Topic: Focus Stacking Primer (Read 6951 times)

Michael Erlewine · « **on:** April 07, 2010, 01:19:34 pm »

Here is a short primer (83 pages) on Focus Stacking, with short stacks, for those interested. This is a rough draft, so I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, and what-not, which I will do my best to incorporate into the finished e-book, which will be distributed free to anyone. Please feel free to share this.

Since I have to work a full-time job, it has taken me some time to get this far. Appreciate feedback. It is a PDF file you can just open online at:

http://www.macrostop.com

Thanks, Michael

feppe · « **Reply #1 on:** April 07, 2010, 02:13:11 pm »

Quote from: Michael Erlewine

Here is a short primer (83 pages) on Focus Stacking, with short stacks, for those interested. This is a rough draft, so I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, and what-not, which I will do my best to incorporate into the finished e-book, which will be distributed free to anyone. Please feel free to share this.

Since I have to work a full-time job, it has taken me some time to get this far. Appreciate feedback. It is a PDF file you can just open online at:

http://www.macrostop.com

Thanks, Michael

That is a very impressive "article" (I'd call it a book), especially since it's free. Good photography as well, without getting too gratuitous on the focus effect.

One question as someone who hasn't tried focus stacking, yet: is breathing of the lenses an issue? ie. zoom of most lenses changes moves when changing focus.

You might want to check out Creative Commons licensing as it looks like what you had in mind with the copyright notice.

nma · « **Reply #2 on:** April 07, 2010, 05:07:04 pm »

Quote from: Michael Erlewine

Here is a short primer (83 pages) on Focus Stacking, with short stacks, for those interested. This is a rough draft, so I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, and what-not, which I will do my best to incorporate into the finished e-book, which will be distributed free to anyone. Please feel free to share this.

Since I have to work a full-time job, it has taken me some time to get this far. Appreciate feedback. It is a PDF file you can just open online at:

http://www.macrostop.com

Thanks, Michael

Michael,

I enjoyed reading your article. There is lots of good stuff there. There is one point where I feel the article is not up to date. You advocate manual focus, via the view finder, with the possibility of using stop-down preview as an aide in judging depth of field. Manual focus with use of live-view, on cameras, such as the Canon 5D mark ii and the 7D, will provide more certainty in judging focus and depth of field. One can examine focus at almost any point in the image field, with your choice of 1x, 5x, or 10X enlargement. You can also do this with the lens stopped down and see the result on the rear LCD. The live histogram is also a great help in nailing exposure. I mentioned two recent vintage Canon cameras when discussing live view, but I think all the major camera manufactures have this feature now.

stever · « **Reply #3 on:** April 07, 2010, 06:18:28 pm »

very nice book with some useful practical tips

i've just started using a trial copy of Zerene stacker - processing is quick, but i need to switch to 64 bit software and add memory before it will process full frames from my 5D2. so far i'm getting ocassional halos which may or may not be the result of movement - need to spend more time (maybe quite a bit) more time with it

has anyone done a recent comparison of Zerene and Helicon-Focus? - tried Helicon a while ago and was a bit put off by complexity - i want something as foolproof as PTGui

completely agree with the use of liveview for focus stacking - in fact i've become pretty dependent on it whenever i'm using a tripod and composition and focus are critical

Michael Erlewine · « **Reply #4 on:** April 08, 2010, 06:03:27 am »

Thanks for the feedback. Appreciated. Some quick comments:

Feppe: I only have one macro zoom, the Nikon 70-180. I have not had any creep so far with that lens.

nma: I probably did not make myself clear. I use manual focus, with the standard viewfinder and a Nikon magnifying eyepiece (DK-17m), which gives a 1.2x magnification. I also have a Z-finder optical viewfinder from Zacuto for the LCD that offers 3x magnification, but I use this mainly for video on the Nikon D3s. My comment was for cameras with NO viewfinder and only an LCD panel. I would find that hard to do macro work on.

As for the DOF Preview button, I was suggesting that this gives you a quick approximation of DOF, not focus acuity. What you write about with the Canon sounds great, but I have no access to that camera, being locked into Nikon for 20 years of so. Sounds like a good feature. I will experiment with what the Nikon ‘LiveView” can so.

francois · « **Reply #5 on:** April 08, 2010, 06:26:40 am »

Michael,
Thanks a lot for your brilliant books.

