Focus Stacking for better model photographs

[MaxIt]

Hi all,

I've been interested in focus stacking by the first time I've heard about it. I studied a little and I've found it is largely used by professional still life photographers, for very high quality photos of small objects (i.e. advertizing in jewellery, drink and food etc.).

One shot at small aperture with high depth of field could be enough for Instagram or social media photography, but if you require a better quality, focus stacking is worth a try, free to use any aperture/shutter speed you wish, without paying too much attention to them.

The aim is to shoot a strip of photos with increased focus points, from foreground to the very far background. Then a software will merge these photos in one image, in which every point of the subject is in focus.

So you have to focus precisely, apart a steady tripod and good lights, you have to control your camera by Pc, so focus steps can be set without touching the camera body.

You have to balance the number of shots with the dimension of each picture: too many will require a very long time for merging, but too less can give poor results when merged.

Probably your recent camera has the right functions, like remote control by Pc and focus stacking set. Check it!

For the merge software, Photoshop is not considered the best, instead Helicon Focus can be the right choice. It is not for free, but should offer a free test period.

 

I've done some very poor tests with a 1/72 model, setting camera focus by hand (!!!) and with Photoshop. You can notice how the pitot and the very far tail are in focus. There are some artefacts, but the general result is not that bad.
At high definition the test if worthy, I suppose for larger objects like 1/32 model focus stacking is a must for those who want give a try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Greif8]

6 hours ago, quang said:

You also need a LOT of exposure. You’ll need a tripod like on the above photos  … and better still a remote control.

 

True that!  I always shoot macro photography using both a tripod and remote. 

 

Ernest 

[Woody V]

17 hours ago, MaxIt said:

Photoshop is not considered the best, instead Helicon Focus can be the right choice.

 

Thanks for chiming in. Almost all the information and how-toos on line are pretty lame and it's good to hear from others working with scale models.

I've heard a lot of good things about Helicon and downloaded it yesterday. I'm not happy at all with the results I'm getting from PS and hope to do a comparison between the two soon. 

[Woody V]

Here's the test comparison between Photoshop and Helicon. Pretty apparent that, although not perfect by any measure, Helicon does a better job. First here's the side by side full render as they came from both programs. The major difference between these shot is that the Helicon render is much sharper.

 

PHOTOSHOP:

 

HELICON:

 

Looks pretty good until you look closely.

In each of the following images the Photoshop is on the top and the Helicon the bottom.

 

Compare the blurred areas between the two. Some of this can be fixed by copy/pasting the in focus part from one of the images in the stack which is pretty time consuming, but if you want to make a large print, you can't avoid it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by Archer Fine Transfers

[MaxIt]

3 hours ago, Archer Fine Transfers said:

Great job Archer. I am not equipped for remote controlling my camera (even if it is a Nikon pro reflex), so at the moment I don't fell at my ease posting tests as reference, but I can say that the blurried areas left by Helicon are less extended than those with PS.
Recently I followed an online seminar with a pro photographer about focus stacking. The number of shots is an issue for the best result. For a little vertical bottle, he can take about 25-28 shots, in focus steps of 1millimeter each. But, as you state, depends on the final result you need, so you can balance the number of shots with the best quality you want to (or can) achieve.
I can realize that a 1/32 model will require a very large amount of shots, but this can't discourage our modellers mates to convert to focus stacking soon. Every image of small object you can see in commercial advertizing of jewellery, shoes, bottle, cosmetics, is shot in focus stacking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Woody V]

12 hours ago, MaxIt said:

Great job Archer. I am not equipped for remote controlling my camera (even if it is a Nikon pro reflex), so at the moment I don't fell at my ease posting tests as reference, but I can say that the blurried areas left by Helicon are less extended than those with PS.
Recently I followed an online seminar with a pro photographer about focus stacking. The number of shots is an issue for the best result. For a little vertical bottle, he can take about 25-28 shots, in focus steps of 1millimeter each. But, as you state, depends on the final result you need, so you can balance the number of shots with the best quality you want to (or can) achieve.
I can realize that a 1/32 model will require a very large amount of shots, but this can't discourage our modellers mates to convert to focus stacking soon. Every image of small object you can see in commercial advertizing of jewellery, shoes, bottle, cosmetics, is shot in focus stacking.

 

You bring up a good point regarding the number of shots. My test was done with 20 so I'll try again with 30 and if it gets better I'll try more. Based on what you said about the bottle, that may be part of the problem I'm having.

 

I'm shooting Nikon too and just switched to mirrorless and got a Z6II which has built-in focus stacking. Regardless, what camera do you have? I have a lot of Nikon DSLR accessories that won't work on my camera. I just may have remote trigger that will work for you. If I do, I'll be happy to send it to you, no charge. In fact you'll be doing me a favor taking this stuff off my hands.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Archer Fine Transfers

[MaxIt]

21 hours ago, Archer Fine Transfers said:

you'll be doing me a favor taking this stuff off my hands.

undeservedly took off your hands!  

