If you mean stacking to process a lot of images similarly, then yes. Its simply not the endall beall solution to depth of field problems. You can download the raw files i used to create the final image from my dropbox at ht. Introduction to focus stacking for beginners adobe.
When your camera is really close to the subject, depth of field will be very shallow. I am looking to explore focus stacking for close up marco work. Youtube video video from ted kinsman and his students at. However, with focus stacked images, working in lightroom, then photoshop. Jul 12, 2016 using focus stacking techniques to overcome depth of field limitations. These images are a result of a concerted effort to understand focus stacking, and two methods, helicon focus hf and photoshop ps, of processing the focus slices into a. Picolay by heribert cypionka about manual tutorials deutsch galleries whats new focus stacking slim and fast stereo images from a single zstack image processing slide shows animated gif images etc. You can always desharpen after stacking, as part of the rest of your lr editing. This is focus stacking in lightroom and photoshop cc by mark toal on vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them. Best focus stacking software helicon focus vs photoshop. Focus stacking performance comparision of photoshop and. Lets stack with a pair of images with near and distance focus. Please note that in order to show how powerful the software is these two images.
This is a well combined list of top 5 focus stacking software. Focusstacking teil iii focusstacking bildbearbeitung. Then you can use helicon focus to blend all the sharp areas together and produce a completely sharp image. Learn how a landscape pro used focus stacking in lightroom to. How to do focus stacking between lightroom and photoshop. Using a technique called focus stacking, your images can get close to. Zerene stacker vs helicon focus comparison arda kutlu. To put this article in proper context, ive never used focus stacking for any of my client work, and i dont profess to be an expert at the techniquebut i have experimented with it. We tested this system and compared the results with several different software packages combinezp, automontage, helicon focus and zerene stacker. I already compared photoshop and the free software combinezp for combining stacking images. It sounds a bit scary to some new photographers or ones that arent used to working with adobe lightroom or photoshop.
Ein mit helicon focus gestacktes foto olympus omd em5 mk ii mit dem. In a previous article how to photograph the images needed for focus stacking, i went through what i think you will find is the best and easiest way to take the required photographs. Focus stacking comparing photoshop, helicon and zerene by. Focus stacking in photoshop and lightroom points in focus.
One thing it can do is to control auto focus lenses so that you can shoot a focus stack very precisely through a graphical user interface on your computer. Focus stacking, or focus blending, means taking a series of images, each with a different part of your scene or subject in focus, and blending them together into a single image where your entire scene or subject is in focus. Actually this is limited to a maximum 8 shot focus bracket. First of all, helicon focus has a big advantage over zerene stacker in terms of pipeline. Focus stacking is easier than you might think using adobe lightroom and photoshop to autoblend layers.
I recently downloaded affinity photo for windows to test the focus stacking as compared to helicon focus and zerene stacker. Aug 12, 2017 research study comparing focus stacking software for insect collections. I had the pleasure of testing the new firmware for about a month. Problems with focus stacking like everything in photography, focus stacking is a tool that can help in some situations and may not work at all in others. In adobe photoshop lightroom, you can focus stack by using autoblend layers on several images to create one final image with crisp lines. Zerene allows you to combine a large number of images at different focus points and stitch them together, compensating for the minutely small focus planes that any individual extreme macro shots have. There are relatively few steps required to process focus stacked images. Oct 18, 2017 focus stacking is a powerful imageediting technique for increasing the apparent depth of field in an image, and its relatively easy to accomplish. Focus stacking in lightroom 5 nikon photography forum.
I have also tried 2 third party pieces of software which worked very well, so know it can be done. We chose the olympus omd, a micro fourthirds camera with a nikon 55mm micronikkor attached using an adapter. Macro and product photographers often use the technique to control which elements are in focus, but it also works well for landscape scenes. I used the same machine i712gb ramssd hard drive for every step. On occasion you can get away without it, sometimes you may even want a slightly more shallow depth of field. In lightroom konnen wertkorrekturen zunachst fur ein bild. Focus stacking is a way to create an image that is sharp across a wider area than the hardware cameralens combinations depth of field would otherwise allow. Focus stacking is a process of using multiple images of the same object with different focus points and merging them into one single image to get an extremely sharp image with everything in focus. Precision automated focus stacking with stack shot. Anyway, today here im showing how to go from lightroom to photoshop with your focusstacked images, and then i did a stepbystep tutorial. Read about the perks of being a contributing member. Ive played with the product helicon focus, and while i didnt ultimately find it worth the money based on my needs, it does have some nifty features.
