Focus stacking

[rpcrowe]

This might be a dumb question but, does it make any difference whether you shoot the series of shots with the area closest to you in focus first or the area furthest from you in focus first? I will be playing with focus stacking tomorrow...

[xpatUSA]

This might be a dumb question but, does it make any difference whether you shoot the series of shots with the area closest to you in focus first or the area furthest from you in focus first? I will be playing with focus stacking tomorrow...

I looked at my focus stacking app's help file and could find no constraints as to file ordering.

[xpatUSA]

Found this in DPR post about 'Fiji':

"The first image of the stack is the anchor image, every other image is transformed to align to it. This is a good thing to keep in mind, because the magnification changes when focusing or using a macro rail."

I read it as you'll choose your first image as the one with the "best" magnification . . whatever that is.

[dem]

I would expect to be able to choose any image from the sequence as the anchor image, or at least this has been my experience to date. I normally choose the one in the middle as it represents "average" best.

If you are using a rail and moving the camera towards the subject you might run into problems with framing if it was too tight to begin with. If you move the camera away from the subject, the subject will take less and less of the frame, so there should not be any problem.

If you refocus the camera, I would check how focus breathing affects both ends of the stacking sequence. Same problem really - is the framing loose enough at either end? Another possible problem when refocusing the camera is hitting the minimum focus distance before reaching the near end of the subject.

Once the images are taken you can rename/reorder them in any way you want, but it should not be necessary.

[DanK]

Yes with respect to composition, no with respect to processing. Dem's post has the reason, but it doesn't matter whether you use a rail. Regardless of whether you create the stack by moving the camera or by changing focus with the lens, the subject will be largest in the closest image. So, you should always compose using the closest focus, to make sure you don't inadvertently frame too tightly and lose some of what you want. I discovered this the hard way when I started doing stacking some years ago.

If you are creating the stack manually (I almost always do), it is very difficult to know when you have reached the end of the range you want in focus. So, my process is to be extremely careful at the near end. I generally stand to the side to see what point is closest to the camera and then magnify that part of the image in live view to focus on it. I keep moving back from there until the rear-most areas are blurry on the lcd. This always gives me some number of extra images that go beyond the rearmost image I want in focus, so the first thing I do after uploading the image is get rid of them. To do that, I pick the rearmost part of the image that needs to be in focus, blow it up to 100%, and move from one image to the next, flagging the extraneous images for deletion. LR will usually keep the magnified area in the same place as you move through the back of the stack, which makes this quicker.

There are now a number of options for stacking. I have only used three: the Combine programs, Photoshop, and Zerene. Of those, Zerene is by far my favorite. I have not used Helicon for stacking, although I have occasionally used Helicon Remote to create a stack while shooting tethered.