![]() ![]() Recent versions of Capture One software allow you to set an overlay to see which areas of a frame are in focus. I did download a free trial version of Helicon Focus I’ll come back to that in a bit. I don’t I prefer to use Affinity Photo instead. For those who own Photoshop, it’s possible to do focus stacking in Ps. The two software packages best known for focus stacking are Helicon Focus and Zerene Stacker, but there are other options. Having made your exposures, the next step is to download and stack them. Having a manually-selectable focus point meant I was able to choose different areas in the frame on which to focus. There are DoF calculator apps that will take the lens information, camera sensor information and subject distance and generate a minimum/maximum focusing distance and DoF for any image, but for this exercise I simply erred on the side of caution and made more exposures than I thought I would need. The Sony also has focus peaking, which shows which areas of the frame are in focus (to some degree). Seeing the image magnified makes it easier to determine where to choose a focus point. ![]() With the Sony A7R III for example, there’s an ability to magnify the frame, either the EVF or the live view screen on the back. If you’re not using one of those cameras you’re going to have to do it manually, and that depends on the camera you do have. If you’re using one of the cameras mentioned above, you set up your frame, give the camera the closest focus point, the farthest focus point and the number of steps in between. There’s no reason most other current digital cameras couldn’t add this through a firmware upgrade as it’s a matter of turning the focus barrel of the lens in very precise increments. Some cameras (the Nikon D850, the Nikon Z7 and the Phase One XF for example) have this ability built-in to the camera. There’s also free-lensing, but that’s a topic on its own. If you’re looking to do macro photography you’ll need to use a macro lens or some device that changes the minimum focusing distance of your existing lens (a bellows unit, extension tubes and the like). NB: Every camera lens has a minimum focusing distance and this process won’t change that. As far as camera equipment, you need at minimum a camera/lens combination that allow you to manually select focus points. Any movement between images will be noted and show up in the composite. The most important things you need are a subject that doesn’t move and a sturdy tripod. The first is the collection of the images the second is stacking and processing the composite. As with making HDR or panoramic images, there are two phases to images such as this. So, you’re likely wondering: “Can I do this?” and “What equipment do I need?” The answer to the first question is, “It depends.” It depends on what equipment you have on hand. The stacking is imperfect (beginner bias) but it’s easy to see there’s a much greater DoF. Here’s a composite stack of 13 images made with different focus points. Shallow DoF can be used as a creative tool in separating a subject from unwanted background elements, but sometimes it’s simply the laws of physics. As you can see, the foreground is clearly in focus but the background is not. This image was made with a Sony A7r III, fitted with a Sony FE 24-105mm G lens. There’s more than enough information on that available on the web.įocus stacking is a process whereby one takes a series of images with different points of focus and then uses software to choose sections of each image to create a composite image. We’re not going to weigh you down with the details, like Circles of Confusion, Scheimpflug principle, etc. Depth of field is the range of distances within any particular image that appearto be in focus. It’s something I’ve only recently tried so I thought I’d share some experiences.įor any image there’s one point (at most) in the frame that is in exact focus. We’re certainly not the first to entertain this idea, but while most people associate focus stacking with macro photography (at really high magnifications one’s depth of field (DoF) can be 0.05mm, or less) focus stacking can have value in architectural and landscape photography, even product photography as well. ![]()
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