Focus Shift / Stacking with the Nikon D850: Capture and Processing

[@peterhamilton8913]

Thanks Julian for this great video tutorial. I came for the D850 focus stacking, which as helpful, but the real pearl for me here was your technique for blending in the water. I shoot seascapes and I have been looking for a technique to blend in the moving water just like you demonstrated. I have just received my new D850 pride and joy. Yes I'm late to the party I know. Many have moved on to the Z series, but I am happy DSLR shooter and the D850 is a nice upgrade from my D810. I have been manually focus stacking previously and I will start using the auto feature now. Many thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@jbairdexp]

The D850 probably is and probably always will be the worlds best DSLR! IMHO! You'll have an amazing time shooting with that camera and I'm glad my video was able to help. :-)

[@thomasphillips5850]

This may be the best video I have seen on stacking. That is a great procedure, especially with macro photography. Thank you for walking us through it.

[@jbairdexp]

Thank you so much for watching! :-)

[@thommorris8002]

Awesome tutorial! The only quibble I might suggest would be to close the eyecup if there's any danger of light leaking in from the rear of the camera on a long exposure.

[@jbairdexp]

Thank you. Good point, and yes you should, but it does depend on the shooting conditions. Not a problem with mirrorless cameras though. :-)

[@thornbirds01]

Thank you for this great lesson. I’m usually a f 11 or f16 guy to get the sharpness and never considered doing focus stacking for landscape. My new D850 is going to keep me off the streets for a long time after seeing this great video. Thank you and please keep up the good work.

[@jbairdexp]

Thank you so much for that kind comment. Thank you for watching and happy shooting! :-)

[@sunnybizz4857]

I'm here after searching "if D850 can focus stack". Stayed for this fabulous video, and subscribed for the excellent content of the channel. Thank-you for this video.

[@jbairdexp]

And thank you so much for watching. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for subscribing. Welcome! :-)

[@jljensen7102]

I chatted earlier with you.... as I mentioned my D850 focus Shift has been grayed out, went to camera shop and tried on a late model lens and it worked. All my lenses are older AF for film cameras, who would've known. Your U-tube channel is the best I've found for this subject and unparalleled for post-processing.

[@jbairdexp]

Brilliant news! Glad you got it sorted. It's normally the clock or the lens. And thank you for your kind words. :-)

[@ironmantooltime]

Ahh so won't work with AFD, only AFS?

[@Filmmaker1982]

Super awesome clip on stacking. Might be the best I’ve seen.

[@jbairdexp]

Thank you so much! Glad you found it helpful. :-)

[@Ron_Boy]

Finally, a COMPLETE tutorial on focus stacking! This is great. I've seen so many tutorials that make no mention of aperture settings to use and/or have no instruction on processing the images in PS & LR. Thanks for pulling this together for us. Really good and I really appreciate it.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Ron! Lovely to get great feedback like that. Glad you found the video helpful. 👍👍👍

[@davidp9159]

Very nice job Julian in explaining the process of focus stacking along with that little trick at the end with the waves!

[@jbairdexp]

Glad found it useful David.....thanks for watching! :-)

[@kenjames246]

Thankyou so much for taking the time to do this video. I haven't bought a D850 yet, but this has certainly checked a box in the column of "reason to purchase".

[@jbairdexp]

The D850 is a cracking camera and I'm sure you'll be happy if you get one. Check out this D850 video I made if you need more encouragement! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXzVZICdhJyKj68

[@leonieholmes246]

Thanks. I just bought a D850 for the focus stacking feature. Now I know how to do it. Great video.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Leonie, and happy shooting with the probably the worlds best DSLR. :-)

[@JandKWildTube]

I have just got the Nikon D850 and also love waterfall photography, so I will be definitely trying this focus shifting out, thanks for the Vlog.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching and have fun with the focus shifting!

[@larryjordan9502]

I learned a lot about a major feature of my D850. Thanks for explaining Focus Shift/Photo Stacking.

[@jbairdexp]

My pleasure, glad you found it useful :-)

[@ChrisSalePhoto]

Fascinating mate. I'm not one for focus stacking but I think it's a very useful skill to learn because you never know when you are going to need it and this video covers just about everything you are ever likely to need to know.

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers mate. You know me, I'm not big on post processing and using Photoshop and layers is all a bit of a faff. But, I feel it's a useful skill to have and there are marked improvements in sharpness using this technique, particullarly on scenes like that one from Bedruthan. Like I said in the video, not a technique for every shot, but a good skill to have. :-)

[@tanltdowar]

I said hello to you today whilst passing you as you were walking towards Wistman’s Wood. I thought “I recognise that face” but by the time I realised who you were you were disappearing into the distance. I returned to my hotel and looked at my phone and who was looking back at me, having just uploaded this video, but yourself! It’s a small world isn’t it. Sorry I missed the chance to introduce myself.

