A lot of landscape photographers are interested in focus stacking combining multiple images of the same scene, each focused at different distances, into a single photo. Zerene stacker depth of field focus stacking software and which one may produce the better results. This was one of the first software packages commercially available to perform focus stacking. From with host michael erlewine, an introduction to focus stacking, shooting multiple layers of photos each at a different focus, producing a combined photo with as much of the subject in focus as is wanted. Includes focus stacking and minipanorama by michael erlewine 7 pages, 150 fullcolor photographs the first in a twobook series on closeup and macro photography. 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. All of the shots can then be combined together automatically in photoshop, or using specific programs like zerene stacker. This multistack photo of a poppy would do justice to. Generally there are two forms of stacking that you might use for different reasons. Best focus stacking software helicon focus vs photoshop.
The point here is that one way of looking at our personality is as the result of a series of choices we have made in the past. The focus stacking software i use zerene stacker is imo the best available i have purchased all the main ones and tested them, in particular for its superb retouching features. This volume covers closeup and macro technique, equipment, inthefield use, and even motivation and the spirit of this kind of photography. Focus stacking uses software to stack multiple pictures into one picture. Get started on your creative journey with the best in creative education taught by. You need professional edition to use zerene stacker in support of a corporation, government agency, museum, and so on, or to make images for sale. There are two main commercial vendors of focus stacking software. Focus stacking software from macro photography for. Michael erlewine posted a topic in general photo gear. I use zerene because michael erlewine sp, who is a stacking expert uses it but i m sure helicon would likely do as well. This is what i call a short stack, in this case six pixelshifted images each image using four pixelshifts.
Spirit grooves archive view topic poster expert brad kelly. Spirit grooves archive view topic a stellar personality. There are times when one shot of the subject isnt enough, or maybe the shots look good, but theyre a bit out of focus. Automontage is a stacking software program by syncroscopy. 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. Although focus stacking can be utilized in several genres of photography, this tutorial will outline its usage in landscapecityscape photography. Since fussy is not a technical term, let me explain.
Another example is a microscope the whole optical system is moved up or down relative to the subject to move the focal plane. An introduction to focus stacking digital photography school. Macro photography isnt easy because you need the right gear to get so close to your subjects. Focus stacking is a technique that will give your macro shots much sharper focus. Kelly attended his first rock concert in 1982, the jefferson starship. Often when you shoot landscaped you want something in the foreground to give some depth, and if you set focus on those details, the middle and back will be unsharp. To correct that, there are focus stacking software available and some hdr camera apps as well. Second, manual focus is almost required, unless you are using a camera with a builtin focusstacking function, such as the nikon d850 i used for this article, which can be set to do all the hard parts for you by automatically shifting focus and capturing a. Youtube video video from ted kinsman and his students at rit on how to use stackshot for focus stacking. Using zerene stacker software to create a focus stacked image. There are several possibilities including helicon focus, zerene stacker, photoshop, or combine zm. However, if the same shot was done with the laowa 100mm placed on the camera and then both camera and lense are mounted on a focus rail, it looks.
The soft bokeh in this shot is thanks to the voigtlander. Michael erlewine replied to michael erlewine s topic in archives here is a proofofconcept stacked image taken with the sony a7r3 using pixelshift as follows. It offers different ways to stack a set of images fixed, blended, weighted. How to use focus stacking to get impossibly sharp photos. Dof software camparison first light photo workshops. In todays episode, we show you how to do focus stacking in photoshop. Apr 24, 2012 this pin was discovered by michael erlewine. Apr 24, 2012 the macro and closeup photography of michael erlewine.
