Its perhaps most useful in closeup and macro photography, since the camera lenss highest fstop is often insufficient to render everything in focus. It is caused by a special highprecision mode of operation that is used by the zerene stacker interface to provide reliable movement even down to 1 or 2 microsteps per focus step roughly 1 micron, using the stackshot rail. If youre not ready to invest in additional hardware just yet, there are three pieces of software available that let you improve your stacking quickly and easily, adding some significant improvements over the basic stacking tool available in photoshop. Navigate to the promote control focus stacking screen by pressing the mode button. Above is a focus stack of a diatom where i combined 10 images in photoshop 400x. This subject is a common fruit fly, as seen through a 100x microscope.
Focus stacking is an interesting development of digital photography, and, more specifically, digital postprocessing. Individual left image, stacked on the right result. Because focus is inherently shallower as you get closer to your subject, slight variations of distance between camera and subject throw you out of focus very quickly, and even fullystopped down you may not have enough depthoffield for your entire photo to be in. The images are usually collected with a macro rail and combined using a software program such as zerene stacker or helicon focus. You can also select some of the layers that make up a focus stack and create a stack from that. Once you open the software, go to the file tab to add images. Everything you need to focus stack a large number of images whether you re using photoshop cc 2019 or the awesome zerene. I want to do a test of a landscape shot with using multiple focus points rather than trying a hyperfocal shot and see how the two compare, but for the macro shots, i think ill stick with zerene stacker. In the zerene stacker interface, selection of high precision mode depends on step size and a usersettable threshold in.
Helicon focus and focus stacking helicon soft helicon. Zerene stacker vs helicon focus comparison arda kutlu. In the future, ill probably lean more towards the zerene stacker for doing composite shots such as this. Jan 24, 2020 once i begin making series of focus bracketed images nikon calls it focus shifting, i plan on licensing either helicon focus or zerene stacker to stack the images when photoshop ccs stacking capability isnt sufficient. Zerene stacker retouching lets you bring in the detail from the sharpest individual frame to eliminate the fuzzyness caused by out of focus backgrounds or foregrounds. Individual image on the left, stacked result on the right. Zerene stacker can be downloaded here, which includes a very nice 30 day free trial if you.
A guide to using the focus stacking photography technique. Once i begin making series of focus bracketed images nikon calls it focus shifting, i plan on licensing either helicon focus or zerene stacker to stack the images when photoshop ccs stacking capability isnt sufficient. If you work at high magnification then focus stacking is required for more than minimal dof no matter how expensive your equipment and polished your technique may be. Focus stacking is an interesting technique to learn if. What software is available for macro focus stacking.
I typically shoot many stacks of images and mark the beginning and ending of the stack by photographing my hand. In this article i will compare three popular programs used for focus stacking. Focus stacking comparing photoshop, helicon focus and zerene. If you start at the back youre liable to get edge streaks. You can focus stack with any lens and camera, but you need to have the right postprocessing software to combine the photos together. Is there any advantagedisadvantage of using helicon versus zerene. I dont consider myself an expert but i have stacked 10s of thousands of images using registered copies of combinezp, helicon focus, zerene stacker and photoshop.
There are several different ways to create a stack of photos. The resulting photos, however, can be striking and unique. It only takes a small amount of extra work during shooting and a few minutes of editing in adobe photoshop cc. Navigate to step size using the left and right buttons of the four way selector switch.
Focus stacking is an interesting technique to learn if you want to present a sharper macro image. If focus stacking is your bag, zerene stacker needs to be in it. Using zerene stacker retouching to clone your focus stacked. Zerene stacker is a bit slower and only supports jpeg and tiff files. Using hugin for focus stacking nature photography with. Most stacking software including zerene stacker works from tiffs the exception i know of is helicon focus. Stacking is done in software using the digital images. Zerene vs photoshop a stacking experiment microbehunter. Typically the cameras position is adjusted in relation to the subject of interest by using a macrorail. The software is only available by download, but its easy to make your own cd. We first need to decide how much of our subject we wish to be in focus.
We tested our final stacked picture with a picture. Most stacking software including zerene stacker works from tiffs the exception i know of is helicon focus which will handle the raw conversion itself. Zerene stacker does not have any raw support yet which makes me surprised. We tested this system and compared the results with several different software packages combinezp, automontage, helicon focus and zerene stacker. Some of our users regularly process 200 megapixels per frame, from highend hasselblad cameras. Click here to download a pdf version of stack it up. With no license key installed, it runs in timelimited trial mode. Dec, 2016 using zerene stacker software to create a focus stacked image. The closer you get in macro flower photography, the fussier focus gets. Then you can use helicon focus to blend all the sharp areas together and produce a completely sharp image. I spent a few years using and getting to know helicon focus, until early in 20 i found myself struggling with a few difficult specimens. Downloads of zerene stacker are a 30day free trial for new users, and the initial.
