Today's "Today I Saw" photo is not as simple as it appears.
Sometimes I like to geek out in my image making. I try not to let it show, though, and I want to have the image make the point, not the technique. In this case, I'm using a technique called "focus stack" to combine many images, shot at different focus points, into one. This single shot is a composite of 16 separate images.
I do a lot of macro shots in the garden. It's my default setting when my life for the day is boring and I've not left home. In a pinch, I can go the garden with a macro lens, and find something quickly. Pretty much anything is interesting when you're 3 inches away. I can capture and process my daily photo, and be back at work 20 minutes later.
This one took a bit longer. Here's the drill. You take a series of photos (with the camera mounted on a tripod), with the lens on manual focus, and rack the focus from near to far. Just nudge the focus a bit each time.
I use Photoshop and Bridge in my workflow--there might be a Lightroom equivalent, but I don't know what it is. After I name the photos and add metadata (in Photo Mechanic), I open up the folder in Bridge. I select the series of images I'm going to use and go Tools--Photoshop--Load Files Into Photoshop Layers.
In Photoshop, I highlight all the layers, go Edit--Auto Align Layers. The Auto radio button should already be highlighted, which is what you want. When that's done, go back to Edit and choose Auto Blend Layers, and pick Stack Images as the Blend method. Voila, it's done. If you've captured the images correctly, the shot is cooked.
Is this an early April Fool, Doug, or is this actually true? I'd never heard of such a thing -- sounds far too much like a free lunch! Could it be done at "normal" magnifications, too?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Chisholm | March 18, 2013 at 12:17 PM
Nice work! There can be a problem with focus stacking if your lens changes magnification as the lens focus is changed. Hard core enthusiasts get around this by putting the camera on a rail and shifting the camera distance rather than refocusing.
Posted by: Bob | March 19, 2013 at 06:05 AM
Good point. I'm an extremely casual user of this technique. Heck, I don't even do macro right, since I mostly handhold everything--serious macro shooters have really impressive micro adjustment rails and flash mounts (check out Really Right Stuff: http://reallyrightstuff.com/WebsiteInfo.aspx?fc=104 .
Posted by: Doug Plummer | March 19, 2013 at 08:00 AM