Bart_van_der_Wolf · « **Reply #6 on:** April 08, 2010, 08:07:10 am »

Quote from: feppe

One question as someone who hasn't tried focus stacking, yet: is breathing of the lenses an issue? ie. zoom of most lenses changes moves when changing focus.

Hi Feppe,

When changing the magnification between images, the software compensates for that by resizing (and shifting/rotating) the images so they can be registered. The only thing that it cannot compensate for is parallax issues due to the moving entrance pupil. With a bellows type of setup one can move the sensor plane instead of the lens plane which avoids parallax.

Cheers,
Bart

JohnBrew · « **Reply #7 on:** April 08, 2010, 08:14:59 am »

Michael, just excellent work. Thank you for sharing this with all of us.

Bart_van_der_Wolf · « **Reply #8 on:** April 08, 2010, 08:41:58 am »

Quote from: Michael Erlewine

Here is a short primer (83 pages) on Focus Stacking, with short stacks, for those interested. This is a rough draft, so I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, and what-not, which I will do my best to incorporate into the finished e-book, which will be distributed free to anyone.

Hi Michael,

I just wanted to add my compliments for your fine collection of images. One remark, the quality of defocus is usually called "Bokeh".

Thanks for sharing your 'books',
Bart

vandevanterSH · « **Reply #9 on:** April 09, 2010, 12:44:15 am »

Quote from: Michael Erlewine

Here is a short primer (83 pages) on Focus Stacking, with short stacks, for those interested. This is a rough draft, so I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, and what-not, which I will do my best to incorporate into the finished e-book, which will be distributed free to anyone. Please feel free to share this.

Since I have to work a full-time job, it has taken me some time to get this far. Appreciate feedback. It is a PDF file you can just open online at:

http://www.macrostop.com

Thanks, Michael

I have enjoyed reading and learning from your "primers". A simple question: What is a good (best) way to identify/mark the beginning and end of a series, ie focus stack, pano, HDR, etc. in the field?

Steve

Marlyn · « **Reply #10 on:** April 09, 2010, 03:02:45 am »

Quote from: vandevanterSH

I have enjoyed reading and learning from your "primers". A simple question: What is a good (best) way to identify/mark the beginning and end of a series, ie focus stack, pano, HDR, etc. in the field?

Steve

Personally, I use a shot with my hand in front of the Lens before and after. These obviously 'blank' frames form nice bookmarks when scrolling throu in lightoom. I then Stick a colour label on them.

Great work on the book, especially for free !. have skimmed it so far, will read in more detail before the next shoot.

Regards

Mark

vandevanterSH · « **Reply #11 on:** April 10, 2010, 04:21:18 pm »

Quote from: Marlyn

Personally, I use a shot with my hand in front of the Lens before and after. These obviously 'blank' frames form nice bookmarks when scrolling throu in lightoom. I then Stick a colour label on them.

Great work on the book, especially for free !. have skimmed it so far, will read in more detail before the next shoot.

Regards

Mark

That is what I have been doing; I just thought that there might be a more "elegant" solution. :>)

Steve

vandevanterSH · « **Reply #12 on:** April 10, 2010, 04:50:32 pm »

Probably not the optimal thread for this question but.....I tried to focus stack 14 images and at the "blend" stage, I get a not enough memory notice. I am using a first gen. MacPro quad core with 13 gig RAM. When I looked at RAM allocation at "baseline", I have 779meg "wired", 1.2g gig "active", 7.37 gig "inactive" and 3.67 gig "free". In PS preferences, it has ~3.2 gig max RAM available. In my system monitor all 13 gigs are OK. It appears that I have 7.37 gig RAM that are not being used...How do I correct this?

Thanks

Steve

Bart_van_der_Wolf · « **Reply #13 on:** April 10, 2010, 05:26:19 pm »

Quote from: vandevanterSH

Probably not the optimal thread for this question but.....I tried to focus stack 14 images and at the "blend" stage, I get a not enough memory notice.

Hi Steve,

Which program are you using for the stacking? If it's Photoshop, then I've given up on that so I can't help you. I use HeliconFocus without problems (64-bit Windows and 21Mp images) and also use it's companion application Helicon Remote to assist in tethered shooting.

