Focus stacking

[joebranko]

Have you selected all the layers you want aligned first? Unless you do so, Photoshop will not know which layers to work on.

Thanks Manfred. Yes, I am pretty sure I did,: I did hit select all but I will recheck..

Thanks Manfred. I finally got it..

[Geoff F]

You say you have your layers tiled vertically, Joe. You have to drag (or copy and paste) each image of the required stack onto one base image. So you get a bottom image then the other images as layers above that one. The bottom image must then be turned into a layer otherwise you will not be able to auto align the layers.

Right click that bottom layer and select Layer from Background which turns the bottom image into Layer 0.

Then select all layers and go to the Edit Menu to Auto Align etc.

As I said previously, this method is actually easier to do than to describe. If you still have problems I will see if I can get some screen shots.

[Geoff F]

See if this helps. It is the way I do things; but there are alternatives.

Get images on main work screen (from ACR or other source) and select Window Menu. Select Arrange, then Align Images Vertically (or horizontally). Click and drag thumbnail of right side image across to left image (from bottom right pane). Close right side image.



Right click Background (in bottom right pane) and select Layer from Background.



Select all layers then go to Edit Menu and Align Layers.



Return to Edit Menu and select Blend Layers. Layers are auto masked to reveal the sharpest areas.



If required (to correct any masking errors) these masks can be edited - with care.

Merge layers, if required, and continue with normal editing work such as cropping, colour/brightness adjustments etc.

There are other ways of getting images as layers to the Auto Align stage. But remember all images have to be as layers, including the background image.

[joebranko]

Thanks Geoff. That works great. I think I was too much in a hurry when I dragged one image over the other. I must practice more in photoshop!

[Geoff F]

There are several little things which can go wrong if you lose concentration, Joe, but once you get the hang of this operation it all works with a few flicks of your fingers.

Having the layer tab set to something else, such as History, is one mistake which I have made. Also failing to select all layers.

I often go up to 4 images for stacking with no problems but if you are using masses of images it is probably better to use another method of getting them from a source. Such as Load Scripts from pre stored images etc.

On occasions when the final merge doesn't work exactly as planned I will have a go at editing the masks, but you need a clear head to think about what you are doing. Using 'black/white' brushing over the masks can be effective for altering small areas; but remember when you remove an item from one layer you must also brush it back in on another layer.

[SSSdave]

I will use Photoshop CS6 for most truly static subjects however CS6 may still introduce artifacts. Worst are what it does to any naturally mushy elements. For outdoor vegetation, trees, clouds, etc with small movement, CS6 may be hopeless while Zerene Stacker given enough shots and tedious manual effort can fix much.

[joebranko]

Thanks again Geoff.

[joebranko]

I will use Photoshop CS6 for most truly static subjects however CS6 may still introduce artifacts. Worst are what it does to any naturally mushy elements. For outdoor vegetation, trees, clouds, etc with small movement, CS6 may be hopeless while Zerene Stacker given enough shots and tedious manual effort can fix much.

Thanks SSSDave. Does this also apply to camera shake for hand held shots?

[Geoff F]

With difficult subjects, a little pre focus stacking work on problem areas to make it clear to the software which areas are to be included or excluded can be helpful. Cloning or blurring to an image, as required, will force your stacking software to do what you require. Also, with Adobe Photoshop CC stacking you can see the masks which have been used to produce the result so with a brave heart and steady hand it is possible to brush out a 'mistake' in one mask then brush in that area on another layer mask. The worst issue for me is working out which mask requires editing then remembering which type of brush to use 'black or white'. The way I remember is black-out, white-in. I'm thinking about light, not any racial prejudice.

[joebranko]

With difficult subjects, a little pre focus stacking work on problem areas to make it clear to the software which areas are to be included or excluded can be helpful. Cloning or blurring to an image, as required, will force your stacking software to do what you require.

This is a great tip! Thanks Geoff.

[DanK]

Given that Zerene was brought up, I'll mention how Zerene handles the retouching that Geoff mentioned. Zerene shows a list of all images in the stack on the far left. The rest of the screen is two windows. During stacking, the source image is on the left, changing as the software works through the stack, and the composite is on the right. When the composite is done, you can select edit and retouch. this will place the composite in the right window and any source image you want in the left. For example, if an edge is clear in the fourth image in the stack but blurred in the composite, you would select the fourth image as the reouching source. The cursor becomes a circle when you are retouching, and you can change its size with the mouse wheel. The cursor is aligned on the two images. you simply run the cursor circle over the area you want to clone from, and it automatically paints that area onto the composite. that's all there is to it.

You can also retouch from one composite to another. I typically do flowers with the DMax algorithm, which is does a better job preserving colors. However, this method is more prone to parallax halos than PMax, which also does a better job of preserving fine details. I tell the software to use both methods, select the DMax image as the retouching target, and select the PMax composite as the retouching source. That almost always does the trick. I almost never have to go back to individual images.

However, there are some flaws that even this retouching won't fix. In those cases, which are relatively rare in my work, I take the retouched composite into Photoshop and do some manual cleanup.

[harlequin2]

Is there any difference to the results achieved by (a) keeping the focus fixed and moving the camera on a rail, or (b) keeping the camera fixed and changing the lens focus point?

[Stagecoach]

Is there any difference to the results achieved by (a) keeping the focus fixed and moving the camera on a rail, or (b) keeping the camera fixed and changing the lens focus point?

Yes, the perspective changes slightly. General advice seems to be for 'very small' objects use a rail, for 'larger' use the focus barrel but also that most of the stacking programmes deal with this well.

Here's a test I did some time ago, note the apparent change in perspective using the rail. It would have been a bit better with consistent lighting.





