How to FOCUS STACK for amazingly sharp landscape, macro or product photos.

[@hornj388]

Very Thorough and great editing! Cheers from Chicago

[@photogenius]

Much appreciated, thank you so much.

[@SaltLake180]

Excellent tutorial. Cant be better. Thx

[@photogenius]

Very kind, thanks.c

[@danidah]

I’ve always wondered what people meant by focus stacking. Thanks for the explanation and the visuals!

[@Kenny.G63]

Fantastic video Paul, appreciate the captures of the older cameras, I’ll be photo stacking in GIMP.

[@paulshelbourne1690]

Great video again Paul.... Thanks for all your hard work.

[@photogenius]

Thanks Paul 👏

[@paulshelbourne1690]

@@photogenius Its been a while. I am just picking up my camera again so I will most likely book into one of your courses again as a refresher. I need it with this new camera!

[@photogenius]

Sounds good, I look forward to seeing you again.

[@andrewedwards3989]

Hi there Paul , another great video , so much to learn , so much fun to have , appreciate all your hard work , best regards from northern NZ

[@photogenius]

Thank you so much Andrew, appreciate the feedback.

[@malcolmhouse7285]

Never thought of changing my auto white balance off thanks, I do a lot of macro and stacking great tip from the Uk .Great channel 10

[@paul-c7541]

Hi Paul can we have another video with Susan & You on a camera shoot out, a follow up to the last one please.

[@photogenius]

Hi Paul. We have been talking about getting together for another challenge video, feel free to suggest a fun challenge theme and we will see what we can do.

[@paul-c7541]

@@photogenius Hi Paul, how about the beauty of Brisbane street photography many of us have never being to Australia I'm sure you have beautiful markets full of colour, or the challenge could be ,selling us the beauty of Brisbane, I'm sure you two could come up with something.

[@usernamemykel]

You are so personable (and obviously very knowledgeable, and have a great ability to teach). It is ALWAYS a pleasure to watch your tutorials. Your's is the first macro video I've seen where you not only "zoom" in on the subject getting closer and closer, but you also change the focus point for each shot. Wondering why you haven't introduced a "focusing rail" while you were at it. Perhaps that's in your dedicated macro video and you didn't think it would add anything to a focus stacking video. Your little smiles are delightful, BTW.

[@photogenius]

Thank you so much for the kind words and great feedback. I didn't feature a focusing rail, but I might do in a future video as I think there's definitely more to explore in the macro world! Best wishes to you.

[@usernamemykel]

@@photogenius Paul, in the next video on macro, you may wish to include how and why to use flash - it could be important for some of your subscribers. Regards from Florida

[@safaearchich6492]

What a teacher!! Best teacher ever

[@seaeagles6025]

Hi Paul, Nice to see another one of your videos. What a difference Focus Stack makes to a photo. It was good to see some Vintage, Important cameras. Loved the end result of how good the Focus Stack was on the ROLLEIFLEX Camera, such a pleasure to look at. Some photos can make you a bit Dizzy to look at, but not with Focus Stacking. Great viewing this video was, Thanks

[@photogenius]

Thank you for the great feedback, I really appreciate the support 😃

[@seaeagles6025]

@@photogenius Your welcome paul👍

[@jameswallace3963]

Thanks Paul🎉

[@photogenius]

You are welcome James, thanks for watching.

[@patricklilja6503]

Thanks a lot Paul! You’re a educational genius as well!

[@pauldarville3843]

Thanks Paul, I have a canon 6DM2 and the canon 100mm f/2.8 non-L lens and I have to give this ago!!!

[@steveboys5369]

Another really interesting video Paul, thanks for sharing.

[@photogenius]

Thanks Steve, was fun to make. Hope you are well.

[@BoB-cz9qr]

Very useful video, thank you. Thing is when I first got into photography, my camera was a point and shoot, everything was in focus and pin sharp, could zoom into the photo and see all the detail, but yet now with a modern (more expensive) camera I struggle to get the same results

[@Bishnu_Deb]

Don't struggle with expensive and modern cameras rather shoot with your point and shoot camera and be happy.

