halos in stacking

[phantelope]

I'm just starting to play with focus stacking, I installed PhotoAcute and Helicon Focus on my mac to try them. Both work well, sometimes one works better than the other, but both tend to also create halos around some parts in the image, is that "normal", i.e. something I'll just have to deal with in photoshop, or do I need to take more/less images for the stack?

I can't find an insect anywhere today, at least none that would sit still, so I used plant material instead, a small branch with red berries. Probably not a big deal to clean up in PS, but probably quite tedious and boring.

So, question to those with experience in stacking, am I doing something wrong, or is this just a side effect that I'll have to deal with?

thanks for any pointers! Also, if you know of a website that has info about macro how to, that would be appreciated too!

Oliver

[LordV]

Halos tend to occur on high contrast edges, I assume they are caused by the OOF parts being larger than the in focus parts but both may be seen as detail by the programme. So yes they are fairly common but can be reduced to a minimum by good alignment of the images. It is fairly normal to have to clone them out in PS.
Taking not enough images results in OOF bands on the image. Taking too many can lead to duplications if the images are not aligned well. I'm afraid I'm not familiar with those programmes but it would be worth finding out how to maually align any rotational movement in the pics. Normally the progs themselves are pretty good at aligning movement but will not deal with any rotational movement.

Brian V.

[phantelope]

Thanks Brian. I did not rotate the camera and sometimes the halos or strange artifacts are around things in the OOF background. Photoshop it is then, I guess :-)

[Glenn NK]

Normally the progs themselves are pretty good at aligning movement but will not deal with any rotational movement.
Brian V.

Thanks Brian. I did not rotate the camera and sometimes the halos or strange artifacts are around things in the OOF background. Photoshop it is then, I guess :-)

Rotation occurs when either the camera or subject move laterally relative to each other. For example; if you stand directly in front of someone, and take a pic, then move slighty left or right while the person remains stationary, a subsequent image will see the person's face more from the side. This has the same effect as if the person rotated their head while the camera remained stationary.

Unlike the human eye/brain combination, stacking software cannot sort this out as it is working on a flat two dimensional surface (the brain can sort out the third dimension in conjunction with our binocular/stereo vision).

[phantelope]

interesting, thanks for the clarification!

Oliver