Basically for this test I took two shots for each method, one focused at the front, the other focused at the rear. These were then aligned as good as I could possibly get them to make the Gifs.

[harlequin2]

Yes, the perspective changes slightly. General advice seems to be for 'very small' objects use a rail, for 'larger' use the focus barrel but also that most of the stacking programmes deal with this well.

Here's a test I did some time ago, note the apparent change in perspective using the rail. It would have been a bit better with consistent lighting.





Basically for this test I took two shots for each method, one focused at the front, the other focused at the rear. These were then aligned as good as I could possibly get them to make the Gifs.

Thanks, that illustrates it very well.

[ST1]

Yesterday I watched a YouTube video from a UK based photographer in which he advocated the use of handheld focus stacking. Briefly he set the camera to take multiple shots (camera set to high speed continuous shooting) focus just in front of the subject, start the high speed sequence and move the camera towards the subject making twenty or so images.
He then showed how he processed the images using LR and PS. Using PS he stacked and edited the images in the same manner that Geoff describes in post #23 above, including the modifications to the auto generated masks.
I’ve not considered this shooting method before for focus stacking, maybe now is the time for me too give it a go.


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[Antonio Correia]

Antonio, I think there is some communication error here. Koko posted about focus stacking—combining images with different focal points. As far as I know, Lightroom does not do focus stacking, although there is at least one plugin that I think can. Lightroom can combine images with different exposures but the same focal point, which is entirely different. Or am I missing something? Dan Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you Dan. It was my error ! Sorry!

[DanK]

Yes, the perspective changes slightly. General advice seems to be for 'very small' objects use a rail, for 'larger' use the focus barrel but also that most of the stacking programmes deal with this well.

Exactly. There is a change in perspective regardless of which method you use. The reason to use the lens barrel with "larger" objects is that moving the camera and lens together on a focus rail changes the location of the entrance pupil. It's explained about 7 minutes into this video. It may be in the video, but somewhere I heard or read that Rik Littlefield, the author of Zerene, suggested that one not use a rail for subjects as big as or bigger than a raisin.

I do a lot of stacking, and while I own a high-quality rail (a Kirk), I never use it for changing focus between shots. I use it only to help me position the camera for the first (closest) shot. I do all stacking by turning the lens barrel.

[Astro]

Yesterday I watched a YouTube video from a UK based photographer in which he advocated the use of handheld focus stacking. Briefly he set the camera to take multiple shots (camera set to high speed continuous shooting)

They say you can not teach an 'old dog' new tricks Well this old dog has just learnt one

I've been shooting stacked macro of 'static' subjects for years, but had never attempted it on subjects 'likely' to move, particularly insects & bugs. It had never occurred to me that I could be steady enough to use high speed continuous shooting and shoot 'through/across' the subject successfully. ... 'til I read the above.

I had a go today, courtesy of a stray woodlouse. Basiclly I found it wandering on blocked section in my garden, so I transposed it 'tempoarily onto a garden table s t the camera to manual, slow speed continuous shooting mode and manually shifted the focusing ring of the lens keeping the shutter depressed.

I did try the alternative method of presetting the focus and moving the camera forward while shooting.

For me rotating the focus ring manually while keeping still, worked quite well (for a first attemp!). I will need to practise more though. When I'm finally released from lockdown, I will be trying this more, in the wild. To date I have always taken a single exposures. It will be interesting to see if I end up with more 'keepers'.

Anyway, back to the poor woodlouse, when transferring it to the table it ended up on it's back, and after each attempt to right itself it rested for a moment, and stopped waving its legs around. At which point I shot a series of short stacks.

Results are shown below,

#Stack 1
stack-1 by James Edwards, on Flickr


#Stack 2
Stsack-2 by James Edwards, on Flickr


#Stack 3
Stack-3 by James Edwards, on Flickr


#Stack 4
Stack-4 by James Edwards, on Flickr



Captured using a Canon EOS R and Canon 100mm macro lens, manual focus , aperture priority F4, slow continuous shooting mode. Stacked in Photoshop CC by loading stack into layers, auto aligning and then auto blending the stack. Finished by adjusting brightness and sharpening slightly.

At the end of the exercise, the woodlouse was 'righted' and returned to a shaded nicely mulched flower border.

ps..... Peter, do you have the link for the video you mentioned in your post, having 'surprised' myself with this I'm keen to check out the technique a bit more.

[DanK]

James,

I realized after reading your post that I left out something critical. Because of the mention of a rail, I thought the issue is stacking with stationary subjects. That's virtually all of my stacking because I am simply not coordinated enough to get the necessary images of a moving bug.

However, I know macro photographers who do, and they generally use camera movement rather than rotating the lens barrel. This is of course similar to using a rail, optically speaking, but if you are not merging across different stacking methods, it often will work fine.

A very good site to go to for tips is this one: https://dgrin.com/categories/holy-macro.

Dan

[Cantab]

Yesterday I watched a YouTube video from a UK based photographer in which he advocated the use of handheld focus stacking. Briefly he set the camera to take multiple shots (camera set to high speed continuous shooting) focus just in front of the subject, start the high speed sequence and move the camera towards the subject making twenty or so images.
He then showed how he processed the images using LR and PS. Using PS he stacked and edited the images in the same manner that Geoff describes in post #23 above, including the modifications to the auto generated masks.
I’ve not considered this shooting method before for focus stacking, maybe now is the time for me too give it a go.


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It sounds too easy! But, more seriously, I've been thinking of doing a focus stack on an old bellows camera so may give this technique a tryout. (For clarity, the photos will be taken of the old camera – not using the old camera!)

Peter, do you have the URL for this YouTube?