[atupdate]

This is the same image but with a little masking and some hue adjustment.



Tim

[atupdate]

I did a series of shots with varying focus settings using the Voigtlander Macro 125mm f/2.5 on my K10D and stacked them in Zerene Stacker

Could you post one of the individual images so we can see what focus stacking did for the image?

Tim

[wkraus]

Could you post one of the individual images so we can see what focus stacking did for the image?

Tim

Yes I can, but only in a few days, I have the original DNG files on an external HD drive.

[atupdate]

Yes I can, but only in a few days, I have the original DNG files on an external HD drive.

When you get the time it would be much appreciated.

Tim

[wkraus]

Could you post one of the individual images so we can see what focus stacking did for the image?

Tim

Tim,

The stacked image comes from a series of seven shots I took at f/5.6 with focus settings adjusted from near to distant. The effect is more obvious with a big image than with the small downsized file I posted. These are crops at 50% from the first and last images in the series. Third is the same crop from the final image. As the magnification ratio changes with the focus setting, the closer shots have a narrower FOV. Zerene Stacker takes care of this automatically. What gets you in trouble is the wind slightly moving the flowers. In that case manual retouching is necessary or you will end up with double edges and so on. As the software is looking for the areas with the highest contrast, specular highlights that show the surface structure may be tricky too and require some retouching. What I like about the stacking process as compared to stopping down for depth of field is that you get better resolution and you can keep a blurred background with a nice bokeh.

[wkraus]

"Hommage à Muybridge"



A grey heron posing in front of my camera (K10D with smc Pentax-A 645 400mm f/5.6). The background is a little too nervous for the Muybridge effect.

[wkraus]

My son doubling as triplets (K10D with smc Pentax-FA 31mm f/1.8 Limited)

[dosdan]

Nice shot, wkraus.

What was the f-stop? Did you pre-focus on the ball and stay in MF?

By the way, I've always liked that "just about to kick the ball" pose. Here's my son, Kaiea, in this 2009 U7 soccer action shot (from my gallery):



Dan.

[wkraus]

Thank you! Nice moment you captured too.

Did you pre-focus on the ball and stay in MF?

Exactly. There is no f-stop in the EXIF data (for some reason I must have used the aperture ring). Exposure was 1/350 at 280 ISO, I would guess I would have chosen f/5.6.

[wkraus]

A new focus stacking exercise: this began as a bokeh test of the FA 31mm f/1.8 Limited. The challenge: get all (or most) of the blossoms in sharp focus while keeping the background blurred. The solution: 12 exposures at f/2.8, stacked in ZereneStacker. This needed a lot of manual retouching in ZS due to the difficult 3D shape of the blossoms. Cropped, curves adjusted and smart sharpened in Photoshop CS6.




A 100% crop:



100% crop from a single shot:

[atupdate]

Tim,

The stacked image comes from a series of seven shots I took at f/5.6 with focus settings adjusted from near to distant. The effect is more obvious with a big image than with the small downsized file I posted. These are crops at 50% from the first and last images in the series. Third is the same crop from the final image. As the magnification ratio changes with the focus setting, the closer shots have a narrower FOV. Zerene Stacker takes care of this automatically. What gets you in trouble is the wind slightly moving the flowers. In that case manual retouching is necessary or you will end up with double edges and so on. As the software is looking for the areas with the highest contrast, specular highlights that show the surface structure may be tricky too and require some retouching. What I like about the stacking process as compared to stopping down for depth of field is that you get better resolution and you can keep a blurred background with a nice bokeh.

I lost track of this thread. I never would have guessed how well the focus stacking works. Thanks for posting.

Tim

[dmnf]

Very nice. I have been trying to do this but not very successful.
Can I use Faststone to do what wkraus did with the soccer picture? Can you give me some quick steps?
If I have to use Photoshop, what kind of keywords I should search if I want help on this topic?

[wkraus]

Very nice. I have been trying to do this but not very successful.
Can I use Faststone to do what wkraus did with the soccer picture? Can you give me some quick steps?
If I have to use Photoshop, what kind of keywords I should search if I want help on this topic?

dmnf,
I do not know Faststone but if you have access to Photoshop it is really quite easy, even without a tripod if you resist the temptation to pan with the movement. Load the individual frames into a stack (File> Scripts> Load Files Into Stack...) or just paste them onto the first one as new layers. Then auto-align them so that identical content is neatly fitting (Image> Auto-Align Layers). Then just select the parts you wish to keep with the Lasso tool (i.e., the soccer boy in my example), feather the selection as appropriate so the layers will nicely blend (Select> Modify> Feather), invert the selection (Select> Inverse) and delete the rest. Repeat this for each layer above the first one (which you leave untouched). After perhaps some fine-tuning of the transitions, flatten the image (Layer> Flatten Image) and you're done.

[atupdate]

dmnf,
I do not know Faststone but if you have access to Photoshop it is really quite easy, even without a tripod if you resist the temptation to pan with the movement. Load the individual frames into a stack (File> Scripts> Load Files Into Stack...) or just paste them onto the first one as new layers. Then auto-align them so that identical content is neatly fitting (Image> Auto-Align Layers). Then just select the parts you wish to keep with the Lasso tool (i.e., the soccer boy in my example), feather the selection as appropriate so the layers will nicely blend (Select> Modify> Feather), invert the selection (Select> Inverse) and delete the rest. Repeat this for each layer above the first one (which you leave untouched). After perhaps some fine-tuning of the transitions, flatten the image (Layer> Flatten Image) and you're done.

Here is a visual tutorial showing what wkraus is talking about.

Cloning Tutorial - Tutorials

Tim

[dmnf]

Very useful hints and tutorial. I use PS CS3 and this is my first multi-shot picture. Pentax K-r with kit lens.
I don't know why but I always think other people's picture are sharper than mine. Does my camera has focus problem?