[@dougdunlop6716]

Good video, I have tried this technique but it's mote than just taking multiple pictures and adding them together. The computer program selects the portions that are in focus and adds them together.

[@jackthair8311]

Another great video. The Olympus Trip 35 was my first 35mm film camera when I was in high school. I wish I still had it.

[@photogenius]

That is awesome!, I remember the Olympus ads on TV.

[@terrynestor6353]

Another great video Paul.

[@bhaskarmukhaty5135]

Hi, Paul, can we have a photo stacking tutorial video of the moon? I am learning digital photography from you and I own a D3500 with kit and 70-300 mm telephoto lense. Would anxiously wait for the requested video.

[@collincourtois8587]

Always a pleasure to follow your videos. Thanks, see you soon.

[@AkhtarNaqvi]

Hi Paul, thanks for teaching the magic. I stacked nine photos with each focusing on one object at a time which were placed about one and a half feet further from each other. Each photo had only one object sharp while remaining objects were blurred because of wide open aperture (f/2.8). Your stated adebra cabera worked well on PS and end result was stunningly sharp image throughout. Each object was perfectly sharp. Wow. Thanks again guru. (Note: jpg images worked fine. NEF kept giving error saying image need to be saved before stacking. I did all logical save methods and formats but error persisted. Not sure what was wrong)

[@usernamemykel]

Abracadabra!

[@jamesmcmullan7921]

As always Paul, great video tutorial. Thank you

[@joshuadivahar7719]

Thank you

[@lynsmith1096]

Another good tutorial Paul

[@photogenius]

Thank you so much Lyn.

[@Twobarpsi]

The green fly was cool!

[@photogenius]

Thanks for watching until the end 👏

[@Twobarpsi]

@@photogenius always!!

[@FlyFishFairwx]

Well done Paul, love the old Pentax

[@dirkgibbens377]

Another great video. I am new to focus stacking and am anxious to give it a go. I have seen some that take photos hand hekd for stacking and using the software’s auto-align function to get them lined up in the final stacked image. It seems to me as if that wouldn’t be as precise as sticking with a tripod mounted camera. Do you ever focus stack handheld photos? Thanks again for excellent content. You are so pleasant, upbeat and extremely knowledgeable. New to your channel, and loving all of your videos!

[@unclebuck5957]

Great tips . I use the tubes and the lens

[@photogenius]

Awesome! Thanks for watching.

[@herbkateley2622]

Thank you! Clear and concise.

[@pepper6253]

Love those vintage cameras thanks Paul very informative video, way to much for work me lol...😵‍💫😃

[@photogenius]

Appreciate the feedback, thanks 🙂

[@delphiprogrammingtutorials2280]

Thanks so much, Paul! Another excellent tutorial! I have just recently begun to learn and practice focus stacking and I think it's one of the best things I've learned since exposure bracketing and HDR. I use a Canon Rebel T7 on a mini-tripod with 18-55mm kits lens, ISO 100, f/11 (sweet-spot for this lens) on shutter priority with a focal length set to 35mm. I've done both natural light and flash (Altura AP-305C) and they both come out razor sharp. The flash is a bit more earthy than the natural light. It actually looks more "natural" than just natural light. I think that this is a must-have skill for any serious photographer, no matter what level you consider yourself to be. Also, I have been using both Photoshop and Helicon and while they are almost exactly the same, I have found that Photoshop handles image alignment far better than Helicon. Because of this alone, I will stick with Adobe. Thanks again, Paul! You're the best!

[@ThivyanMurugamani]

Thank you very much for posting this video :)

[@gabicata19]

Precious tips!!❤

[@photogenius]

Thank you so much Gabriela.

[@alwaysinout]

Thanks

[@lifeguardryantv5846]

Nice

[@DroneKing2K]

Paul, I've just gone a brought a Nikon P1000 great Camera but sensor is small and only 16mega pixels but it's a 3000mm Optical Super zoom, this will really help with my moon shots

[@photogenius]

The P1000 is ideal for moon photos, have fun! 😃

[@girly456ish]

Can you do a video on best lenses for bird photography?

