Skip to main content

Focus Stacking 101

Focus Stacking 101

What is Focus Stacking?


  • Focus stacking is the process of taking several (if not a shitload) of pictures and slightly adjusting the focus between each shot.


Why do Focus Stacking?

 When you shoot macro photos, typically your depth of field (DOF) is very (if not extremely) shallow.  If you don't know what "depth of field" is, skip this post as you don't belong here.  In fact, leave this site and never come back as 99% of my posts are about or about taking photos.

Are you still here?

Now that the people who actually know a few things about photography and especially things about depth of field, I will continue on.

Since the DOF is shallow when shooting close ups, it is hard to get what you actually want in focus and that is where focus stacking comes in.

I took 35 pictures of the same subject and started my focal point at the object in the front.  Each subsequent picture moved the focal a butt hair until either infinity was reached or the amount of pictures were achieved.

Lucky for me, my camera has a built in setting where I can setup focus stacking.  My Nikon Z6 will take up to 300 individual frames.  The picture part is easy.  In post, you have to use Photoshop or other merging software to "stack the photos" and then blend the focus.  Depending on your Mac Computer (notice I didn't say Windows PC as I hate Windows) the process could take a few minutes.

The following pictures were my first attempt at doing focus stacking.









My next post will be after our next visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens.  

Until then...




Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for stopping by. Subscribe for future posts.

Popular posts from this blog

Jordan Day 1

 It's been almost three years since we had payed for our trip to Jordan and Israel.  THREE FUCKING YEARS! We finally went and had a great time.   The trip lasted almost a month and we started our adventure in Amman, Jordan.  We arrived a day early so we could acclimate to the time change (nine hour difference).   We had purchased some Briggs and Riley high end luggage in hopes to carry them on the plane due to all of the recent horror stories of lost and or delayed baggage.  No such luck!  We were forced to check our bags at the gate in Denver.  If we had known our bags would have to be checked, we would have brought a lot more clothes and a much bigger suitcase.  We only brought six days of clothes (with an extra abundance of underwear and socks).   The planes were on time and we arrived in Amman a bit tired and eager to get going.   Our first hotel was the House Boutique Hotel which was really comfortable.  The hotel had a ro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back From Morocco

I guess I forgot to tell you where we went for our three week vacation…. Morocco! Great trip! Met some new friends and basically toured the Moroccan countryside by bus, horse and buggy, 4x4’s and camel. We stayed at eleven different hotels and spent two nights in the Sahara desert (the Milky Way was awesome). Anyway, here is a link to the pictures that we took. Yes, Michelle and I have separate smug mug accounts for picture posting: Erich’s SmugMug site: https://erichphoto.smugmug.com/International-Travel/Morocco/   Michelle’s SmugMug site: https://michellephoto.smugmug.com/Morocco/ you can see a video slide show as well (the pictures are the same) on my youtube site: https://youtu.be/_fXuiJeJ1cU enjoy
Post a Comment
Read more

Drywall Has Started!!

We got an email from Courtney (our beloved sales lady @ Richmond/American Homes) stating that the drywall material was dropped off at the new house yesterday and they will start drywalling immediately. We went by the house today to take a look. We opened the front door and immediately saw four of the laborers sitting against the wall enjoying lunch (and a bit of music). I am not sure who was more surprised to see who! I should have snapped a picture of them sitting there with jaws agape. Definitely a Kodak moment. The upstairs is almost completely drywalled since the blew in the attic insulation earlier in the week and the ground floor is about half way done. I guess that they will start the basement soon. Did I mention that we opted for the finished basement? I probably did but I like repeating it since it will be cool to have a finished basement. Michelle stated that it will be a cool place to build a fort. Oh wait, I think she said that about the master bedroom walk in clo...
Post a Comment
Read more