[@jbairdexp]

Hey Stephen! I do hope I also said hello! I do always try and say hello to people when I'm out walking, and I remember saying hi to a few people on my way to the woods. I was probably walking at such a pace that my face was just a blur anyway! lol If you see me again, don't hesitate to stop me and say hello :-)

[@Norts69]

Great demo on stacking with or without d850! Introduces a few other wrinkles that will improve my photos and knowledge. Many thanks.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching and leaving a comment Mark :-)

[@derekmidgley]

Great demonstration and great final image! I used this function to photograph a macro of a seashell: needed +- 25 images and the step between them was minimal. Saved heaps of time. Photoshop also did a great job auto-blending in a minute or two.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Derek. I can image it being a super useful feature for macro work. Thanks for watching! :-)

[@GlenDomulevicz]

For me, this is a great demonstration. I have finally taken a few test shots with the D850 focus shift. It works. I need more practice figuring out how many images I really need. Your two examples were a big help with that. And I like the wave fix by saving, at the right time, a duplicate on the image I will need. I have a couple of images I really want to use this on, now I think I am better prepared. As always, thanks for sharing.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Glen! Great to hear you've taken something from the video. :-)

[@paulwayman5137]

Really handy to see focus stacking put into practice Julian. Thanks for sharing this :)

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Paul, thanks so much for watching. :-)

[@Jwb-d6h]

I found that really useful and hope one day to use this. If not I can always go back to this video and watch it again but I love how you make something which sounded so complex look quite easy.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Jo! I always thought it was complex myself, but once you've done it a few times you realise it's not that tricky after all. :-)

[@steveh1273]

thanks for the tutorial and beautiful images. The D850 images look magnificent.

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Steve, thanks very much. :-)

[@standysart855]

Excellent video and a very clear and thoughtful presentation. Thank you.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching Stan!

[@LarryCarlin]

Just brilliant. Big smile as all the "tips" sink in

[@jbairdexp]

Glad you enjoyed it Larry. :-)

[@antoineveling2650]

Brilliant Julian. You are a very good educator. Thanks for your efforts making this video for us. Cheers...

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Antoine. That's very kind of you to say. I just like sharing my photo stories and the skills I learn along the way :-)

[@1965Scotia]

Great video, helped me out greatly, Thanks for taking the time to share, very much appreciated.

[@jbairdexp]

Thank you for watching! Glad it was useful. :-)

[@kevinwhitehead6373]

Great video Julian, what a lovely set of falls. I shoot Olympus with a great focus stack capability built in, works wonders for macrophotography as well as landscapes.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Kevin. It's amazing the tech that they pack into our cameras these days isn't it! :-)

[@andychattaway1361]

Yes I did thoroughly enjoy the video thanks Julian. It was a useful refresher for focus stacking. I love Bedruthan Steps and included this stunning area in a camping Photo tour of Cornwall I did. In fact I love this place so much I still have a naughty photo from there as my websites home page . Your photo stacked images are stunning I especially like the Bedruthan Thrift photo. And I love the new intro to your videos, you just knows something great is coming.

[@jbairdexp]

Fantastic, cheers Andy. Yeah Bedruthan Steps is such a stunning place. I've been trying to get to grips with photographing the beach there but not got anything decent there yet. Not as easy as I thought it might be! Thanks for noticing the intro...great to hear it adds something. All the best :-)

[@andychattaway1361]

I agree Julian it's not easy and the tide comes in at a fast rate of knots there, I ended up wading out up to my waist with camera held above my head. I got great sunset colour but the bay was covered in floating scruffy looking seaweed so I was naughty in P.S (hence the reference 'naughty photo' above) and flipped the top half of the image down, darkened it and added some movement to make it look like a reflection of the sky in the sea - naughty but nice I think. I'd love you to take a look and let me know what you think.

[@LegAdv]

Excellent video! I just bought a D850 and I’m eager to try out the Focus Shift feature!

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching! Have fun with the D850! :-)

[@JamieBulloch1]

simplified perfectly, clever modification to handle the receding shoreline waves... top tut stuff...

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Jamie! Most kind of you to say. :-)

[@h2ofrogman]

Just saw your video. Boy has this opened my eyes. Great job!

[@jbairdexp]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!

[@moc61]

Great tutorial on D850 focus shifting Julian. I have had a D850 for a few months now (and absolutely love it) but have not yet tried out the focus shift function but I will be over the next couple of weeks. Thanks

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Martin, and it's great to hear that you are loving your new D850. Like I said in the video, you won't use the Focus Shift feature all the time, but it's handy to know how it works. Cheers :-)

[@toomuchbbq]

Excellent tut! Very thorough. Well explained procedure from start to finish. Thank you.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching and for the kind comment :-)

[@Meagain921]

Another happy new subscriber for a top tutorial. Many thanks. Have done a lot of manual stacking for macro, but now I have the D850 I was wondering how it works....so now I know and some uselful landscape tips as a bonus.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks, great to hear you found the video useful. Thanks for subscribing and I hope you enjoy all my content. ATB! 👍😀

[@touchedbynature5445]

Very Helpful And Inspiring, Many thanks for sharing.