Professional edition also provides access to the softwares most advanced technical features and. You might also be interested in the various postings and articles published by michael erlewine. This is followed by the use postprocessing software like adobe photoshop cs4 to align the focused portion of each image into one finalandfocused image. For larger subjects, consider using software to automatically control the focus motor inside your lens. On occasion you can get away without it, sometimes you may even want a slightly more shallow depth of field. You can easily see smears where the turning of the helicoid even a tiny bit was too much for the focus stacking software to bridge the gap. From with host michael erlewine, an introduction to focus stacking, shooting multiple layers of photos each at a different focus, producing a combined photo with as much of the.
Its a very slick piece of automation that makes shooting even deep stacks of small subjects quick and painless. In this ebook bundle, photographer michael erlewine will demystify macro photography and teach you stepbystep how to achieve great results. 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. Focus stacking comparing photoshop, helicon and zerene by. 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. Of course i can focus somewhere in the middle and stop down to maybe 16 and get most of it sharp wideanglebut it wont be as sharp as with focus stacking. Zerene stacker professional and prosumer editions now include a direct interface to the stackshot rail see here for details. However, if the same shot was done with the laowa 100mm placed on the camera and then both camera and lense are mounted on a focus rail, it looks very good, certainly good enough. If youve not heard of focus stacking, this article will tell you what it is, why you should use it, compare it with other methods, and show you one way to do it. My understanding of focus stacking is that one wants the magnification focus distance to remain constant hence the reason focus rails are used to move the whole camera relative to the stationary subject. He was soon learning to play the drums and has been in about ten bands to date, including a stint in the late 1990s with the third bardo, and their. Someone who, for whatever reasons, has managed to make five or ten really good choices in their past, will appear as a most valuable and fascinating person today. 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.
Helicon focus stacking software interface showing a stacked diatom on the right using stacking method b. Does anybody have experience with either the kirk or really right stuff manual focusing rails, and a preference of one over the other. The site includes many free ebooks on macro, closeup, focus stacking, and so on. Focus stacking also known as focal plane merging and zstacking or focus blending is a digital image processing technique which combines multiple images taken at different focus distances to give a resulting image with a greater depth of field dof than any of. See more ideas about close up photography, photography and macro photography. If your problem is noise, common to astrophotographers, you capture a series of images and place them into a stack, al. The closer you get in macro flower photography, the fussier focus gets. A primer by michael erlewine 120 pages, over 100 photos an introduction to macro and closeup photography including focus stacking, the technique, equipment involved, examples of stacked photos, problems encountered in focus stacking, processing, and more. Because focus is inherently shallower as you get closer to your subject, slight variations of distance between camera and subject throw you out of focus very quickly, and even fullystopped down you may not have enough depthoffield for your entire. This means that there is a minimum distance and a maximum distance for which the picture is in focus. Well, focus stacking simply means taking multiple photos of the same subject, each with a different focused spot. Both helicon soft and zerene stacker offer 30day evaluation versions, they can be downloaded here. Closeup, macro photography, and focus stacking part 1 14.
Focus stacking is both a shooting and an editing technique that works. We also give you some pointers on how actually shoot the images youd need in order for focus stacking to work. A wide range of issues is discussed at length in the forums there, and the shift in usage from helicon to zerene over time has been striking. Michael erlewine recommends zerene for focus stacking. Focusstacking examples in macro photography closeup and macro photography 50 pages by michael erlewine published on feb 21, 2015 an album of closeup focusstacking with photographer michael erlewine. Many hires images with text and comment introduce various concepts of focusstacking, and discuss some of the important lenses used in this. This is a useful tool to have at your disposal, since it lets you take pictures in more situations than you otherwise could.
There are also special techniques that you must use to capture great photos in this style. From with host michael erlewine, an introduction to focus stacking, shooting multiple layers of photos each at a different focus. So exactly how does focus stacking work you may ask. How to get sharp macro shots with focus stacking cnet. Free ebook the art of focus stacking close up photography. The art of focus stacking is at least in my work to combine realism with the freedom of the imagination. In this tutorial, i will show you how to use a technique called focus stacking. Michael erlewine posted a topic in macro photography. Available with seamless streaming across your devices.
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