Focus Stacking to Avoid Diffraction

Guys here is a really good article from Naturescapes on a simple way to focus stack to avoid diffraction and increase front to back sharpness. It caught my interest because he uses a Zeiss 21ZE and a 5D MII similar to my kit.

Anyway, take a look I am going to test it this weekend to see if I can duplicate his efforts.

http://www.naturescape​s.net/docs/index.php/a​rticles/536

I never realized focus stacking was that simple. Thanks, Garry.

great article; only thing that wasn’t clear was what version of PS do you need.

very cool.

I only used focus stacking for macro work (e.g. the shot below was made out of almost 100 RAW images), but I heard people use it for landscape work as well. One can use free software enfuse to achieve decent results, as described here.

Also, newest Magic Lantern add-on firmware now has a decent support for focus stacking, so it's almost fully automatic. (You need an AF lens, of course; Zeiss won't work.)

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/syamastro/61087​67926/

Bayard wrote in post #15295061
great article; only thing that wasn’t clear was what version of PS do you need.

I know it works in CS4

Echo Johnson wrote in post #15294992
I never realized focus stacking was that simple. Thanks, Garry.

+1...I always assumed it involved a ton of manual work, both with focusing and post-processing.

wow wish i knew about this 2 weeks ago in maui.
will have to try this next!

Great article, and very simple. Thanks!

mannetti21 wrote in post #15297981
+1...I always assumed it involved a ton of manual work, both with focusing and post-processing.

In the simplest of cases you may only need a few shots (for non-macro) and the PP is very easy (I have Helicon Focus), but as mentioned there are other software.

However, sometimes you really have to consider what settings to use and how to stack. If anything is moving or the near foreground obscures the background you can get a 'dead' zone where you don't have a focused image (and of course the water movement in the example above is easy to deal with). But many times you can indeed go from shooting at f16 to focus stacking at f8.

So it still takes some experience, but I use it a lot.

One thing that is not stressed enough IMO is that even at f11-f16, there is a decent difference in sharpness between something at the focal plane and something at the edge of the DOF. So even in tricky situations, often a focus stack of 2-4 exposures at f11 will yield and overall much sharper image than a single shot, even if the entire scene is in the 'theoretical' DOF. To me it almost looks like that is what the author of the article is doing. In other words the background isn't completely OOF when focused on the foreground. IMO this is a great way of using focus stacking for landscapes - choose an aperture that is not too wide, even if that means stopping down to f11 or even f16 and make 2-4 exposures. Then you will likely have very little problems in PP.

The above is especially true for the corners, which the author also focuses on. I've really surprised with all the attention that corner sharpness gets in landscape lenses that this isn't more widely recognized. Even if you shoot a moving scene at f11 with everything in the DOF, taking an extra shot for the near corners at a much closer focusing distance can really sharpen them up.

Here's a case where with the perspective I wanted and using a FL of 80mm, I couldn't get everything in focus, even at f16. But rather than just use f7.1 for the focus stack, I checked using LV and DOF preview what aperture I needed to have the tree not too OOF when I had the mid-ground in focus. If I used f7-f8 the tree would be so OOF it would obscure the mid-ground resulting in halos. So I actually ended up focus stacking this at f16 (6 exposures) and although I know I have some diffraction, this is stiff very sharp (I know you can't tell in an 800px image).

Although this was with a relatively long FL for landscape, the idea is still the same with wide angles - make sure nothing that is very OOF obscures anything in focus and the process is very, very easy (there was absolutely no manual adjustment with this one because I was careful to use the best aperture). You'll be amazed at how much sharper the corners are with almost any lens than having those parts of the scene near the DOF limit.

The second image is one of the shots (not processed) focused on the tree at f16. I would have needed at least f32 to get everything in focus.

How big do you need to print for this to actually matter? I see the theoretical benefits but I print 20x30's regularly and have never needed this...ever.

MNUplander wrote in post #15336238
How big do you need to print for this to actually matter? I see the theoretical benefits but I print 20x30's regularly and have never needed this...ever.

It really depends on the shot. If you have closeup foreground along with distant background, it is very hard to get everything into focus. Normally the background is not pin sharp as you try keeping the foreground sharp. Focus stacking allows the entire image to be pin sharp. These are just the limits of physics at play here.

I find MF a wide angle can be difficult to catch the proper focus. What would be the best way to focus on various subjects at various distances?

Garry Gibson wrote in post #15294972
Guys here is a really good article from Naturescapes on a simple way to focus stack to avoid diffraction and increase front to back sharpness. It caught my interest because he uses a Zeiss 21ZE and a 5D MII similar to my kit.
http://www.naturescape​s.net/docs/index.php/a​rticles/536

I also have a 5DII and Zeiss 21/2.8, but I never use that lens or focus stacking for this type of composition. Rather this is the perfect shot for the Canon 24 or 17 TSE lens. By tilting the focus plane downward just above the water's surface the leaves along the stream will all be sharp, from several inches to infinity. There are some tilt shift examples at the end of this article that I posted that demonstrate this application.
http://www.fredmiranda​.com/smallhd/

If your have taller subjects in the foreground the lens tilt movement will not buy you the desired effect and focus stacking is much more appropriate.
Mike K

Can this be done in PSE? (I have version 8)