[@jbairdexp]

Glad it was so helpful. Thanks for watching. :-)

[@peterdoering4314]

Fantastic video!!! Thank you for showing a more difficult scene and how you handled it. Most videos don't do that. I had an ocean scene with the exact same problem. I fixed it with ease thanks to you.

[@jbairdexp]

Hi Pete, thanks so much, that is most kind of you to say! Glad the video was useful. ATB 👍😀

[@irenedp4947]

Julian, thanks for a very nice video. I do focus stacking often in landscape photography. Although I own an 850, have never tried with it. I usually do it manually with my main camera, a medium format, but will try it with the 850's automated system in the future. Nevertheless doing it manually is not a big deal... You get enamored with all these functions which you end up using seldom (I rarely use exposure stacking... directly add a second exposure when I believe I'll need it). Once you have the camera in the tripod it is as "hard" as moving the manual focus: say at f8, one at three meters, one at 5 and one at 10. That covers all pretty well. It is different, and here it will be quite helpful, with product photography, where you will need to do a lot of shots. Best, Irene.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching and leaving a comment Irene :-) As with most things in photography there are a number of different ways to get the same result...which is of course a good thing. Find what works with you and go with that. Like you say though, I would imagine in product photography or macro work, having the camera do the heavy lifting for you would be really useful. All the best, Julian :-)

[@rickredfern2647]

Great video Julian cheers from Australia

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Rick and say hello to Oz for me. 😀

[@jaliyekeffelew8183]

Great tutorial. I shall put it to use in my next outing. Thanks

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Jaliye :-)

[@aaz148a]

Thanks for this amazing video, by replaying it I understood that the first time you hit start was for demonstration purposes only and that thereafter you reset it. Thanks for the info on the lens, its the one I use for landscape. Brilliant!! faved and subscribed!!!

[@jbairdexp]

Ah cool! Glad it made sense! With that lens, anything between f/5.6 and f/8 will be a good apperture. Thanks so much for subscribing!

[@albertw251]

Great video. I've never used focus stacking. So, I will be trying that out soon. Thank you for creating this video!

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Albert. It's not for every photo, but it's a useful technique to know. I even used it this morning! :-)

[@albertw251]

@@jbairdexp I am curious. I know that focus stacking is definitely used with a tripod to minimize camera shake. Will a monopod work or would there be some shake involved?

[@jbairdexp]

It could work for landscapes, but I wouldn't fancy doing it with a monopod for macro work. The more movement there is though, the harder Photoshop will have to work in post. If it struggles you could end up with artifacts in the image. I probably wouldn't recommend it to be honest. :-)

[@johnpabis8504]

Great lesson, easy to follow and duplicate, even if not comfortable with photo shop! Thank you

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks John, glad you found it easy to follow. I'm not that comfortable with PS either, but the focus stacking process is relatively straightforward. 😀👍

[@tonyallen9047]

Very nice tutorial, Julian. You have a very clear and easy way which helps the viewer. Personally, I’m not a big fan of focus stacking, especially in landscape photography. I always find the images a bit unnatural, particularly to the far of the image. I prefer a certain amount of softness in the distance, as this is truer to what the eye will see. Just a personal preference. I find with most prime lenses that diffraction is barely visible, even up to f16. Even then, it really only is if you pixel peep. I totally understand focus stacking in macro work though, where the image is so close it’s impossible to get a completely in focus shot Still a very nice video Regards Tony

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Tony. :-) Like I said in the video, it's not a techique that I would use a lot as I find the results for most images at f/13 etc are more than acceptable. Every now and again it's useful to have a technique like this you back pocket though. :-)

[@timpriestley8997]

Brilliant video, informative and answered all my questions. Thanks pal

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Tim, great to hear that you found the video useful! Cheers 😀

[@BosePhotography]

Really nice video Julian! I do focus stack occasionally but find it a bit of a faff to do in the field (especially if I'm bracketing as well!). The feature on the D850 would be really useful for me! I really like the images by the way, great work! Sam.

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Sam! I consider anything like bracketing and focus stacking a bit of a faff, but they have their place and it's always good to have that technique in your back pocket in case you need it :-)

[@curtisbayley1235]

Great Tutorial........! Food for thought 👍🏽

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Curtis! 👍👍

[@christianpatton1852]

Very inspirational Julian as always love to try out the focus stacking at some point love the result.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Christian.... it's a skill worth learning, even if you don't use it all the time. :-)

[@Trish12303]

I am a little late to the party, but thanks for sharing the video. It has a lot of great information!!

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Patty!

[@kelly4mayor298]

VERY well done. Makes 100% sense. Thank you.

[@jbairdexp]

Fantastic to hear...thanks for watching! :-)

[@osedok]

Fantastic video Julian...

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Andrzej! :-)

[@Higgins_Nature_Photographer]

Excellent vlog Julian on Focus Shift shooting in the D850 and great photos. I just love that Focus Shift shooting feature for landscapes and macro. Just a suggestion, you might consider using Helicon Focus software, it has a great feature for correcting ghosting and movement such as waves or clouds in yore scene.

