The Art of Focus Stacking: Elevate Your Landscape Photography

This local woods, situated just a short drive away from my home, had always intrigued me. The trees, devoid of leaves, exposed their intricate root systems, creating a mesmerizing pattern on the forest floor. The star of the show was a waterfall, and I was determined to capture its essence in my photographs.
The challenge I faced was that without the colourful autumn leaves on the trees, the landscape appeared somewhat dull and lifeless. To overcome this, I decided to use the fallen leaves on the forest floor to inject some vibrancy into my shots. I knew that this endeavour would require careful planning and the right photographic techniques, and focus stacking was the key.
Read the blog on this adventure here, where I share my steps and approach I took
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[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Here is my workflow for these focus stacked shots www.darrenjspoonley.com/blog-darrenjspoonley/focusstacking

[@ianmcmichael8799]

Just when you think you have bought everything you need to get started in photography, now i need to buy a set of wellies. Gary Gough was wearing a pair in one of his vids in Scotland. So definitely need me some wellies.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Ahaha !! Wellie are entry level ! Wait till you discover fishing waders :-)

[@markbuckley113]

Added a pair of wellies to my kit recently, not bad, but for longer walks I miss my hiking boots

[@keithpinn152]

Hi Darren: I really enjoyed the images that you captured during this video. I also enjoyed hearing about your thought process behind composing your images. Cheers, Keith

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Glad you enjoyed it Keith

[@MarkRomine]

Autum has been really late here in Illinois this year, the latest that I have ever seen. Peak color was good 2 to 2.5 weeks late. The background noise reduction seemed to work pretty well on that new DJI mic.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much Mark! When listening on my mobile I can hear distortion but everywhere else it sounded fine :-)

[@podgysnapper5830]

Hi Darren. I took a year away from KZbin and on my return its great that you are still vlogging. I loved this from start to finish and topped off with some stunning audio and images. Best Regards

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Hey Dave, I was wondering where you went!! Yes still living the dream here :-) you’ve a lot to catch up on :-) 51 episodes .. Delighted you enjoyed it Thanks for watching

[@garrysugdenphotography]

Thanks for sharing such a great video. Really appreciate all the info about the Pocket 3 on here and the other videos.... I better start saving up 🙂

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much Delighted you enjoyed it

[@XXX-vy6xv]

For some reason you're the only (?) channel I'm following where I don't get to see the updates on your newer videos! Just stumbled upon this one by accident but it won't show up on my list. In fact I checked and I haven't seen any of your videos during the last 2 months!! Unsubscribed and subscribed again in order to check if that gets fixed! Great channel

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much ! That’s strange for sure, I’ve had others mention it and they hadn’t the bell ticked, perhaps it’s the same for you ?

[@johncarnahan4067]

Beautiful video Darren and absolutely beautiful photos , video and drone footage it got even better with music you added to the drone footage its probably my favourite video music thank you very much for sharing your video

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thanks a lot , really appreciate that John! It was a fun adventure

Thanks for this very nice autumnal video. I’m new on your chanel so let me say hello from France.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Merci !! Delighted you enjoyed it Thanks for watching

[@carlosalbertopalacioamado8742]

En in Focus stackin you can use a 70-200 mm telephoto lens thank you very much for your comments

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Yes you can , same approach just don’t change the focal length

[@briankenrick1309]

Excellent video Darren. Thanks

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Hi Brian, Thanks a million hope all is well?

[@Dougsterxplor]

Hello, new subscriber here. Blame the Twirl thief!! 🤣🤣

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Hahaha Great to have you on board

[@carlosalbertopalacioamado8742]

Good afternoon, please could you tell me if in focus stacking the focal length has to be the same for all the photos? thank you so much

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Yes, otherwise the subjects will be different sizes in the images and won’t stack

[@kenjavier8603]

Very nice information! Thank you!

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching

[@StuartChapman193]

Do think the ¼ second exposure works well.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much Stuart! Thanks for watching

[@markbuckley113]

Great videO, and some really nice shots here.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thanks a million Delighted you enjoyed it

[@bernardjohnwright]

Good video beautiful location.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much!

