HELICON FOCUS WHICH METHOD HOW TO
HELICON FOCUS WHICH METHOD FULL
HELICON FOCUS WHICH METHOD SOFTWARE

HELICON FOCUS WHICH METHOD SOFTWARE

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. There are two main commercial vendors of focus stacking software: Zerene Stacker and Helicon Focus.

HELICON FOCUS WHICH METHOD FULL

On DSLRs and full frame cameras, reversed enlarger lenses and microscope objectives make for a good value for money lens to stack with. Topend stackers look for lenses that minimise such changes in perspective between frames, as a complete undistorted field of view over the target without any perspective or magnification changes between frames will make it easier for stacking software to render a good stack. But what is of particular importance to focus stackers is not only the absolute quality and resolution of the lens for the single image to be stacked, but also its properties and how it performs throughout the stack, which manifest itself as perspective and magnification changes between frames as the camera focuses at different focus points to create a stack sequence. Lens - The less abberation and distortion your lens has, the better the chance you give to your stacking software to align the images correctly. That said, stacked images can be surprisingly unsharp and some moderate high pass sharpening is usually required. Obviously handheld exposures are perfectly capable of creating sharp images if there is enough light, but do be aware that doing everything you can to maximise initial sharpness can influence the quality of the final focus stack greatly. So combining shots made with flash freezing the images sharply are more likely to be successful than shots which use handheld long exposures creating pixel blurry shots. For a successful stack, you need sharp images to begin with. Sharpness - Focus stacking is not a magic bullet that converts 10 unsharp images into one sharp image.

One thing to observe is that for many not so great stacks, all the factors need to be explored and relying just on buying a more expensive lens is no guarantee of success if all the other factors are not in good shape. Regardless of the software or hardware you're using to create a focus stack, there are certain standout factors that will affect the quality of your final focus stack. Learn Focus Stacking!Īs of March 2017 I'm now doing full and half day workshops covering everything macro, which of course includes focus stacking! If you want to try out Stackshot, WeMacro or MJKZZ stages, or want to learn Zerene and/or Helicon Focus, and spend some time getting to grips with the whole stacking process from a to z, you could do a lot worse than to spend a day doing macro, learning insect praparation techniques and learning to stack. Like anything, there's a workflow and certain amount of preparation that's done before shooting a focus stack.

Focus stacking, also known as macro stacking, focal plane merging, z-stacking and focus blending, can be done inside on the kitchen table during winter and is fun to learn, opening new worlds and opportunities for photography.

HELICON FOCUS WHICH METHOD HOW TO

Focus Stacking Walkthrough 1 ➤ The focus stacking workflow 2 ➤ How to prepare a focus stack 3 ➤ How to shoot a focus stack 4 ➤ Software tools for focus stacks 5 ➤ Postprocessing tools for focus stackingįocus stacking is done by amateurs, professionals and part-timers, has applications in entomology, science and astronomy and there's even a camera that focus stacks on the Mars Rover.

All you need to start focus stacking is a digital camera, a stage, a flash, your tripod, the right software for stacking and a good sprinkling of patience. Starting out with focus stacking isn't hard, can be done at any time and doesn't need to be expensive. Stacking overcomes this by combining the sharpest parts of several images focused at different points and combining them into one very sharp composite image. Focus stacking is a photography term used to describe the process of combining photographs to obtain images with a much larger depth of field that would be possible in a single photo.įocus stacking as a photography technique is especially useful for macro photography of small objects, because regardless of the f/stop used, the unavoidably small depth of field shooting small objects means that much of your subject will actually be unsharp and out of focus.

Helicon focus which method