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Richard. Thanks for the heads up on the software....I've book marked that and will look at it later. Thanks! :-)

[@SteveONions]

That's really impressive Julian and I loved the sea pinks image.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Steve. I unfortunately missed the best of the Thrift (sea pink) this year...it seemed the days I was able to go out and shoot it the weather was rubbish. Isn't that just the way with landscape photography? :-)

[@tomwedge308]

Thanks Julian, something I'm definitely going to try out.

[@jbairdexp]

It's a skill worth learning Tom. Cheers :-)

[@JamieOverland]

Thats a really useful tutorial Julian, thanks for that. Just checked and it doesn't look like I have the focus shift/stack option on the 5DM4, so will have to keep doing manually....one up for Nikon 👍

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Jamie. Time for a camera swap mate? lol

[@jamesss1953]

As usual, your tutorials are full of good info. Only used focus shift twice now on the D850. I used Affinity Photo to 'blend' which worked very well. Affinity was due to Adobe abandoning Lr as a stand alone prog. However, I've jumped on the new Lr + Photoshop 2019 subscription. I've just been looking at Helicon Photo as a possibility for rendering said images. Just watched your 11 month old tutorial on focus shift/stacking and think this is my way forwards. Yep, I've watched it before, but didn't pay too much attention due to not possessing Photoshop. But this time I "did" pay attention. Thank you very much for this tutorial 😁

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Frank, glad you've found it even more useful than last time! A mate of mine mentioned Helicon last night and I think he said it was tricky to use but very powerful if you have a LOT of images to stack together. For the work that I do though, PS does what I need it to. Thanks again for watching again and leaving a comment Frank. Much appreciated and happy photo stacking!

[@jamesss1953]

Helicon, I understand is a German product; 3 price ranges for degrees of 'time's of use. Having looked at it, from your tutorial Ps will definitely do the process. Cheers for your response.

[@jamesss1953]

Very much appreciate your time/response....just reshoot flower but with focus steps of 4. Worked perfectly....thank you for your time/advice

[@erichsnijder7376]

Great video. Good to see that using the Focus Stacking can be just for a lot of subjects. Keep up the good work :)

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Erich! 👍😀

[@Mackymcd]

Thanks for the guide, looking forward to trying this out 👍🏻

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching. Have fun with it!👍

[@ericstephenvorm]

Nice tutorial. Thanks for the clear instructions!

[@jbairdexp]

Great to hear...thanks for watching!

[@peterkitchell9485]

Really well done. I have lots of experience with what you have covered and this video is so thorough and well put together. Agreed, focus stacking is only for when you need it but there is finally a straightforward way to get around the last limitation of our modern cameras. Now broad exposure latitude and broad focus latitude as well. Just have to be original.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Peter, really appreciate that. Yeah, I do use the focus stacking rarely, but it's a great skill to have in the bag. Thanks again for watching. 😀😀

[@peterkitchell9485]

If you have a chance, please check out my sight under my name. might appeal to you.Thanks so much for replying.@@jbairdexp

[@Adol666]

Thanks a ton for this tutorial it really help me a lot! Who knew it was this easy lol.

[@jbairdexp]

No worries, glad you found it so useful! I did also make a more consolidated version of the process in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmWwe6umps9ro8k Thanks again for watching. :-)

[@cuentamedenuevo7399]

Thanks for sharing this! Very clear explanation.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching! :-)

[@peterjones4057]

Really good video, very clear and helpful. Thanks.

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Pete, that's most kind of you to say. :-)

[@simonfitzhugh2044]

I occasionally use the Focus Shift mode and find leaving the number of shots set at 30 is more than enough. The camera racks out from the near (front) starting point and stops at infinity. Normally just past by two shots. In practice that is about 8 frames for a 35mm lens at 1 meter focus. Set to "6" on the gap. If the last shot didn't quite make it, simply start again without touching the lens to carry on the sequence :-)

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Simon, it's interesting to hear how other people have got on with this feature. There definately seems to be more than one way to approach the settings. Thanks for watching. :-)

[@greyhoundrick5568]

Excellent video Julian! Very informative, well thought out and extremely helpful! Thank you for doing this. I’m now a subscriber to your channel. Best to you, Rick 😊

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Rick, great to hear you found this video helpful. Extra thanks for subscribing! It's much appreciated. 👍

[@andywhiteside16]

very informative Julian learnt a lot from this just hope I can remember it all

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Andy...glad you learnt something...the video will always be here should you need to reference it. :-)

[@stevesvids]

Great vid.... I've never tackled a focus stack.... but I'm keen to perhaps have a try now... thanks Julian. All the best. Steve.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Steve....it's worth giving a go. Like I said in the video, always useful to have a skill like this in your back pocket. :-)

[@timscanlanphotography]

Hi Julian. What a great in-camera option the Focus Shift is ! You've created a stunning image at the falls. It was really good to see you tackling the seascape stacking. I've always found this a challenge but your way of using the layer mask should solve that ! Do you encounter alignment problems (when focus stacking) on breezy days with items such as sea pinks in the foreground being blown around? I've yet to crack that problem but I'll try a layer mask next time and see if that sorts it. Very helpful video Julian. Huge thanks for sharing.

