Extreme macro software focus stacking and post processing. Registered members may log in to forums and access all the features. Focus stacking is a powerful technique for extending a photos apparent depth of field. Extension tubes will generally make a sharper image, and if youre willing to forgo automation features, a lens reversal ring can be useful. In macro, dof is razor thin, which is why one needs to use stacking for some images.
This is especially easy to do using nikon d850, z7 or z6, but can be done using any nikon camera and lens. Focus stacking, also known as z stacking or depth of field blending, is a technique that combines multiple images focused at different planes, to obtain a greater depth of field. Focus stacking is a technique that will give your macro shots much sharper focus. Ive been using a new program called affinity photo. Combinezp is an amazing software for image stacking. There are two main commercial vendors of focus stacking software. Chasy draw ies chasys draw is capable of providing superresolution image stacking, supports icon editing, can convert multiple files images, and many more.
Simply load the images that you want to stack, then select the option to stack images. Focus stacking can be used to increase the available depth of field in a shot. Macro and close up photography limited depth of field solved with this photoshop tutorial. Focus stacking can be used in any situation where individual images have an undesirably shallow depth of field. Focus stacking comparing photoshop, helicon and zerene by. Stackshot is an electronically controlled macro rail system that coordinates the movement of the macro rail and the triggering of the camera. Zerene stacker is focus stacking software designed specifically for challenging macro subjects and discerning photographers. Beginners guide to focus stacking for macro photography. Combinezm is more than just an image stacking software that allows you to present your pictures in various different formats including still, 3d, movie and as a slide show. Focus stacking in macro photography has never been so simple. How to focus stack macro photos in the field nature ttl. Will hdr software like photomatix be able to focus stake. In looking for software to stack images i found that adobe photoshop cs6 to cc2017, helicon focus and zerene stacker appear to be popular programs for image stacking all of these are commercial products, but the nice thing is that they all offer 30 free trial where you can test the software. You need professional edition to use zerene stacker in support of a corporation, government agency, museum, and so on, or to make images for sale.
The optimal step size can often be calculated by the image acquisition software, however sometimes in order to increase the rate of acquisition or decrease the amount of light exposure to the sample larger step sizes are employed. In my initial test of the incamera technique, i used the eos rp to take macro shots of some flowering plants. It can perform image processing, create slide shows, make animated gif images, and more. The files are downloadable from his website and offer a variety of options on aligning and stacking images. My choice for this is photoshop as it works well for my needs, but there is other stacking software out there like zerene that may be better for you. The idea is that you later combine these photos in postprocessing software to create a final image with huge depth of field read more about focus stacking. I use stacking software zerene for the majority of my macro images, but never for landscaping. In your guys opinions, what is the best focus stacking software. Zerene is my preferred software cheaper and better. This latter technique is known as focus stacking, and is the subject of this article. Helicon focus and focus stacking helicon soft helicon. This is the original sr90p macro rail from mjkzz for extreme focus stacking photography, recommended. Macro photography focus stacking tutorial seeing in macro. However, if youre doing extreme macro work at wide or moderate apertures, you might even find that a step size of 1 isnt small enough so, when youre done with the stack, doublecheck to make sure that everything is good, or you may find yourself needing to repeat it later.
For the following tutorial i will be using an insect as my subject. These z stacks are generated by incrementally stepping through a sample using a focal drive. To use this technique, you take several images of the same scene, focusing your lens on a different part of the object for each shot. Focus stacking is commonly used in various forms of photography but is most known within the genres of landscape and macro photography. We have developed a plugin for our shutter stream product photography. Process and stack your images using your stacking software, bring in the substacks and perform any necessary retouching. In macro and photomicrography the closer one is to the subject or the. I dont want a free trial of all singing and dancing, as i wont be doing enough of it to warrant the cost. Outdoor photography school with brenda petrella 104,736 views. Focusstacking, fotostacking, focusstack, fotostack, makro. Hi macro shooters, i finally got around to downloading and trying combinezp this evening. It can even overcome the otherwise unavoidable sharpness loss. Use software such as nikon s view nxi to view the photos and select the files you want from each sequence.
As a, paid for, dedicated piece of focus stacking software youd expect helicon focus to have more features than photoshop and to hopefully do a better job. With any nikon camera and lens, a tripod, computer software, and perhaps some additional reasonably inexpensive equipment, this is easy and fun to do. Macro photography basic focus stacking indoor tutorial. Free or affordable focus stacking software macro and.
Focus stacking is an intermediate photography technique that combines the use of a camera and a postprocessing software such as adobe photoshop. The focusstacking process begins postshooting with image selection. The ultimate focus stacking guide capturelandscapes. Learn how to use focus stacking to extend the depth of field of an image. Today its hard to imagine macro or micro photography without focus stacking.