The focus stacking software listed in this article carry out the job of focus stacking pretty easily with satisfying results. In this manuscript we present a focus stacking system, composed of commercial photographic equipment. Autostacking in lightroom can quickly organize a huge set of images in to more manageable stacks, which are small groups of images grouped according to their capture time. The idea is to shoot several photos of a scene at slightly different distances, and then merge the sharpest portions of each shot using photoshop, lightroom or another editing program. Im not going to be doing anything terribly sophisticated, and i doubt ill be doing a lot of slices per image. Mar 22, 2018 focus stacking with the olympus tg5 tough camera. Both helicon soft and zerene stacker offer 30day evaluation versions, they can be downloaded here.
In this tutorial, well learn how to do focus stacking in photoshop. Focus stacking for sharper images has become a goto technique for photographers of all levels to achieve images that are sharp all the way through. I like picolay and tufuse the most as free focus stacking tools. Focus stacking tutorial in lightroom and photoshop youtube. Mind you, in my opinion there is no best stacking software, some programs handle certain files better than others. There are several possibilities including helicon focus, zerene stacker, photoshop, or combine zm. It seems that ps does not pick the portions of images to use in the focus stacking in any logical manner and i get misaligned glitches in the final image, especially in the more distant objects in an image. This is the fastest way to focus stack your images in photoshop diy. Photoshop and elements each have their own way of combining the multiple images into a single photograph. Focus stacking is the process of stacking multiple photos with differently focused areas, captured from a single position.
Jan 18, 2016 precision automated focus stacking with stack shot. Although i do have some experience with photography and post production, i have no experience with focus stacking so the easier the better. Basic editing and lens correction is done in adobe lightroom, while focus stacking, sensor spot removal and final editing is done in photoshop. As i am sure you will realize, you should choose the stack images option in the. Normally youd include a couple focus points in between but this illustrates what a simple blend can do. Mar 22, 2014 in my article lr enfuse plugin for lightroom i already reported about the plugin, but in the mentioned article enfusing hdr images was the topic. Focus stacking is where you shoot multiple shots of teh same subject but focus on a different section each time and them combine them using only the section that is in focus to make the final print. For example, if you are using a 100mm lens, at a distance of 50cm nearly 10 inches from your subject with an aperture as small as f16, the area which is acceptably sharp is just 1. Here are selected photos on this topic, but full relevance is not guaranteed. Stacking lightroom presets is crucial for the achievement of professional post processing results. The system is inexpensive compared to highend commercial focus stacking solutions. In my article lr enfuse plugin for lightroom i already reported about the plugin, but in the mentioned article enfusing hdr images was the topic. Quick guide to focus stacking with lightroom and photoshop. Ive actually tested this and find that the stacking engine propagates edges in the z axis more reliably if focus has been heightened somewhat.
Focus stacking in lightroom and photoshop cc on vimeo. As it stands, stacks are secondclass citizens in lightroom. How to photograph the images needed for focus stacking. Ive been having this problem with even the most up to date ps cc. Focus stacking is easier than you might think using adobe lightroom and. Helicon focus helicon soft helicon soft helicon soft. Using focus stacking techniques to overcome depth of field limitations.
Let me take you on a short walk through lightroom and photoshop. Stacking photos in lightroom 4 stacking photos in lightroom 4. Notice that the flowers in front and barn in back are all in focus. We tested our final stacked picture with a picture. These images are a result of a concerted effort to understand focus stacking, and two methods, helicon focus hf and photoshop ps, of processing the focus slices into a single image. Of necessity the data will be rgb pixels in reality, this dng is no different from a tiff. Why not focus stacking in lr lightroom queen forums.
Learn how i go between lightroom and photoshop to do focus stacking in only a few minutes. Zerene stacker, the leader in extreme macro software, has a deep. Photoshop since cs4 has had focus stacking built in. The software is small in size with lots of amazing features installed in it. When we look at a scenefor instance, a landscape with flowers.
As i started my focus stacking from lightroom, i send you the original raw and xmp files. This software lets you shoot full fledged studio photos with multiple models even. Stacks should be handled uniformly, regardless of the source selected. How to focus stack with zerene stacker macro photography. Most lightroom preset bundles have been created to make life very easy for you, but in reality, using them doesnt do you any favour. Currently, photos in different folders cant be stacked. The concept of focus stacking is like magic in the hands of a photographer, and focus stacking software is the wand that you need to get it done. Like the model it replaces, the new olympus tg5 has a builtin focus stacking feature in its macro closeup mode. To maintain optimal focus and sharpness, focus stacking is a technique where you take a series of photos focused at varying parts of the scene and combine them into one image that is completely in focus. Research study comparing focus stacking software for insect collections.