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Tim! Yeah, there will still be a little bit of movement in the flowers, even after alignment. As long as it's movement, and not ghosting (as with the waves), I'll generally just leave it in the image. Alignment issues with moving objects can be tricky...not so hard with the waves, but complex areas such as the flowers can be really tricky to sort, even with layer masks. That type of scene is probably one for a calm day anyway. Great to hear you liked the video. :-)

[@jorismaasvisuals]

Amazing video! This alone would interest me in buying a Nikon D850 haha. Still a bit pricey if you want to switch to Nikon when you heavily invested in Canon equipment (but I am thinking about getting a used D850 with wide angle for landscapes).

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks! :-) Now might be a good change to get a used D850...I'm sure a few people will trade in for a Z7. Or that new mirrorless system from Canon looks pretty sweet. Have you thought about that?

[@Hofsaedter]

the problem is if you stack some images with elements in the forground that reach into the out of focus aerea ! Then i often get bad halos and other artefacts ! I´d love to see how you manage this type of images !

[@jbairdexp]

Hi Gunter, it's not a perfect process, and coastal scenes like I showed in the video tend to show up the most artefacts. I don't think there is any easy answer to the problem other than spending a lot of time using masks to paint in corrections. :-)

[@1Adventures2]

Excellent Presentation- - - Thanks

[@jbairdexp]

Glad it was helpful!

[@pauladavies5585]

Excellent. I’m going to try my first shot.

[@jbairdexp]

Fantastic. Let me know how you get on. Thanks for watching Paula. TIP: Make sure the clock is set on your camera or it doesn't work. Seems to be a common problem (for those that don't normally set their clocks that is!)

[@HoFanChan]

Thank you for the excellent tutorial, learnt a lot.

[@jbairdexp]

Excellent, glad I could help. :-)

[@DietrichLasa]

Very helpful, including your answer to Murad Jamal in the comments! Thank you! By the way, your 4K video produces such crisp images at its focus point distance - also very impressive! (I am watching it on a 4K monitor.)

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Dietrich! Glad you found the video helpful. I've always shot my videos in 4k and the Sony RX100M4 that I used to film this video really does produce a great video output. Glad you enjoyed it on 4k. If you want more visual delights for your 4k monitor, check out this: kzbin.info/aero/PLJU6FMi6Tvo-Wl_5HLpVTU3wF_ECxcRca

[@DietrichLasa]

@@jbairdexp Thank you for your reply and link!

[@typhoon-7]

You got another subscriber from this. Brilliant.

[@jbairdexp]

Thank you so much Mike....welcome to my channel! 😎👍

[@typhoon-7]

@@jbairdexp Thanks! Just stepped up to a D850 as my first ever full frame from a D3300 and a D60 before that. It's a different world!

[@jbairdexp]

@@typhoon-7 The D850 is probably still the best DSLR out there. It's a big jump from the D330, so happy shooting! :-)

[@Chris_2023_]

Hi Julian, thanks for your great video!!! Very clearly explained! I have been out with my D850 trying to utilise this feature and unfortunately cannot get the final shots in the sequence to be pin sharp. the first in the series with the foreground are razor sharp but the distance ones are blurry. i have set the number of shots to 20, thinking that with my earlier attempts it was running out of shots. Even changed the step width from 2 to 6. I have changed apertures for the different attempts from f2.8 to f8, tried Aperture priority and the Manual. Have tried using my 16-35 mm f4, then my 24-70mm f2.8 and all with no luck. Any suggestions? Help!!!!

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Chris. I honestly can't think what you are doing wrong. You've changed the settings I would have recommend. Its odd as every shot should have an element of sharpness regardless. None of them should be 100% blurry. The only thing I might recommend is to ensure the firmware on the camera and lens is up to date.

[@paulinap-k8409]

Such a great video! I am a Canon user but I am thinking to switch to Nikon because imo Nikon gives more features than canon and for less money. What tripod do you use?

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching and I'm sure you'll be very happy with whatever Nikon you decide to go with. I currently use a Gitzo 2532 as my main tripod. :-)

[@lastdrop26]

Great video tutorial thanks. One question did you switch VR off ? I never heard you mention it.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Terry, glad you liked it. I always have VR off anyway, so that's probably why I never mentioned it. I almost always shoot from a tripod. 😀

[@jorsetti]

Thanks Julian! great Instructional video, NiSi filters?

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Jim. Can't comment on NiSi filters as I've never used them. I current use Kase which I find to be an excellent system. :-)

[@MrHookshanks]

Nice job Julian, I notice you don't use the live Histogram, is there a reason?