Many of our users routinely go over 100 images per stack. I find that i get the best out of dmap by doing dmap substacks and combining them with pmax. Getting started with focus stacking, using a compact manual focus camera. Using dpp4, i put each stack of images in its own folder. Zerene stacker is a program of focus stacking specifically designed for challenging macro subjects and demanding photographers. With this retouching ability, the auto alignment of images and its ease of use ive convinced myself that zerene stacker is the better. May 01, 2019 if the subfolders box was unchecked, the images are placed in a stack folder and the filenames will use the normal filenaming settings from the body tab. Zerene stacker can handle any modern camera we know of. I was looking at doing this in photoshop, however i found these 2 programs and thats all they do. How to focus stack with zerene stacker macro photography. Relatively inexpensive you just need software like helicon focus or. Focus stacking lets you take several photos of a landscape, focused at different points, and combine them together into the sharpest possible image. Since fussy is not a technical term, let me explain.
How to focus stack macro images in zerene stacker youtube. It didnt do a great job with because i had out of focus areas that i didnt notice before stacking, but other than that, it did okay. While evaluating software it may make a huge difference if you are using a free evaluation copy or a fully functional, registered version. I couldve fixed the background issue very simply using this. However, zerene stacker has a retouching option, where you can retouch any area on your image, telling it to use a specific source images detail. I spent several hours today trying all three for the first time and got. Zerene stacker is a great package if focus stacking is your bag. These photos are combined using focus stacking software such as zerene stacker, the result is.
This subject is a common fruit fly, as seen through a microscope 100x. Beginners guide to focus stacking for macro photography. You can use zerene stacker from zerene systems to create the final stacked composition image from your focus stacks. Helicon focus has three stacking methods, all of which i use depending on the circumstances, with useful parameterisation for two of them. The only versions of zerene stacker that we can stand behind are the ones you download from zerene systems own web site, and licenses purchased through us and our authorized resellers such as fastspring. A big issue when doing extreme closeup photography is limited depth of field. Find out which camera is best for you in this buyers guide. Zerene stacker helicon focus combine zp windows only. A focus stack is a combination of images shot at varying focal points that you blend in software. If i interpret the zerene stacker manual correctly, the stacking algorithm used makes the assumption of uniformly spaced.
A focus stack is a photograph that is made up of a combination of two or more images that were focused at different points and then after combining the stacks the final image has a much greater depth of field. Shooting and editing macro photographs using the focus stacking technique for a professional look and deep depth of field. This is really handy because capturing a large stack and processing it can take a good amount of time. Select and add a set of images youd like to focus stack. I first began focus stacking for architectural imaging, using helicon focus. Some focus stacking photographers prefer to physically move the camera during stacking, rather than have the focus motor adjust the focus. Comparing commercial topend setups with a semiautomatic low budget approach. Like zerene, helicon has a retouching function which lets you paint from an individual source image on to the stacked version, handling the alignment for you. One offers a lower price tag while the other has more updated features. How to focus stack with zerene stacker extreme macro. Jan 02, 2018 hillary grigonis digital trends adjusting aperture alone can only do so much to get sharp images with a wide depth of field sometimes, getting both point a and point b tack sharp in one shot.
Is there any apps that anyone can recommend to focus stack that is relatively easy to use. How to use focus stacking to get impossibly sharp photos. I would prefer not to spend a fortune on an app if possible as i will only use it occasionally. The first step is to develop the raw files to tiffs. Focus stacking involves stacking together images to achieve a larger depth of field. Zerene stacker is focus stacking software designed specifically for challenging macro subjects and discerning photographers.
In fact, focus stacking is the poor mans entrance into the world of high quality macrophotography. Sep 17, 20 this image was produced using zerene stacker 1. When addressing the details available in the pictures it is best to download the full resolution images as most of the details discussed were. However, zerene stacker has been around for longer and is far less buggy, especially in the retouching steps that i consistently employ. In some cases this is a nice effect many great photos emphasize some central item of interest by throwing everything else out of focus. Zerene systems uses a company named fastspring to provide secure ordering facilities. As the name suggests, focus stacking is a technique where you take multiple photos of the same subject, but at slightly different focusing distances, and stack them. For example i typically run 2030 versions of the same stack with different settings. I think some of these programs work differently as to how they process the stack. A beginners guide to focus stacking digital photography school. Cmn focus stacking with zerene stacker tetherscript. Using a technique called focus stacking, your images can get close to what your eyes perceive. Using zerene stacker to maximize depth of field in your macro or. This allows use of the stack new images pmax feature of zerene stacker to process the stack while it is being shot.