Cheers,
Bart

Michael Erlewine · « **Reply #14 on:** April 12, 2010, 04:51:57 pm »

Thanks to many of your notes and suggestion. I have expanded the book with more examples of problems and solutions for short-stack focus stacking.

Now called "The Art of Focus Stacking"

http://www.MacroStop.com

Dick Roadnight · « **Reply #15 on:** April 12, 2010, 06:05:09 pm »

Quote from: Michael Erlewine

Thanks to many of your notes and suggestion. I have expanded the book with more examples of problems and solutions for short-stack focus stacking.

Now called "The Art of Focus Stacking"

Perhaps you should clarify what a macro lens is?

A proper macro lens is optimized for 1:1 or bigger, and is not designed to focus to infinity.

Most lenses described as "Macro" or even "micro" try to cover the range 1:1 to infinity... but they can be useful for close up work.

I have pseudo macros;

Micro-Nikkor 200
Macro-planar 120
Nikkor 105

Real macros:

Schneider Apo-digitar 120 macro
set of Zeiss Luminar macros, for 1:1 to 25:1
Sinar Rodenstock Macro Sinaron 300 (1/3X to 3X, reversible)

Bart_van_der_Wolf · « **Reply #16 on:** April 12, 2010, 08:32:02 pm »

Quote from: Dick Roadnight

Perhaps you should clarify what a macro lens is?

A proper macro lens is optimized for 1:1 or bigger, and is not designed to focus to infinity.

Hi Dick,

"...,And is not designed to focus to infinity", says who?

There seems to be a (very) informal consensus on, approaching or somewhat exeeding 1:1 being close-up, 1:1 being 'macro', and 10:1 or larger magnification being 'micro' (although Nikon calls 1:1 Micro already). Do you have any authoritative sources stating otherwise, or even infinity being excluded from whatever definition?

Cheers,
Bart

Tom Montgomery · « **Reply #17 on:** April 12, 2010, 09:17:55 pm »

Michael, many thanks for sharing your impressive primer! I have often felt there was something missing from my closeup nature photos, after seeing your fine examples I now know what it is! I immediately tried the technique on some still life shots; when the weekend comes I'm heading out to try the real thing. Thanks for the inspiration!

Dick Roadnight · « **Reply #18 on:** April 13, 2010, 06:28:39 am »

Quote from: BartvanderWolf

Hi Dick,

"...,And is not designed to focus to infinity", says who?

There seems to be a (very) informal consensus on, approaching or somewhat exeeding 1:1 being close-up, 1:1 being 'macro', and 10:1 or larger magnification being 'micro' (although Nikon calls 1:1 Micro already). Do you have any authoritative sources stating otherwise, or even infinity being excluded from whatever definition?

Cheers,
Bart

The correct, formal definition of macro-photography is reproduction ratios from 1:1 to 10:1, but the definition is being eroded by popular miss-use (mainly by the manufacturers).

... so a specialist, macro-only, lens does not focus to infinity.

The authority is:

Klauss Schmitt

and I have sent him an e-mail.

Chris_T · « **Reply #19 on:** April 13, 2010, 09:18:05 am »

Thanks for a nice article. Been experimenting with this technique lately, and would like to share a few things.

- The number of shots to be stacked depends a lot on the dof's *sharpness range* in *each* shot. Since the dof's *sharpness range* is a function of f-stop, the f-stop should be carefully chosen for the number of shots taken. For lazy me, that means choosing an optimal f-stop for the minimum number of shots necessary. It would be a good addition in your article to include a few examples on this.

- OTOH, since it is difficult to get a precise view of the dof in my D200's viewfinder, I play it safe by shooting a few more incremental shots.

- Shooting for maximum dof means a slow shutter speed. And that is a real pain in a breeze, especially for multiple shots. Tips on how to combat breeze would be very helpful. Anyone up to the challenge?

- I set my exposure manually, and adjust the settings as required between shots should the lighting condition change. Often necessary while waiting for the breeze to die down a bit.

- I find the following tutorial very helpful. By masking or blending a layer in the stack, I can selectively choose what I want from each.

http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/CS3AlignBlendSM.mov

Author Topic: Focus Stacking Primer (Read 6951 times)