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks, no reason other than I just didn't use it for this location. It's a spot that I know well, so I already know that if the meter reading is in the middle I don't have to worry about clipping at either end. I always check the histogram on image review though...just in case. :-)

[@zsozsousa1]

great video. Thank you for sharing

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks very much! 👍

[@Anilks27]

Awesome video !! I took 100 + images for Micro images in raw and while saving the final image after stacking process, it does allow me to save in .tif because of space issues. Also it took me more than 30 minutes to stack 100 images to get one image. What is your suggestion on it ? Appreciate for your suggestion.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Anil. Firstly, I assume you needed to take 100+ images for a single stack? (That many makes it sounds like you are shooting something specialist). If you did, then you can either save in PSB (this gets around the TIFF limitations, but you'll still need a stack load of space). The other thing you can do is to flatten the image before you save it. This will shrink the file considerably. The only real way of stacking photos faster is to use less images in a stack or get a faster computer. :-)

[@Anilks27]

@@jbairdexp Thank you very much for your quick response. I see one video from Nikon who suggest take 100+ images for macro photography and followed that pattern and didn't work :) What is your suggestion for macro ? I see 15-20 is good for landscape photography from your video. Thank you again !!

[@jbairdexp]

No problem at all. The number of images depends on the subject you are photographing. 9 out of 10 landscape photos I'll just use 3 to 4 images. If I have a very detailed foreground, I might shoot 10 to 15, but I'll check them all in Lightroom and might end up ditching the first and last 3 or 4. I don't shoot a lot of macro personally so can't really advise. But what I would suggest is experimentation. Try a smaller number of shots with a bigger step width. If you find you aren't getting enough in focus shots, trying increasing the number of shots and reducing the step width. But starting at 100 seems possibly more than you need. Even if you take 100 shots, doesn't mean you need them all in the final stack so it's worth looking through the sequence first before sending them all to PS. Like I said, quite often you don't need the first few anyway (depending on where you started the focus stack).

[@Anilks27]

@@jbairdexp Thank you very much for your great advice !! Really helpful.

[@dance2jam]

Julian, thank you very much for this tutorial. This came across my feed at the perfect time. I recently joined a D850 Hobbyist user group and issued a challenge to the group. Once a month, to feature one of the items on the D850 we all want to learn, but have never used. As some of your comments below suggest, I'm not the only one never to have used focus stacking successfully. After watching your video I have 2 questions (and might add more later). First, I did try this for a MACRO image and found it wouldn't work with the Tokina 100mm. I believe I read this feature is disable if you are not using a NIKON lens. Is that true? 2. I was curious what lens you were using to accomplish this. I thought only a prime would work, but then saw in your quick run through Lightroom that it appeared you were using a 16-35mm f/4. Yes? So this feature will work on a zoom? 3. I understand how you fixed the wave movement in the second example with a copy and layer mask. What if there had been a strong wind blowing the flowers in the foreground? Thanks for your video and responses in advance.

[@jbairdexp]

Hi, glad you liked the video. I can't comment on the use of non-Nikon lenses as I don't have any. However, not all Nikon lenses work either. They must be either AF-S or AF-P Nikon lenses. Anyway, in the video I was using a zoom lens, the Nikkor 16-35mm f/4, with no issues, so a zoom lens is fine. If there had been a lot of movement in the foreground, I probably wouldn't have focused stacked, or I would have reduced the number of shots down to about 3 and hopefully got all the foreground in focus in one shot. It's not a technique that will work in every scenerio. 😀

[@minkymott]

Excellent video on this subject. I'm going to start focus stacking so this helps a great deal. This may seem like a dumb question, but when you take the photos, does it focus the frame up and down as well as left to right?

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks, glad you found it useful. It just focuses from close to distant. :-)

[@minkymott]

@@jbairdexp oh, ok. That makes sense. :) Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. :)

[@jbairdexp]

@@minkymott No problem at all 🙂

[@jscook54]

This was an excellent lesson. I still have trouble deciding how many images to take though. Do you have some rule of thumb that you use? Thanks.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Janet. I'm afraid I don't have a hard and fast rule. I generally start at 5 to 6 shots with a small / medium step, and then work up from there. Scenes like the coastal scene where the change in focus distance for close subjects is more likely to be noticed then I will start at closer to 10 to 15, with a small step. I think it's like most things in photography. There isn't a hard and fast rule, and getting it right just comes with practice. :-)

[@vickifrance]

I totally missed how you took the photo! Did you just touch the back screen in the areas you wanted in focus? Or does the camera self pick where there points of focus are? You walked away from the falls and I missed how you did it.

[@jbairdexp]

Hi Vicki, no worries, I guess it's easy to miss. Once you've got all the focus shifting options set, you click on Start (which you can see me do at 06:10 in the video). The camera then takes all the shots at the different focus points for you. :-)

[@vickifrance]

@@jbairdexp Thank you! Julian.

[@jbairdexp]

@@vickifrance No worries!

[@RussellDossett]

Liked and Subbed nice video mate you explained it very well thanks I know how long a video like this can take to make.