This restriction forces users to be aware of which folder a photo resides in, which goes against the mainstream digitalassetmanagement philosophy of hiding folder locations. Hopefully, this will make your focus stacking a much less intimidating process within your. There are two main commercial vendors of focus stacking software. Nachdem du deine stackingfotos in lightroom importiert hast, solltest du zur besseren ubersicht einzelne stackingserien optisch trennen. Focus stacking is a powerful imageediting technique for increasing the apparent depth of field in an image, and its relatively easy to accomplish. Does anyone have any recommendations for free or affordable focus stacking software. So in one case czp may be best, in another one cs4 or program x will give the best results. Free or affordable focus stacking software macro and. A focus stack is a combination of images shot at varying focal points that you blend in software.
Elaborate computing algorithms are standing behind each processed stack. Using canon eos utility to step focus zerene systems. In lightroom classic, for example, youd select the bright and dark. I dont think it is possible in lightroom v6 either, although lightroom v6 has a form of multipleshot averaging that seems to allow a long exposure to be emulated. 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. Focus stacking is commonly used in various forms of photography but is most known within the genres of landscape and macro photography. Focus stacking tutorial in lightroom and photoshop. I used a simple, 6shot series that are pretty typical in my world one where my subjects arent always absolutely, perfectly still. Focus stacking lets you extend the depth of field by combining multiple images, each each of the same scene, but with a different focus point. Focus stacking, or focus blending, means taking a series of images, each with a different part of your scene or subject in focus, and blending them together into a single image where your entire scene or subject is in focus in other words, photoshop doesnt just blend the images together. I first learned about focus stacking when i sat in on a lecture by george lepp, a photographer ive long appreciated and whose images i found very difficult to emulate. Free or affordable focus stacking software macro and still.
However, if one is happy to do the focus stacking in pp, the camera will do up to a 99 shot focus bracket. Thats not to say that i didnt know about focus stacking. In the todays article i report about enfusing focus stacking images. The resulting photos, however, can be striking and unique. Helicon focus can now stack raw files into a dng, the same way that lightroom makes panorama dng. Once i started using the new firmware, shooting was so much fun that i couldnt concentrate on my work for a month.
Although there were not any other processes during that time, the results are still should be considered as approximate. For example, focus stacking for macro photos, or star stacking image alignment and merge with median filter for astrophotography would be very useful to. If anyone could recommend software and or tutorials i would be grateful. In other areas photoshop, lightroom, aperture, etc are kind of industry standard options. Canon eos utility is camera support software that comes bundled with every canon dslr. Focus stacking is a powerful imageediting technique for increasing the.
Using canon eos utility to step focus canon eos utility is camera support software that comes bundled with every canon dslr. Computers and software focus stacking in lightroom 5. Utilising focus stacking and focus bracketing in insect. Precision automated focus stacking with stack shot fstoppers.
Helicon focus and focus stacking helicon soft website. The stacking by a focus stacking software is carried out very smoothly. You still have to take the time to get the photos in. This is the fastest way to focus stack your images in photoshop. Watch our video tutorial for a quick summary of why you should. Learn how a landscape pro used focus stacking in lightroom. Youtube video video from ted kinsman and his students at rit on how to use stackshot for focus stacking. This lens is effectively 110mm given the 2x crop factor, and getting the entire watch in focus required us to use the focus stacking technique were taking a look at today. Jul 08, 2019 for most people who just want to have some fun with their photography and have another trick up their sleeve focus stacking can be an interesting technique to explore.
No it is not a typo, i mean 99 as in 1 less than a hundred. What software is available for macro focus stacking. The ultimate focus stacking guide capturelandscapes. 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. Focus stacking with only photoshop elements focus stacking means the use of multiple exposures focussed at slightly different planes of focus with the infocus parts from the stack of images then combined into a single image with what appears to be a much greater depth of field than would be otherwise possible. Focus stacking in photoshop and lightroom points in. Focus stacking is an intermediate photography technique that combines the use of a camera and a postprocessing software such as adobe photoshop. 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. In this video tutorial, photographer mark denney will show you the fastest way to do it and end up with perfect results. Zerene stacker is a great package if focus stacking is your bag. While this this technique is often associated with macro photography. To say focus stacking is cheating is like saying buying a macro lens is cheating because it enables you to get macro shots. Photoshop and elements each have their own way of combining the multiple images into.