An observation on focus stacking: I don’t like it for general use. It's like making a portrait and having all the distracting background in focus too. It’s fine for technical studies...

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I don’t like it for general use. It's like making a portrait and having all the distracting background in focus too. It’s fine for technical studies of a subject but esthetically it often misses the boat.

tradio Loc: Oxford, Ohio

I feel it excels in macro shots..

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

gvarner wrote:

I don’t like it for general use. It's like making a portrait and having all the distracting background in focus too. It’s fine for technical studies of a subject but esthetically it often misses the boat.

Focus bracketing and stacking does not necessarily result in a distracting background. The opposite can be true.

BebuLamar

gvarner wrote:

I don’t like it for general use. It's like making a portrait and having all the distracting background in focus too. It’s fine for technical studies of a subject but esthetically it often misses the boat.

No with focus stacking you actually can get the background out of focus easier. What you do is to use a larger aperture than you normally use then at macro distance the DOF is razor thin. You do the stacking so that only the subject is in focus.
I give you an example of portrait (which not practical as you can't keep the subject still). If you use an f/1.4 or f/1.2 you have blurry background but you only have the 1 eye in focus. Instead if you do the stacking you can have the entire person in focus yet the background is still blurry.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

BebuLamar wrote:

No with focus stacking you actually can get the background out of focus easier. What you do is to use a larger aperture than you normally use then at macro distance the DOF is razor thin. You do the stacking so that only the subject is in focus.

I can see how that would be useful in order to emphasize the subject.

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

BebuLamar wrote:

No with focus stacking you actually can get the background out of focus easier. What you do is to use a larger aperture than you normally use then at macro distance the DOF is razor thin. You do the stacking so that only the subject is in focus.

Indeed.

Prairie phlox on Flickr

Real Nikon Lover Loc: Simi Valley, CA

The there is the time you want as much detail end to end.

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-576830-1.html

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

tradio wrote:

I feel it excels in macro shots..

9 images stacked in PS to achieve a much wider DOF

(Download)

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

gvarner wrote:

I don’t like it for general use. It's like making a portrait and having all the distracting background in focus too. It’s fine for technical studies of a subject but esthetically it often misses the boat.

Gvarner, Focus stacking is essential when performing high-magnification sessions for there is a direct relationship between Depth of Field, aperture, and magnification. For example, when doing a session at 10X magnification, the field depth is limited to just a tip of a hair. I've attached the "start" image taken in a stack of images of a brown recluse spider and the final processed image of the stack of hundreds of images required to produce it.

Focus stacking need not bring the entire frame into razor-sharp focus for the session need only go as deep as the composer desires.

(Download)

ndiguy

sippyjug104 wrote:

Gvarner, Focus stacking is essential when performi... (show quote)

I am in awe of your macro/micro photography. Truly a master of your craft!! Thanks for sharing both your wisdom / experience and the images.

sailwiz Loc: Santee, CA

gvarner wrote:

I don’t like it for general use. It's like making a portrait and having all the distracting background in focus too. It’s fine for technical studies of a subject but esthetically it often misses the boat.

In my photo hobby stacking happens quite a lot. Here is 12 stackers that show sometimes you may want the background in focus.

(Download)

fetzler Loc: North West PA

gvarner wrote:

I don’t like it for general use. It's like making a portrait and having all the distracting background in focus too. It’s fine for technical studies of a subject but esthetically it often misses the boat.

When focus stacking macro shots there is plenty of blurred background

See my earlier post. https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-735971-1.html

For landscape work there are instances where having the foreground and background in focus makes a striking photo.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

sippyjug104 wrote:

Gvarner, Focus stacking is essential when performi... (show quote)

Shaved or not, this is really a beauty 😁😁😁😁😁

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Strodav wrote:

9 images stacked in PS to achieve a much wider DOF

Spectacular bloom, perfectly shot 💓💓💓💓💓

Dennis833 Loc: Australia

I'm a sharp foreground to background type of guy. Front lens tilt to get greater depth of field was common practice amongst large format landscape photographers worldwide, even back before Edward Western and Ansel Adams. When I moved into digital I had to manually blend images together in Photoshop or use focus merge to achieve the same depth in my landscape images.