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks! Yes, they do take a while to make but all the effort is worthwhile if someone finds it useful. :-)

[@RussellDossett]

Julian Baird - Landscape Photography It did so thanks and same for me if I can make something that helps even one person it’s worth it keep up the good work it’s nice to have another UK channel that does these sorts of videos 👍

[@sdgreen1960]

Very useful, thanks. Is there any way you know of combining this with SELECTED exposure bracketing? Running a focus shift sequence for each bracket setting would be wasteful (eg 4 focus points @ +- 2ev with a 1ev gap gives 20shots! And xQD cards are expensive!). Really the nearest areas would only need to be exposed for the ground, the furthest for sky. The only way I can see is by focusing at each point manually & then manually exposing frames as required. But that negates the auto focus shift feature entirely... Also am I right in assuming that focus shift only works with autofocus lenses? Thanks Julian

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching Stephen. Can't say I've tried to bracket and focus shift at the same time. If you are exposing for the foreground (which is typically the largest area of the image), you would only need to potentially bracket for the background. So you could shoot the entire focus stack at the desired exposure for the foreground, and then after the focus stack has finished, bracket the last shot (background) again, and then blend it in PS. For 4 focus points, this would require 4 shots (for the stack), and another 3 for the background bracket. 😀

[@sdgreen1960]

@@jbairdexp I see what you mean ..thanks that's very helpful. Obvious when you explain it - my brain somehow couldn't work it out!. It would be nice if it were possible to program that in but then it would be too easy!

[@jbairdexp]

Glad I could help! Sometimes you just need a different viewpoint to help solve a problem. 😀👍

[@reidnorthrup2688]

Really liked your video. Very well done. I do have a question though. Do you recommend importing only photos related to a stack into LR? I imported some focus stack photos into LR along with several other photos. It seemed that the D850 assigned odd file names to the photos which made it difficult to tell which photos were stack related. I seem to recall when I selected the stacking feature in camera I chose to put the stack photos into a different folder. In your video, you didn’t seem to select that option. So I’ve not been using this great feature as I wasn’t sure how to import them correctly into LR. I hope you can help me out. Reid

[@jbairdexp]

Hey Reid, what I do before I take the first image in a stack (or a panorama) is take a shot of my hand! If I remember after the last shot of the sequence, I'll take another picture of my hand. When I import all the images into LR (including any non pano / stack frames), I can clearly see on the grid or filmstrip where a stack or pano sequence starts. I think I mentioned this in the video at around 07:34. Hope this helps :-)

[@brianglenville386]

Nice technique!! Could you do the post processing using lightroom ? If you used merge and hdr would it work?

[@jbairdexp]

Hi Brian, I donn't believe you can do it in Lightroom. It's one of those rare cases for me when I do actually have to use Photoshop in my post processing.

[@shyster717]

Hi, what kind of tripod are you using?

[@jbairdexp]

Hi, in that video I'm using a Gitzo GT2532 with a Manfrotto Junior Geared 410 Head. :-)

[@quah1220]

Hi hi, what a great video, thanks !!!

[@jbairdexp]

Thank you, and thank you for watching. 👍

[@VangelisValtos]

Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

[@jbairdexp]

My pleasure, thanks for watching! :-)

[@beerequalsheaven]

Hi Julian. Will the focus points that you have set stay the same until you have changed them..for example I do a lot of zoomed in panoramic's if I have set things up for frame one (of the pano) will this have the same setting throughout the rest of frames (of the pano) I am hoping once you have set the initial stack that things will not alter unless you change them. Many thanks :)

[@jbairdexp]

Hi, thanks for watching and for leaving a comment. Sorry though, I'm a little confused by your question, which seems to be about panoramic images, rather than focus stacked images? Or are you doing focus stacked panoramic images? 😀

[@beerequalsheaven]

​@@jbairdexp Sorry it is hard to explain. So yeah doing focus stacked panoramas. I was shooting in snow the other day and to 'freeze' the falling snow I had to use f6-7 or so (without bumping up the iso) now at that large aperture zoomed in doing a panoramic as you can imagine front to back focusing was problematic. The light was stable so say if I were to do a 5 image set for a pano, so if I set the camera stack feature up for the first image will the settings stay the exact same throughout the 5 images? hope I have made myself more clear, it's hard to get across. Basically I don't want any stack inconsistency between pano frames. :)

[@jbairdexp]

Hey, yes, I get where you are coming from now. 👍 I'm afraid the simple answer to your question is that I don't know. I've never had to shoot a focus stack in that way, ensuring that each photo in a stack has the same focusing point, over each frame you compose. However, would it really matter? If the end result for each frame in your pano is a focus stacked frame, does it matter where the camera focused each time your run the focus stack on the camera? As long as you are setting enough frames to capture enough sharpness fron to back, does it matter if the camera uses a slightly different focus point each time? If you are referring just to the settings on the camera for a focus stack, and not the focus points it uses, then yes, the camera remembers how you configured the settings from the previous time you run it. So if say 5 frames, with a medium step, it will do that everytime until you change it. Not sure if I've made myself clear now! lol

[@beerequalsheaven]

