![]() ![]() ![]() Zerene Stacker seems to be the one preferred by serious focus stackers. Some of them are freeware, although I haven’t found any free software that matches the bought ones. Wikipedia has a good list of the available software. It’s possible to do it in Photoshop (although I’ve never tried). Once you have the sequence of images, there are various applications which can be used to combine the sharpest parts of each image into one composite, overall sharp image. ![]() The Photomacrography forums are a wonderful source for high magnification macro work. You can find many more examples of macro rigs, try searching for “macro rig”, or “extreme macro rig”. It uses a microcomputer and stepper motor to automate the whole process. If you would find that too tedious, then the ‘ Stackshot‘ is for you. 2000 exposures would be needed to cover a subject 10-20 mm long! With such rigs it is possible to use a microscope objective (lens) which, while extremely sharp, has a depth of field of only 10 microns or so. Coarse adjustments of the camera and subject position are handled with a pair of microscope focusing blocks, while a precision linear translation stage is used for the actual exposures. I use a simple focus rail by Manfrotto:įor fine, precision work others have created some wonderful rigs, such as the ‘ Bratcam‘ by Chris Slaybaugh. Contact me herefor further details.)įor macro work, it is usually advisable to move the camera or subject, not the focus ring on the lens. It is available as a limited edition, Giclée print on 13 x 19 in Epson Ultra Smooth Fine Art paper, complete with certificate of authenticity. (The image has been worked on a little in Photoshop, to remove the base and lighten the background. It was sharp throughout: Artist: Bruce Derrett I loaded all seven images into a software package (Helicon Focus, see below for link), clicked on “render”, and watched an image gradually appear. If we look at the last one in that sequence, you’ll see this the tail is quite sharp Next I took another six images, each one with the focus point further back. I focused on the closest part of the artwork, the “teeth”. They’re nice and sharp: Focusing and exposure were done on manual, using ‘Live View’. That initial image was taken at f/8 with my AI-S 105 mm f/4 Micro-Nikkor lens, with the camera mounted on a tripod. Overall, it measures about 50-60 cm from front to back. The example I’ve chosen however is an image of a relatively large object, “ Lantern Fish I ” by artist Bruce Derrett. It’s often used in macro photography, where the depth of field is very often quite shallow. ‘Focus Stacking’ is the term used when we combine several photographs in an attempt to get more of the final image really sharp. These notes are from a short talk given to the Nelson Camera Club, an introduction to the technique of ‘focus stacking’. ![]()
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