[@benyaminsedighi4831]

Hello , can I have your e mail address

[@paranormalinvestigationsin9370]

brilliant as usual mate 🙂

[@photogenius]

Thank you.

[@terada2423]

Hey Paul,just found you. Great tutorial and thank you. Subscribed.

[@earavichandran]

Wonderful video..❤❤

[@photogenius]

I very much appreciate your kind feedback - thanks for watching.

[@emberdiosa]

Great video!! Thank you!

[@gaylelamping9873]

Incredible!

[@liamfinch4129]

excellent video!

[@stevejago7659]

Another brilliant tutorial Paul, tell me if I’m wrong but if you focus stack in av mode on canon the exposure may vary slightly, but if you merge as hdr in Lightroom i think it focus stacks aswell. Would be interested in your opinion, thanks

[@marcofreitas5321]

I was thinking the same thing... Will have to try it.

[@photogenius]

HDR is very different to focus stacking.

[@Ali-io9nv]

Thank you for this informative video, especially the final bonus tips. I've tried focus stacking in photoshop the same way you explained however the result is not perfect. Some contrasty areas inside the image and particlarly the left and right edges are blurred. I did auto-align in the process but camera was in Av mode.

[@photogenius]

Hope you get better results next time, thanks for watching.

[@usernamemykel]

Paul, using in-camera focus bracketing and stacking, with flash, should the shutter curtain be mechanical or electronic? With in-camera focus bracketing and stacking, how is flash able to keep up with all the shots?

[@RCBOSS1969]

Thank you!

[@davem0udb]

good stuff Paul, is this similar to star stacking.

[@graemelever-naylor6721]

Thanks Paul, very helpful. I always wondered why the merged images rendered an all sharp final image rather than an all blurry final image. Doe the software recognise what is sharp and what is not?

[@photogenius]

Yep, the software recognises the sharpest areas of each individual shot - clever stuff 🙂 Thanks for watching.

[@suzanneknoldeleeuw2905]

Thankyou!

[@marcofreitas5321]

Hi there, thanks for another clear and concise video ! Would it work as if I stack the images using the HDR stacking in Lightroom ?

[@photogenius]

No HDR is very different to Focus stacking.

[@MrMajoroak]

Hi Paul. Great tutorial. Thank you. I'm just confused as to when to use the focus point for focusing (as in the coin) or zooming the lens in (as in the flower). Is this dependant on the type of lens ... prime or zoom?

[@warrior_zap8648]

You should use the zoom to decide how much stuff you want it the shot, then use focus to make everything sharp

[@johnstaples1606]

Great video.. I would be interested in how you organised the raw files in camera.. don’t all the shots get mixed up with other images.. ? you made the process look easy but it’s the organising of the images that stumps me.. do you put them in a file in camera if so how? Cheers mate great work!

[@photogenius]

Hi John, All the RAW files are numbered in camera and run in sequence. When taking multiple exposures such as bracketing, HDR or in this case focus stacking, a good tip is to take a blank image between stacks so that when transfer the images to a computer you can see clearly where each set of images starts and finishes. I just cover the lens with my hand for this - hope that makes sense! Best wishes.

[@johnstaples1606]

That’s great.. I’m sure I’ve seen somewhere that you can create a folder in camera? Great tip .. cheers

[@Guoenyi]

I don't get it. Why do you not just close the aperture as much as possible for larger DoF since stacking is also trying to achieve that? Is it because the foreground and background are too far apart in some situation?

[@MrsMinx50]

Hi Paul great video, very interesting, something I would love to try when I get back to Photography after my operation thanks Paul once again great tips and Images 👍👌

[@photogenius]

Thank you so much.

[@feraudyh]

I have used Affinity Photo for this. Would Helicon Focus do a better job?

[@constantinoskostakis7876]

Hi Paul, thanks for yet another great and informative video. I have a question, though. In the case of the photos of the cameras, why focus stack? Wouldn't a lower aperture number such as f5.6 or maybe f8 provide enough depth of field, especially since lenses tend to be a bit softer at both ends of the aperture spectrum?