@@jbairdexp Yeah you did Perfect mate. Yeah trust me doing zoomed in (for compression) panos are a bugger mate and doing them at wide apertures only compounds the problem more. If the focus is not identical for each of the pano frames it may have 'odd' outmatching frames. There is of course the convenience factor as well, once it's been set your good to go with the pano with no faffing about between takes so to speak. With most panos it's a case of setting the camera to f8-f11 whack out some hyper-focal magic and all's good, as I am finding out..very tight zoomed in panos are a different beast altogether. I Looked at your photography on your webber, stunning! you have the right balance of editing to your work, over processing seems to be a virus overtaking important fundamentals in technique in the field. Thank you for your time Julian much appreciated mate :)

[@jbairdexp]

Cool! Wasn't sure if I made any sense there at all! lol Thanks so much for your kind works on my images. 👍 Good luck with your panos! 😀

[@matthiasbaumbach9801]

Just a quick question: is the stacked image you process in LR still a RAW file ?

[@jbairdexp]

No. By the time it's all done a round trip to Photoshop the resulting file will be a TIFF or PSD (depending on your configuration). 😀

[@jamesss1953]

Hi Julian, good instruction on focus shift [Nikon D850], i am using a Tamron 90mm lens and trying macro. Please can you suggest a camera mode; I'm focus peeking initially in manual focus & live view then switching back to manual with auto focus. Images captured easily then into Lr to Ps. However here is where my issue lies? Can you possibly consider an indepth tutorial on this subject in the future please

[@jbairdexp]

Hey Frank, thanks for watching and for taking the time to leave a comment. Sorry, but can you just clarify where your issue is and what you'd like a bit of clarity on?

[@jamesss1953]

Cheers for quick response. As you know the depth of field is small. Best appature for my lens is f4 - f11. I chose f8. Tripod, flash ring in place. In focus shifts menu on D850 focus step width to 1. All shots achieved. Export to Lr then to Ps layers. But once in Ps after aligning all, despite no movement during shooting the resulting image was blurred.

[@jbairdexp]

What are you shooting Frank? It sounds like you might focus stacking with a macro subject?

[@jamesss1953]

@@jbairdexp yes ~ macro. I'm shooting a flower. I've just brought a fresh cut flower in and now making focus step width '3' to see if this solves my issue. Looking at individual original raw images they are fine . But putting through Ps to realign all it was very out of focus.

[@jbairdexp]

I'm not much of a macro photographer...just learning the basics at the moment. Because of lockdown I have been trying my hand at focus stacking some flowers indoors and it has been tricky. What I have found is that it appears dedicated tools like Helicon Focus does a much better (and way faster) job at focus stacking more complex subjects. Might be worth giving it a try (you can get a trial license). The softness could also be caused by a gap in the stack due to very shallow DoF, and some tuning of the D850 settings is required.

[@pauljevons4223]

Great video

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching Paul! 👍😃

[@scarface1961]

Very informative video. Julian, I have a question. What step did you do to get the image back into Lightroom? I am a beginner with Photoshop. Thanks Bob

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks Bob. If you open the images into Photoshop from Lightroom, the image you save in Photoshop should be automatically added back into Lightroom. 👍

[@scarface1961]

@@jbairdexp Thanks Julian. Keep up the entertaining and informative work.

[@jbairdexp]

@@scarface1961 Thanks Bob, I really appreciate the support. :-)

[@phooesnax]

Great demo. Thank You

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching. :-)

[@buzzardwhiskey]

Very well done. Thank you!

[@jbairdexp]

Thanks for watching David! :-)

[@Gazzab6]

Julian, thanks for showing us a simple method of focus stacking images using Photoshop. After the stacking process, did you go back into Lightroom with the image as a tiff file to finish the editing or was it a NEF? I noticed near the end of the video, it was a tiff when back in Lightroom or is that what you finally saved it as? Gary

[@jbairdexp]

Cheers Gary. Photoshop creates a TIFF file from the merged NEF files, so that is why you would have seen a TIFF and not a NEF in LR after the merge. It actually depends on how you have LR configured... you can have the roundtrip to PS create a PSD file instead. :-)

[@Gazzab6]

Thanks Julian. Can't wait to give it a try.

[@jbairdexp]

No worries...happy shooting! :-)

[@Gazzab6]

Actually what I should've asked, is there a reason why you have it load up as a tiff instead of a psd?

[@jbairdexp]

No other reason other than I think it might be the default file type in the configuration of Lightroom for round tripping to PS. :-)

[@RAnthonyphotos]

Julian great explanation on Focus Stacking! Question: Once you establish the closest focus point, do you leave the camera on AF or MF. Thx in advance.

[@jbairdexp]

Hi Robert, thanks so much for watching and taking the time to leave a comment. My camera is on AF all the time, so not sure if having the camera on MF stops the focus stack from working. Do you normally shoot in AF or MF?

[@RAnthonyphotos]

Yes, I just about always use AF. Looking forward to try that feature of the D850. Thx again, Julian!

[@jbairdexp]

No worries. Like I said, I never turn AF on, so you should be good to leave it on also. All the best! :-)