[@christian.irmler]

Hi Darren, a great video, buddy! I love especially your photo at 19:50, as the message of late autumn is coming through so well. Honestly, I hate to focus stack. But sometimes it is simply necessary 😆 Nice greetings, Christian

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much my friend ! I only do it when I absolutely must and this one such occasion :-) Thanks for watching Delighted you enjoyed it

[@davidrushworth658]

Greetings from Australia Darren and thank you for sharing your wonderful Ireland and beautiful compositions. They are a joy to watch!

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Hello down under :-) Thanks for watching Delighted you enjoyed it

[@stevesrayofsunshinephotography]

Nice one Gavin 😂 I mean Darren

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Hahaha :-) Thank you very much

[@davidskinner274]

Last image is a beauty

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thanks a million David

[@jserenity]

Is your video now shot using pocket 3?

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Yes

[@jserenity]

@@DarrenJSpoonley, nice! The image looks good and the stabilization is fine. Planning on getting one myself

[@T3RRAFORM]

It would be nice if rather than panning around your pictures for 3s, then only showing the full picture for a split second. You’d give the full image some more screen time. They deserve it.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much I’ll take that on board

[@celtictiger78]

Wonderful autumn colours Darren. We were in South Kerry in the middle of October, took a few photos of the deer ruts and climbed some mountains. But autumn was at the beginning it the beginning. 😉 Is that the Glengarrif Forrest park? Greetings from Germany

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Danke! Kerry is one of my favourite spots !! It’s a small woods near where I live in Cork Thanks for watching, Delighted you enjoyed it

[@lphilpot01]

Beautiful locations, beautiful color, beautiful shots - Great video! Here in Louisiana (USA) we're still in a severe drought, having received only about 1/6 to 1/5 our normal amount of rain since July. Lakes are drying up and streams are down. We never have much color, but so far this year it's been mostly brown and dead. Hopefully there will be something before it all goes away for winter. Audio-wise, you sound great. NR works very well!

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much I hope you get something before it’s gone Thanks for watching

[@andreiserbanphotography]

Amazing video and photos like always Darren👏👏👏👏 I need to get myself and my camera again to this waterfall. Thank you for reminding me of it😅.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Glad you enjoyed it ! It’s a class spot

[@RalphGoldsmith]

Beautiful location and waterfall and some lovely images Darren. The 1/4 second exposures seemed to work really well early on with a great balance between texture and movement. Thanks for sharing

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thanks a million Ralph

[@tonyb2760]

Very nice images and I like you choice of shutter speed. Thanks for sharing.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thanks a million Tony

[@taraelizabethlivinglife4094]

Thanks, Darren. I have been wanting to learn more about focus stacking!!

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thanks Tara, here is my workflow www.darrenjspoonley.com/blog-darrenjspoonley/focusstacking

[@eddieforde]

That’s a fantastic woodland to have so close by. Really gave a great sense of the place with all the footage. 👍🏻

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much Eddie !! It’s a class spot alright

[@leto_len]

So enjoyed drone footage, lovely images. Thank you.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Glad you enjoyed it Ann Thanks a million

[@SteveZodiac777]

Great video Darren - really like your focus stacked shots!

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thanks a lot , really appreciate that

[@John-Shutterlyphotos]

Thank you Darren for another amazing video at a beautiful location. We are getting hit by these storms that have past you now in Italy. If you are ever in California, lets hit some California coasts so much to photograph there. Moving back to CA very soon, hope to see you there :)

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Thank you very much John, they missed us but did some serious damage after us as they hit France

[@John-Shutterlyphotos]

@@DarrenJSpoonley France definitely got the brunt end of the storm. We are feeling it here in Italy the last few days with 70mph winds and heavy rain, lots of flooding.

[@rghurst]

I selected this video because I wanted to know what you had to say about "The Art of Focus Stacking." After 5 minutes with no mention of focus stacking and way too much b-roll, I lost interest.

[@DarrenJSpoonley]

Fair enough! Perhaps the blog might suit your needs more