 

The most part could be automated with camera function and post production software, but the number of shots could affect the Gigabytes you could deal with during the focus stacking process.  If this would be a problem or not, is up to you.

After all with focus stacking the focal lenght (therefore depth of field), aperture and shutter speed are not issues, giving you total choice and freedom.

If I was you, I would try to take more photos only of those critical areas and check how PS or/and Helicon react. I'm sure you will achieve the right results soon.

As photographer, I'm dedicated to aviation photography (what else?), using mainly a Nikon D4 for a long time now. Due to covid restrictons I got interested in still life photography, but not yet equipped for that.

 

I appreciated very much your offer, it is very kind of you, but I live in Italy, “free of charge” could be very expensive instead.

Sorry Archer, I've realized just now who you are! You and your product for modelling are well known and very much appreciated. Happy if I could have contributed to the discussion and share with you our experiences. We live surrounded by images, I'm convinced that photography in modelling is an art by itself and deserves the right attention and care.

[daveculp]

Thanks for the info.  I've been using Gimp for years and never knew it could be used for this!

[chuck540z3]

Very interesting ideas and information.  If I might add a small one, rather than use a remote, why not just put the camera on timer?  That's how I take all my modeling pics.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[quang]

1 minute ago, chuck540z3 said:

If I might add a small one, rather than use a remote, why not just put the camera on timer?

Whether it’s a timer or a remote, what you need first is a tripod.

[MaxIt]

26 minutes ago, chuck540z3 said:

Very interesting ideas and information.  If I might add a small one, rather than use a remote, why not just put the camera on timer?  That's how I take all my modeling pics.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Hi Chuck,

thanks for your add, but it is not clear to me for what you put the camera on timer. Focus stacking is a matter of "timing", of course, but each photos must have different focus points in progression. It is better if focusing is made automatically, without touching the ring on the lens, therefore most recent cameras have built-in focus stacking function, so they can change focus for you automatically from an initial point to the last one, or you can connect the camera to the Pc/Mac and the focus can be controlled with a dedicated software or, lastly, by remote, but not sure if all types have the focus control.

[chuck540z3]

I should have made my point clearer.  There are a number of comments about using a remote like this one:

 

On 1/22/2022 at 11:58 AM, Greif8 said:

 

True that!  I always shoot macro photography using both a tripod and remote. 

 

Ernest 

 

 

My only point is that with the timer on your camera, you don't need a remote to get things started.  I have a Nikon Z-7II with Focus Shift, so I get the rest.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[MaxIt]

28 minutes ago, chuck540z3 said:

I should have made my point clearer.  There are a number of comments about using a remote like this one:

 

 

 

My only point is that with the timer on your camera, you don't need a remote to get things started.  I have a Nikon Z-7II with Focus Shift, so I get the rest.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

That's right Chuck The point is changing focus. Suggestions are for those who have cameras without focus shift.

[Woody V]

40 minutes ago, chuck540z3 said:

I have a Nikon Z-7II with Focus Shift, so I get the rest.

Both the Z6II and Z7II also have the advantage of a few seconds delay between the time you hit START and it actually starts shooting. When I shoot I place something between the first intended focus point and focus on it and right after I hit START I remove the object out of the way. 

Tiny things like pitot tubes in the foreground can slip by auto focus.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Archer Fine Transfers

[Woody V]

UPDATE:
After another day spent monkeying around with this focus stacking stuff I've come to the following conclusions.

 

The number of exposures is important but not as important as the f-stop setting. For relatively large subjects like LSP's you need as much depth-of-field as you can get, but this point is moot. If you want a large megapixel image you have to get close and the closer you get the shallower your DoF becomes and regardless of your aperture you are still going to blur from the foreground element falling on the background element. Of course you can increase DoF by using a wide angle lens but then you wind up with huge foreground elements and tiny background elements, so that's not really a solution unless you're into that sort of thing. 

 

The only solution I can think of is to pose your model in a way where no foreground elements are "over" the background elements. If you do this you avoid the blur issue completely.

 

Another way is to get back far enough so that you have everything in focus and just take one shot, but the by the time you crop the image you wind up with a 1/4 of your sensor's frame. If you can live with that, go for it.

 

So after 6 hours of trying this, that, and the other thing I'm happy with this. 30 frames f16 at 1/14sec composited by Helicon Focus. 

 

Now I have to figure out why my perfectly white background turns grey when I upload pictures here. 

 

I deleted the picture because it was so bad. I'll try again tomorrow.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Archer Fine Transfers