. The two main times this happens are when youre shooting landscapes with something happening in both the foreground and the background, like in the example above, or when youre doing macro photography.
Some scenes just beg to be sharp everywhere, but have too much depth to make that possible in a single shot. Although adobe photoshop offers a stacking software program, ian uses a dedicated software called helicon focus. Stacking can be used in landscape photography by combining a photograph focused on the foreground and one focused on the background to create an incredible depth of field that exceeds what could be done using a very high fstop f16f64, using a tiltshift lens, or even a large format camera. Stacking is done in software using the digital images. Focus stacking, put simply, is moving the point of focus over a subject in a number of small increments. Both give superb results in the right hands, although in my opinion, the focus stacking software of choice does tend to be zerene stacker for photographers interested in quality rather than speed. I spent several hours today trying all three for the first time and got. The focus stacking software selects the sharp areas in each image. Focus stacking is like doing a panorama stitch but instead of blending images together on the sides we blend the images together by placing them on top of each other. That sounds simple enough, and sometimes it actually works out that way. We tested this system and compared the results with several different software packages combinezp, automontage, helicon focus and zerene stacker. In this manuscript we present a focus stacking system, composed of commercial photographic equipment. Apr 23, 2018 with more complex blends, i sometimes use helicon focus, a software program thats dedicated to focus stacking.
In adobe bridge, select all the files in the focus stack and open them as a group in adobe camera raw. How to focus stack macro photos in the field nature ttl. For example, think about a wave rolling into shore. If you dont have photoshop, there are other options. Then you can use helicon focus to blend all the sharp areas together and produce a completely sharp image. Just put the camera on a tripod, shoot multiple exposures each focused to capture part of the scene sharply, then combine those shots to produce an image that is well focused everywhere. Focus stacking is an interesting development of digital photography, and, more specifically, digital postprocessing. The ultimate focus stacking guide capturelandscapes. Our very own matthew saville made this excellent video which shows you exactly how to focus stack within photoshop. When wind is an issue i always run through at least two or three focus stacking progressions to ensure that i have a sharp frame at each focus point.
Focus stacking lets you take several photos of a landscape, focused at different points, and combine them together into the sharpest possible image. Helicon focus is another software that many photographers use for focus stacking and, as the name might imply, its also a software thats built for that exact purpose. May 29, 2016 the toughest thing about focus stacking in the field is dealing with changing conditions such as wind, rain and light. Helicon focus is another commercially available stacking software program, produced by helicon soft. This technique is primarily used in two fields of photography. Focus stacking can be effective in two very different contexts.
The focus stacking software listed in this article carry out the job of focus stacking pretty easily with satisfying results. Adobe photoshop is the most used software for advanced image processing. Chasy draw ies chasys draw is capable of providing superresolution image stacking, supports icon editing, can convert multiple files images, and many more. Focus stacking comparing photoshop, helicon and zerene by. Picolay is a focus stacking software with multiple uses. Landscape photographer felix inden often uses helicon for images that photoshop cant handle and has the following to say. In lowlight photography, for example, using a small aperture will create very long exposure times, which may not be ideal if there are elements moving and you want the shot to be still and sharp. Short introduction into the focus stacking with helicon focus 6. When working with landscapes, focus stacking is a powerful approach in creating sharp images from foreground to the background. On occasion you can get away without it, sometimes you may even want a slightly more shallow depth of field. Jan 24, 2020 once i begin making series of focus bracketed images nikon calls it focus shifting, i plan on licensing either helicon focus or zerene stacker to stack the images when photoshop ccs stacking capability isnt sufficient.
Since the legs that moved during the series of exposures were completely out of focus, the software ignored it and no movement was visible in the final result. Focus stacking can be used in a number of different types of images, but the trick is most common for macro photography because getting up close creates a shallower depth of field i. Yes, you can focus stack in photoshop, but its slow, sometimes painfully so, and, more importantly, the results are not always perfect. Focus stacking is commonly used in various forms of photography but is most known within the genres of. At this size, you can appreciate the scene but you cannot tell whether everything is sharp or not. This is what i reach for when i need to blend a focus stack of flowers in the foreground of a landscape. Here you see a crop of the top of the frame above before. Focus stacking for landscape photography outdoor photography. In addition to better image quality, another benefit to using moderate apertures is that the depth of field is simply narrow and with several images, the exact point of transition can be chosen. You can use the demo version of the tool for evaluation. In this tutorial we will create a focus stacked image using the promote control and the nikon d7200. Focus stacking is the technique of stacking or blending a number of images that have been focussed at different points throughout a scene to give a final image that contains the sharpest portions of the originals, seamlessly blended into one. As the name suggests, focus stacking is a technique where you take multiple photos of the same subject, but at slightly different focusing distances, and stack them.
Helicon focus is a fantastic program from helicon soft that was originally designed for macro photography, but it can also be applied to other types of images, such as landscapes, gardens, stilllife photography, and even architecture. An introduction to focus stacking digital photography school. As well, focus stacking only works as well as the software, so issues with haloing, ghosting and the like can occur. These not only align and blend focus stacked images but will also automate much of the process. Recently, i began working with focus stacking images, using helicon focus and when i had the idea to write a book on artistic digital imaging, i decided to include a chapter on this subject.
Of course it works great with simpler subjects, closeups, and landscapes also. The system is inexpensive compared to highend commercial focus stacking solutions. Focus stacking is a really powerful technique in landscape photography. Combinezp is an amazing software for image stacking. It has a straightforward interface and enables the user to retouch the pictures after stacking in the pro version.
Using focus stacking on landscapes for extreme depth of field. Recently, i began working with focusstacking images, using helicon focus and when i had the idea to write a book on artistic digital imaging, i decided to include a chapter on this subject. Canon eos utility is camera support software that comes bundled with every canon dslr. On one hand, compared to a single photo, focus stacking takes up more time and memory card space. Focus stacking is a powerful technique for extending a photos apparent depth of field. No big swaths of poppies, but smaller patches, and some of those patches are mixed with other flowers, which always makes things more interesting. It can perform image processing, create slide shows, make animated gif images, and more. Focus stacking walkthrough 1 the focus stacking workflow 2 how to prepare a focus stack 3 how to shoot a focus stack 4 software tools for focus stacks 5 postprocessing tools for focus stacking. Its perhaps most useful in closeup and macro photography, since the camera lenss highest fstop is often insufficient to render everything in focus. In your guys opinions, what is the best focus stacking software.
The final result is a remarkable landscape photograph in perfect focus from foreground to background. Helicon focus and focus stacking helicon soft website. Apr 11, 20 focus stacking also lets the point of transition between in and out of focus to be precisely selected. Focus stacking is commonly used in various forms of photography but is most known within the genres of landscape and macro photography. The best thing about them is that you dont need to touch the camera to take the. There are two main commercial vendors of focus stacking software. Focus stacking involves stacking together images to achieve a larger depth of field. Focus stacking in landscape and architectural photography. Join pro shooter ian plant and discover how to create a wide angle landscape image through focus stacking.
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