[@photogenius]

Whilst you are right, shooting with a smaller aperture is going to give a deeper depth of field, there is likely to still be some softness as the camera was near to the subject.

[@constantinoskostakis7876]

@@photogenius Thank you for your answer! I'm not sure I understand how distance to the subject would cause softness thgough. Maybe an idea for future video?

[@jaymeez]

The pic of the building bridge and rocks could be clear if shot at say f22 right? Why focus stack in this scenario?

[@justnoted2995]

I guess only for illustration purposes

[@marksieving7925]

At f22 you're likely to lose some overall sharpness due to diffraction. Most full frame lenses are sharpest at around f8-11, so shooting at those apertures and focus stacking will get the best sharpness.

[@photogenius]

At f22 lens diffraction will almost certainly cause some softening of the image, that's why most landscape photographers usually stick around f11 - f16 for sharper results. Thanks for watching.

[@usernamemykel]

I'm considering what would be my first "mirrorless" camera, a Canon R10, for macro photography., From what I understand, it would ONLY focus bracket/stack in Auto Focus, yet for macro, I'd be shooting in manual focus. Do all the mirrorless cameras have this limitation? Thank you!

[@duncanmilne3186]

How does water or clouds affect photostack? As they’re moving would that not affect the finished picture?

[@dougdavis5808]

HI Paul nice video once again, one question I do not have light room so does the other program you said to use for macro photography work for landscape also?

[@photogenius]

Absolutely - Helicon is a great programme.

[@savadjurkovic9872]

Can Lightroom do this as well

[@ultimatedevilshrimp3927]

I have a Canon R8 that has focus stacking built in. Some of my focus stacked shots are good. But some has this blurry outline around the subject. I'm wondering what is going on and how to prevent this. Help will be much appreciated

[@nathanontegi3222]

Hello,I wanna to know whether you have a photo studio here in Kenya,if yes particularly where to be found or do you have a friend who is a photographer here in Kenya?

[@Hellospace321]

I focus stacked 8 pics in Photoshop and the final image size was almost 1.5Gb. This is huge and i am unable to upload to shutterstock or other stock phography agencies. Any advice on reducing the size of the final image ? Thanks

[@sundarAKintelart]

Will Lenses with heavy focus breathing work okay here...

[@EelkoA]

3 pictures for a landscape which includes a bridge with people who are moving and a river which is moving ? How kan you stack them without getting terrible motion blur ?

[@EelkoA]

If you want everything sharp use your phone with its tiny sensor & lens everything is almost always sharp :-P Stacking is nice for (super) macro not landscape or portret it makes it 2D !

[@maggieb3851]

Do you photo stack with raw images or jpegs?

[@jayantmishra1628]

Why Every Professional Photographer Uses a Canon Camera ? What the reason behind it ? Plz give me actual answer. I want to know, and I have seen most of the professional photographers uses at last canon. Please suggest me the answer.

[@playoflightphotographicsllc]

Been a pro shooter for decades. Always used Nikon. I like the ergos better.

[@Jennifer_Prentice]

Ummm Well as the results look nice.. I do not want to sound like I am bashing anything but with my GFX system I can not see stacking 20 HUGE files because I did not use a good lens and just stack two or three good images of that film camera and get the same results.. You are telling me you can not get that nice of results with only 3 shots using that low cost Canon and its kit lens? At F8 and take 3 shots instead and then add a touch of sharpening in Lightroom and ill bet you can not tell the difference ... But I have never stacked that many images.. Now the one you did outside YES three images would probably be what I would have considered too .. Also as you probably know with such a large sensor my camera is much slower as well so trying to get many shots of anything including water or anything moving would be tricky so not sure how that would work out :).

[@sedwards7428]

Macro is often done for insects --- photo stacking would not be possible -- this is only for inanimate objects?

[@Bigbird219]

Thanks

[@photogenius]

Thanks Allan for supporting my channel, very much appreciated. Paul 🙂