Focus Stacking ~ New to Me
I am interested in learning Macro/Closeup photography and understanding that Focus Bracketing is a good part of the process, I thought I would give focus stacking a try.
I did learn that stacking has restrictions on the total amount in file size it can handle at one time. So, I changed from shooting RAW to C-RAW from 48-50MB to 16-20MB in size. And not to try stacking 10 images at a time. What I found fastest was stacking a group of 3 or 4 images and then stack those stacked images. Learning is fun!
My first image is "just a strawberry" and part of my learning of what gear and camera settings works best for me. (Canon FD lens mounted on an RF body. At 18" from the subject the depth of field is 1/4".
f/1.4 - 1/2000th sec. - ISO100 - 50mm
The second image is a Fuchsia taken with a 11mm and 18mm extension tube and 10 feet distance to the subject.
f/11 - 1/30 sec. - ISO 1600 - 363mm.
The third photo is a Cancun Lily. For this composition I needed to be about 5 feet away to isolate the flower and avoid unwanted merging with the foliage. f/11 - 1.40 sec. - ISO 200 - 186mm.
7 Comments
Great work on these Dean.
It’s been quite a few years since I tried focus stacking on macros myself, and know how challenging it can be.
I tended to get frustrated try to capture flowers- not only do you have minimal DoF to work with on each shot, but even the slightest of breezes would cause the flower to move drastically within the frame.
This makes your results even more impressive!
Thank you Alan, I appreciate your comments.
Yes indeed the wind had me requesting a "do-over", but at least it's not film, so there is that to consider.
This is something I'd like to learn as well. I've used focus-stacking in the past, but nothing more than just giving it a try. Maybe it's time to try it further. Thanks for the post on it. The images are beautiful.
If you give it a try...be sure to post your photographs.
I thought the purpose of focus stacking was to make everything in focus??? (Says a member of the f64 Club....me!)
I like the third image the best.
The first photo was what made me thinking about focus stacking.
Or perhaps to give greater latitude in the areas you want in focus?