Using zerene stacker software to create a focus stacked image. Typically youll shoot a stack either by controlling focus manually, or by using a. Processing the stack of images helicon focus using canons dpp4 raw image processing software, i download the images from my cf card to a 3tb external hard drive. In the below sections, we look at the best focus stacking software including photoshop, helicon, and zerene stacker. Focus stack retouching is pretty easy but a fair few stackers seem to overlook this aspect of stacking with zerene stacker. Focus stacking offers many advantages and it is the most powerful new tool to come along in my fortyyear photography career. Focus stacking with zerene stacker macro tutorial youtube. Using the example of photographing a peacock feather, here is a brief introduction to focus stacking using helicon remote and helicon focus. Focus stacking is a powerful technique for extending a photos apparent depth of field. Lightroom and zerene glenn, i stay in prophoto actually, melissa rgb for two reasons. This tutorial explains how to control the stackshot from within zerene stacker, using a graphical interface rather than the stackshot controllers own physical buttons. Dmap is the harder to use of the two but gives a smoother, more subtle outcome, whereas pmax is the mode that people invariably start out with. Using zerene stacker retouching to clone your focus. Mar 12, 2020 focus stacking in macro photography focus stacking the first steps figure 3.
Take several shots at different focus distances instead of just one, and helicon focus will quickly and smartly combine the stack into a fully focused image. Zerene stacker is a focus stacking program designed specifically for challenging macro subjects and. Aug 19, 2016 first of all, helicon focus has a big advantage over zerene stacker in terms of pipeline. Stackshot is an automated macro focusing rail that makes it quick and easy to capture stacks for small subjects. At least thats the case for the canon 100 mm macro lens. Set value to small by pressing the up or down buttons of the four way selector switch. Diatoms photoshop stack of 12 images, negative phase contrast microscopy, 200x.
Zerene stacker helicon focus combine zp windows only the first. Focus stacking comparing photoshop, helicon and zerene by. Mineral photography image stacking mmt observatory. Helicon focus performs its operations faster and supports jpeg, tiff and raw files. Zerene stacker and helicon focus are the ones which seem to be mentioned most often. May 26, 2017 this video is a simple explanation on what is focus stacking and how to focus stack macro photos. With the 16 bit tif pipeline there is actually no pixel. As you can see, there are several advantages using focus stacking it opens up a host of possibilities, and provides photographers with greater control. Aug 12, 2017 stacking is also used in product photography like jewellery or any place where it is essential that the entire subject be sharp and in focus.
To yield a greater dof, we can take 8 photos at different points of focus at the same aperture of f11. At some point, be sure to read how to use zerene stacker. I did actually read that already before posting this. 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. I am sure price does have a lot to do with more people stacking with a cheaper. This video is a simple explanation on what is focus stacking and how to focus stack macro photos. Dec 16, 2014 other thirdparty software also exists for zerene stacker or other focus stacking software controlmynikon. Other thirdparty software also exists for zerene stacker or other focus stacking software. Sorry if its too boring, hopefully its informative though. You can move the camera, the subject, or change the distance between the lens and the camera. This technique is primarily used in two fields of photography. So i stuck with 16 bit tif export to test zerene stacker. Controlmynikon has an option to automatically export the captured stack to zerene stacker. I use photoshop, since thats what i already own, but there are better programs out there if you do a lot of focus stacking helicon focus and zerene stacker being the two main products.
Dof software camparison first light photo workshops. A look at focus stacking with helicon focus youtube. Use your large screen on a tablet to check and change critical focus, and magnify live view for extreme detail touch the live view image to focus on that spot or fine tune with precise adjustments perform automatic focus continue reading macro focus. With focus stacking software you can make your usual camera render results that could not be achieved even with a classic tiltshift lens. You can work through the image, taking photographs which are focused on different points, then combine those photographs with software. Navigate to range start point using the left and right buttons. The leading hardware for this is the stackshot, available from cognisys. Focus stacking with zerene stacker macro tutorial duration. Installing a license key unlocks features for unlimited use. Focus stacking app recommendations retouching forum.
Fwiw, i have one shot of an assassin but that i stacked in zerene. Photo by skye studios on unsplash choose the ideal aperture for focus stacking. I know older adobe programs didnt have stacking, but i have the full adobe cs5 extended program, and it has a focus stacking script that allows me to stack images just using photoshop. In this manuscript we present a focus stacking system, composed of commercial photographic equipment. Zerene stacker is a focus stacking program designed specifically for challenging macro subjects and discerning photographers.
In the sony a6000 vs sony a6100 battle, which one comes out on top. Helicon focus supports raw pipeline with dng input and output. Zerene stacker for me is a relatively recent piece of software. Focus stacking and its application within macro photography. Of course, it works very well with simpler themes, close ups and landscapes too. Both of these packages have easy tools to retouch the final image when necessary, but zerene stackers tools are more extensive. The system is inexpensive compared to highend commercial focus stacking solutions.
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