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focus stacking
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Some images, including highly magnified, want more depth of focus.
Other than by retaking with smaller aperture
(which is liable to increasing noise, motion blur and/or diffraction),
combining sharper parts of multiple images of a scene
captured at overlapping focal distance increments
is called focus stacking and involves two parts:
- capturing those images (AKA focus bracketing)
- combining them
Some cameras support focus bracketing
using so-called autofocus lenses which include mechanisms
by which cameras can change their focus.
An alternative for focus bracketing is by mechanically incrementing
distance from camera and lens to scene object[s].
Macro rails do this, as can microscope stage focus knobs.
WeMacro offers automation for both
a focus dial:
… and rack:
Focus stacking software
Two well-regarded commercial image stacking software offerings are
Helicon
and Zerene,
where Helicon favors those wanting a completely automated approach,
with Zerene supporting more tweaking and touching up stacked images.
2014 comparing CombineZP, Auto-Montage, Helicon Focus and Zerene Stacker
Free solutions includes Canon’s DPP 4,
which works only for their lenses and cameras with focus bracketing support,
CombineZP, which does not support 16-bit images,
Picolay, ImageJ, TuFuse,
Chasys Draw IES supports CR2/3 and Focus Stacking,
seemingly without alignment,
when stacking for
image averaging.
Works internally on bitmaps; loads but cannot save TIFFs.
focus stacking is on the right corner of the photo editing toolbar.
Good stacking parameter documentation
Moving GIFs with perspective shift(?!)
ImageJ
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