How to get sharp macro shots with focus stacking cnet. Both usa technology firms then interact with zstacking software from. With focus stacking software you can make your usual camera render results. Then you can use helicon focus to blend all the sharp areas together and produce a completely sharp image. Combinezp, picolay, helicon focus, zerene stacker, affinity photos, and photoshop are our. Of course it works great with simpler subjects, closeups, and landscapes also. Its particularly useful for macro and landscape photography at times when you might otherwise struggle to get enough depth of field. Professional edition also provides access to the softwares most advanced technical features and extended access to our support staff. Helicon focus stacking software interface showing a stacked diatom. As with manual focusstacking techniques, the incamera capture sequence is later transferred to computerbased software for compositing into a single highdefinition image. Zerene stacker is available as a free trial and can be downloaded here. Zerenestacker get exclusive discounts for zerenestacker only from us buy any zerenestacker licence directly from us and get a 15 euro dis.
That said, most macro subjects are rarely completely planar, so some parts would always be out of focus. Free or affordable focus stacking software macro and still life. How to focus stack macro photos in the field shares. Stackshot is functional with either a mac or pc and may be controlled remotely. I will describe different methods and software for stacking images below. Zerene stacker and helicon focus are two of the big players in focus stacking. Picolay is a focus stacking software with multiple uses. Im not going to be doing anything terribly sophisticated, and i doubt ill be doing a lot of slices per image. Each sequence will no doubt contain extra photos you took just in case but that were not shot at focus distances needed for focus stacking. Lord v, thomas shahan, and other prolific insect shooters have been using this software in recent years to increase dof in.
Both give superb results in the right hands, although in my opinion, the focus stacking software of choice does tend to be zerene stacker for photographers interested in quality rather than speed. For the lay person, is there software youd recommend for focus stacking besides the more expensive photoshop. It has been an unending quest to build an automated focus stacking rail for many focus stacking enthusiasts, ranging from modified manual rail to actually cnc machining their own rails. For example, with my camera, even with a 200mm lens for tight landscapes, at f11, dof goes from 96m to infinity. In this article gold member dhroberts applies it to closeup photography. There are several good alternatives, depending on what type of.
This is a free focus stacking software developed by alan hadley. In this tutorial, well learn how to do focus stacking in photoshop. Before yo go on with stacking, you can align the loaded images if the images are out of alignment. The resulting photos, however, can be striking and unique. What software is available for macro focus stacking. Zstacking and zprojection using a scaffoldbased 3d cell. How to blend multiple photos together to get wider depth of field with focus stacking. Every now and then, there will be a post in many popular online macro photography forum, facebook groups, etc, about making an automated rail for focus stacking.
You might also try focus stacking zstacking, since depthoffield at high magnification is. Thankfully the process of creating sharp macro photos has become even easier over the years with the introduction of cameras with builtin focus stacking capabilities. The interface of this focus stacking software is pretty slick and easy to use. There are two big players for stacking software on the market. Does anyone have any recommendations for free or affordable focus stacking software. Ive got czm on my old pc windows vista, my main pc is windows 10. Focus stacking software for macro photography youtube. Focus stacking, or focus blending, means taking a series of images, each with a different part of your scene or subject in focus, and blending them together into a single image where your entire scene or subject is in focus in other words, photoshop doesnt just blend the images together. Three stack composite along the horizontal lines of the fields. You can make measurements, resize, reduce noise, remove dust spots, alter contrast and brightness, overlay text etc. Its perhaps most useful in closeup and macro photography, since the camera lenss highest fstop is often insufficient to render everything in focus. I think this result shows that the nikon z7s image quality in conjunction with the best macro lens matches that of a mediumformat digital camera, especially when the z7 is used in its native iso64. Zerenestacker is well known by every serious macrophotographer and widely used.
No need to go out and buy additional stacking software. Stackshots simple userinterface makes the automation of the entire image collecting process for focus stacking very easy. In other areas photoshop, lightroom, aperture, etc are kind of industry standard options. This provides sharper images that can be combined to yield more realistic 3d impressions of the structure of interest.
Zerene stacker software, the discerning software choice for extreme macro focus stacking. A support group on yahoo is where you can get help on the software. The helicon tube is a specialized extension tube that enables your camera to perform automated and software controlled. Best focus stacking software helicon focus vs photoshop. Obtain an insect of your choice in a container and put it in a killing jar or use your freezer to do the job. You might want to do this where you just cant get the required dof no matter what aperture you use, or where you are using fairly open apertures to minimize diffraction softening but still want to significant dof. Traditionally this has been done in photo editing software like photoshop, using layers, or in dedicated focus stacking software.
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